AT40 features that wouldn't work today

[lasvegaskid]

Here is one example: #1 songs of the 70s, 60s, etc. Can't imagine restrictive radio formats would allow it.

[Deleted]

I don't consider "#1s from the 60s" a feature. The feature when it was done on the show was the archives and those songs were only 20-22 years old then. True, it might frown upon the 60s, 70s, and 80s now, but I'm sure PDs would have done the same for songs from the 1930s regularly too which is the equivalent of what you are saying. An archive feature playing hits from the 90s-now might be acceptable.

[lasvegaskid]

That's what I am saying. Could they get away with playing Wilson Phillips, Roxette, and George Michael now? Maybe a one time flashback with snippets, but a three song weekly feature. I have my doubts.

Here is another example. Instead of a top 40 Beatles countdown like Casey did, could Ryan get way with a top 40 hits of ...(Celine Dion, Madonna, Michael Jackson, etc)?

[mkarns]

An archives feature from the 1980s could work on the Hot AC version; not sure about CHR, but it's possible. 1990s and 2000s could potentially work at either format.

I don't think a top 40 of any single artist would fare all that well; there are only a few (MJ, Madonna, Mariah Carey, perhaps in the future Britney Spears, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake counting 'NSync, some others maybe) who have enough or nearly enough hits and are well enough recognized by current AT40 listeners to potentially qualify, and four hours of the same artist may be a bit much to today's listeners and programmers. Some of the more conceptual countdowns, like counting down the top 40 hits from different artists but a common theme, or the biggest hits of a certain period, could work; to my knowledge the only Seacrest-era countdown to try that was the 2000-09 decade end show (not counting the year-ends, which now usually only do the top 40 or 50 songs of the past year.)

I don't think Long Distance Dedications in the Casey/Shadoe sense, with a full length letter (not the short "I'd like to hear such-and-such" requests that are now honored) would work all that well today, though it would be interesting to see what songs would requested or dedicated to whom. Earlier LDD's tended to often go for AC ballads that have been in relatively short supply on recent CHR countdowns. Personally I could usually take or leave the LDD/R&D's, so no big loss there.