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Post by bobbo428 on Apr 21, 2013 23:21:20 GMT -5
Note: This was actually 40 years ago last week--40 years ago today (4/22/73, Easter Sunday) I was out of town.
I've been ill or stressed out lately. i was also stressed out in 1973 because of a demanding teacher who watched us like a hawk. However, I could escape to "At40." And 40 years ago this past week, I was excited to be catching the show because I had missed two consecutive weeks. It was the first truly pleasant day, after two weeks of chilly, usully rainy/snowy conditions. The countdown began with the Staple Singers... I then heard a new song about a worm by some new group called the Ohio Players... The New Seekers, after several weeks of airplay, have debuted with their version of "Pinball Wizard"/"See Me Feel Me."... Ronnie Dyson is moving up with "One Man Band," a song I had been hearing on the radio since February... Fortunately, Steely Dan sprinted up 10 places with "Reeling in the Years," a real springtime barnburner... My father will be happy to know that "Daisy a Day," his favorite tune, jumped eight notches..."Walk on the Wild Side" is moving up nicely, too..."Last Song" is still hanging in there after three months..."Drift Away" appears headed for the top 10, as is "Stuck in the Middle with You"...Stevie Wonder's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" is the highest up in the top 40 of any song not on the top 40 three weeks ago..."Space Oddity" has begun to slip...Anne Murray's "Danny's Song" creeps up to #7, one notch higher than her 1970 hit "Snowbird"..."Sing," my least favorite current hit, is up to 36--please miss number 1...I was hoping "Ain't No Woman" would reach #1, but it appears to have peaked at #4...Dawn is already up to #3 with their sickly sweet, if sincere hit...Gladys Knight & the Pips are so close to the top--but not quite there...Vicki Lawrence is at #1 with a song I want to buy the 45 of, "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia." Fortunately, my parents have let me listen to the countdown until the conclusion, even though its 10 o'clock end time is an hour after my bedtime. I may be missing next week's countdown because I'll be going to Reading, PA.
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Post by bobbo428 on Nov 30, 2013 19:54:17 GMT -5
I've been letting this thread slide for months--I had lost my password for months. Here are some summaries of memories of listening to Casey in 1973:
MARCH My parents let me listen until 10 o'clock--they must have realized that i was sneaking listens to the radio after my 9 o'clock bedtime (around the time of Song #13 in the countdown).
MAY I enjoyed the countdown I heard on May 19, 2013--from May 1973). It brought back memories of the tail end of fifth grade, so I looked up my teacher from that year and dropped him a line.
JUNE The June 10 show was crazy--2 songs that had fallen off returned--and no purely new songs debuted. Songs that had been soaring suddently reversed course, while falling songs were suddenly on the rise again.
JULY I missed the last hour of the show because the cottage we were renting was 35 miles away from WENE Radio, causing interference by 9 o'clock (the same program I heard again on WINR in Binghamton on June 30, 2013). I assumed that Wings' "My Love" achieved a fifth week at the top, though Billy Preston's "Will It Go Round" was another candidate. The following week was the disappearing act special countdown, and most of the songs were unfamiliar to me. My parents might have recognized some of them because many of the songs were from the 1950s. I also missed most of July 15 because interference struck shortly after Song #37 ("Brother Louie," by the Stories). At least I got to hear the cool Jim Stafford song, "Swamp Witch," at #39. Finally, I got to hear an entire countdown after vacation the following week.
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Post by dukelightning on Nov 30, 2013 20:01:32 GMT -5
^Thanks for sharing. Looks like you found AT40 a few months months and about 100 miles west of me. I found it in Sept. of 1973 in Albany. Was in the 8th grade BTW. And it was also broadcast from 7-10 Sunday nights though I had caught the end earlier in the day because it was first played from 10-1. Don't think I had a curfew situation with the 10PM ending anyway because I think that WAS my bedtime at the time...lol
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Post by mga707 on Nov 30, 2013 23:31:15 GMT -5
JUNE The June 10 show was crazy--2 songs that had fallen off returned--and no purely new songs debuted. Songs that had been soaring suddently reversed course, while falling songs were suddenly on the rise again. Two reasons for this particular 'crazy' chart: 1) "Billboard" changed their chart methodology beginning with this week's Hot 100. I believe this was when they first considered airplay as well as sales. 2) The advance chart that "Billboard" gave to AT40 turned out to be incorrect. AT40 was different than the top 40 in that week's Hot 100, and the 'crazy' chart movements were amplified as a result. The guest host mentioned this at the start of the following week's program, and used the 'correct' Billboard chart positions when mentioning up or down chart action. I too remember listening to this particular program (on 1330 KHYT from Noon to 3 on Sunday) and thinking "Huh? This chart is screwy!"
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Post by mkarns on Nov 30, 2013 23:56:11 GMT -5
If you all are referring to the 6/9/73 show, which has been played by both Premiere and SXM, that stands out in my mind for the incorrect chart. Most notably, IMO, "Hocus Pocus" by Focus was at #8, one notch higher than its official peak as per Billboard.
The following week, Don Bowman (RIP) guest hosted and explained why last week's chart was wrong.
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Post by mga707 on Dec 1, 2013 0:11:12 GMT -5
If you all are referring to the 6/9/73 show, which has been played by both Premiere and SXM, that stands out in my mind for the incorrect chart. Most notably, IMO, "Hocus Pocus" by Focus was at #8, one notch higher than its official peak as per Billboard. The following week, Don Bowman (RIP) guest hosted and explained why last week's chart was wrong. That's the one! And you're right--the following week there was indeed a guest host (did not know who the gentleman was at the time), not Casey, who basically said "sorry, we goofed". Corrected my earlier post. The show aired the weekend of June 9/10, 1973. Week ending June 9.
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Post by tarobe on Dec 2, 2013 0:03:26 GMT -5
Casey was in rare form 40 years ago this week (12/01/73) on AT40. He predicted no less than three songs to hit #1. First he said that he and the AT40 staff "strongly feel" that Helen Reddy's "Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)" would be her third #1. Then he said that "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" by Elton John would be "pushing for #1" the next week. Finally in his regular prediction of next week's #1 song, he predicted that Ringo Starr would return to the top spot with "Photograph." He was wrong all on three counts.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2013 8:48:36 GMT -5
Casey was in rare form 40 years ago this week (12/01/73) on AT40. He predicted no less than three songs to hit #1. First he said that he and the AT40 staff "strongly feel" that Helen Reddy's "Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)" would be her third #1. Then he said that "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" by Elton John would be "pushing for #1" the next week. Finally in his regular prediction of next week's #1 song, he predicted that Ringo Starr would return to the top spot with "Photograph." He was wrong all on three counts. I posted on facebook when I heard this show yesterday someone must have gotten hooked up with some really, really good stuff to bring in for the staff to smoke that week.
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Post by bobbo428 on Dec 10, 2013 0:08:47 GMT -5
^Thanks for sharing. Looks like you found AT40 a few months months and about 100 miles west of me. I found it in Sept. of 1973 in Albany. Was in the 8th grade BTW. And it was also broadcast from 7-10 Sunday nights though I had caught the end earlier in the day because it was first played from 10-1. Don't think I had a curfew situation with the 10PM ending anyway because I think that WAS my bedtime at the time...lol Thanks for the comment--I was an extreme AT40 addict by early 1973--something about Casey's show that hooked you in. And if I missed a show, I would wonder if a song debuted the week I missed--then fell off.
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Post by bobbo428 on Dec 10, 2013 0:11:45 GMT -5
JUNE The June 10 show was crazy--2 songs that had fallen off returned--and no purely new songs debuted. Songs that had been soaring suddently reversed course, while falling songs were suddenly on the rise again. Two reasons for this particular 'crazy' chart: 1) "Billboard" changed their chart methodology beginning with this week's Hot 100. I believe this was when they first considered airplay as well as sales. 2) The advance chart that "Billboard" gave to AT40 turned out to be incorrect. AT40 was different than the top 40 in that week's Hot 100, and the 'crazy' chart movements were amplified as a result. The guest host mentioned this at the start of the following week's program, and used the 'correct' Billboard chart positions when mentioning up or down chart action. I too remember listening to this particular program (on 1330 KHYT from Noon to 3 on Sunday) and thinking "Huh? This chart is screwy!" I remember asking my father, an engineer, what the reason was behind the strange chart. Neither one of us could figure it out. I recall the guest host on June 17 attributing it to a computer snafu.
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Post by bobbo428 on Dec 10, 2013 0:24:22 GMT -5
On Dec. 9, 1973 I tuned in to the second last regular countdown of the year. By this time, I was one third of the way through 6th grade--my favorite school year and the calm before the storm of junior high adolescence.There were 6 debuts this week, and I can recall Casey introducing the new Gladys Knight & the Pips hit, "I've Got to Use My Imagination," with "When you're hot, you're hot"because Knight & Co. had scored their fifth top 40 hit of the year...I was fascinated by the chart action of Kris Kristofferson's "Why Me," which I believe is the song that spent the most weeks in the top 40 without making the top 10. The song had an autumnal feel but made its Hot 100 debut in April, possibly explaining its slow climb/yo-yo chart action...The chart date was Dec. 8, and "Mind Games" was moving up six notches seven years to the date before Lennon's tragic death...I was surprised that "I Got a Mame" only peaked at #10--radio must have decided to jump to Jim Croce's other hit, "Time in a Bottle" instead...I was happy that Todd Rundgren made the top 10 with "Hello It's Me...I wasn't too crazy about the Charlie Rich hit--too maudlin. I recall Casey saying that it moved up "a whopping seven notches!" I purposely missed it when it was about to come up when the 1973 rebroadcast came up five weeks ago..."Top of the World" was a saccharine tune.
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Post by bobbo428 on Dec 10, 2013 0:32:14 GMT -5
Regarding the Kristofferson song, I meant it was the most weeks in the top 40 without making the top 10 in the pre-Soundscan era. I also recallClimax Blues Band logging 17 weeks in the top 40 without making #1 in 1981. However, there may be another song I'm overlooking.
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Post by mga707 on Dec 10, 2013 20:25:21 GMT -5
Regarding the Kristofferson song, I meant it was the most weeks in the top 40 without making the top 10 in the pre-Soundscan era. I also recall Climax Blues Band logging 17 weeks in the top 40 without making #1 in 1981. However, there may be another song I'm overlooking. Do you mean to say 17 weeks in the top 40 without making the top 10? "I Love You" (their 1981 hit) peaked at #12. Many songs have spent 17 weeks or even more in the 40 without hitting #1, but nearly all songs with that much chart life do hit the top 10.
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Post by bobbo428 on Dec 11, 2013 11:53:17 GMT -5
I meant to say top 10--my bad! Anyway, I shouldn't be discussing 1981 songs on this thread until 2021! LOL!
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Post by bobbo428 on Dec 24, 2013 20:07:30 GMT -5
I am one week late with this, but the last regular countdown of 1973 I caught on Dec. 16, a frigid day with a big snowstorm on the way. That week, Kristofferson was hanging on for his 37th week on the Hot 100 with "Why Me." Olivia Newton-John debuted impressively with "Let Me Be There"...Three Dog Night took an unexpected 12-point dive with "Let Me Serenade You"...The Stones are still hanging in there with "Angie"...Aretha is back with another new hit, "Until You Come Back to Me"...Lennon's "Mind Games is up to no. 20--I hope it can reach the top 10...Eddie Kendrick's drops 9-13 with "Keep On Truckin'";I hope it is still in the top 40 three weeks from now, the first regular countdown of 1974...One sappy song, "Top of the World," was replaced by the equally corny tune "The Most Beautiful Girl." "Time in a Bottle" will probably be next, but that song is easier to take than the other two.
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