Affiliates that had a format that wasn't top 40

[bandit73]

Usually AT40 aired on stations that had a top 40 format, but does anyone else remember how some affiliates were AC or some other format?

I remember when Casey or Shadoe did the station mention feature, and when they mentioned the affiliate in Mansfield, Ohio, the slogan was "Mansfield's Lite Rock" - clearly an AC station.

I'm pretty sure the affiliate in Richmond, Indiana, kept AT40 after the station switched to an AOR format. I was able to barely pick up this station where I lived.

I think Boston had an AM affiliate through the mid-'80s that clearly was not a top 40 station. I believe Louisville may have been like this as well.

Other than full-service AM stations, I think it was very rare for an affiliate in a major U.S. market to have a format other than top 40. It seems like Indianapolis might have had an FM affiliate that was AC though.

[cdman71031]

Yes WBZ in Boston an AM station at a time of big FM stations back in 1986 did have AT40 on for a time. I think the old station 98.5 WROR went Ac and that's why AT40 was on AM. In less then tow years (I used to Sepnd Summers on Cape Cod and listened to Boston Radio Stations for the show) they changed to 94.5 jamin 94. I think while AT40 was on WBz it was Ac Or Oldies or even New. Can anybody conferm

[Jeffster]

The first station I heard AT40 on was "Hot Rockin' Oldies" 1240 KTAM. They were originally a top 40 station when they started airing AT40 back in the 70's but I never heard the show until 1989 when they already were an oldies station. I read later on a radio history site that they made the flip to oldies in 1987. They kept airing AT40 until December 1990 when they dropped it for good, just two weeks before the year end countdown was to air.

[Radioman]

This is a very interesting topic, since Casey's shows always has been on a wide variety of stations. This continues until today's AT10 and AT20 shows.
And I think that's what makes a quality programme ! Even Talk and News stations can play it on weekends.
Can you imagine having the Seacrest show on a News Station or non Top 40 outlet ? Never !

[Adrian]

Other than full-service AM stations, I think it was very rare for an affiliate in a major U.S. market to have a format other than top 40. It seems like Indianapolis might have had an FM affiliate that was AC though.[/quote]

Yes, Indy's Lite-Rock 97 was an AC-based station that carried AT40 during the 80s and early 90s. I thought it was interesting that they would carry a show that plays rap music, although I don't know if they "poked holes" into the show. Eventually, Lite-Rock 97 moved towards a more HAC sound in the mid-90s and picked up CH20.

[Deleted]

radioman said:

This is a very interesting topic, since Casey's shows always has been on a wide variety of stations. This continues until today's AT10 and AT20 shows.
And I think that's what makes a quality programme ! Even Talk and News stations can play it on weekends.
Can you imagine having the Seacrest show on a News Station or non Top 40 outlet ? Never !

Seeing as how radio as a whole is so different now you are probably right. However, you were once again taking a shot at Ryan. If radio were what it was 10-15 years ago 20 years from now I could easily see Ryan as host of the show.

Heres what you are forgetting Radioman, News/Talk and Oldies stations are all geared towards older people, usually 30 and up. Those people don't want to hear Ryan Seacrest because most don't know much about him and don't listen to his brand of music. They do know who Casey is and with them running AT20 or AT10, the music is geared towards those same people. it makes sense to air those shows on those stations if there is no AC/HAC station airing it in the area.

In 20 years the same people who listen to Seacrest now will be the people listening to talk radio and oldies stations. There is no reason the HAC show can't be heard on these same stations pending that type of thing is happening at all then. I know, you think Seacrest will be long gone by then, however saying that you are ignoring the facts that the show is going strong, gained a bunch of affiliates in 04, and the host is accepted by the people who listen. Yet, you never say a word about Dees or Brooks who have LOST affiliates in the last two years and who's shows WILL be long gone in 20 years.

In 20 years, Radioman Jr will be telling us how great Ryan Seacrest is and how awesome it was growing up with him, but the new host of AT40, whoever it is sucks and will be gone in 5 years.

[MEF]

I remember that Louisville, Kentucky station that aired AT40.

It was 84 WAHS AM. I believe it was the full service station from Louisville. American Top 40 would air on Sunday nights from 7 to 11 pm. Being a full service station, WAHS would have 3 minutes of news at the top of each hour while airing AT40. You would never hear the end of hour jingle and end of show jingle. As soon as Casey stop talking, the news came on. After Casey was done at 11, Nina Blackwood radio show would air.

You could pick up this station after sunset. During the winter months you could listen to the whole AT40 show. During the summer months you could only listen to the 2nd half of AT40 after 9 pm.

This lasted on WAHS until sometime in 1987 when WAHS dropped AT40 for Dr. Depession's talk show.

I believe WLS AM in Chicago also aired AT40 in the 1980s. But the show aired during the daytime when I could not pick up WLS AM.

[cdman71031]

In the early 1980's the biggest market in the country New York had a am station that aired AT40 your forgetting WNBC witch from the summer of 1982 when i started listening to the show(I beilve it was on that station a year earlier in 1981 as I slightly remember the show and hearing Jessie's Girl back them on AT40 on NBC). until November 1983 New Yorkers could only get At40 on Am in Novmember 1983 the Same Week WPLJ in New York Started playing AT40 was the week NBc Dropped it. I Knew about the WPLJ start of AT40. Only I though both station would be airing the program too. I got up to tune into NBc and toi my ashock No AT40 but then an hour later WPLJ started playing the show and the rest was history or should I say good and bad history! While WNBc aired the show the best part was getting the show from NBc far away from my house in Downtown NYC. I caught a show at differant times in several far away places.
1. Phillidelphia at my Cusins house (didn't come in so great all the time)
2. Pokippsi NY at my grandfather's house where I listened tothe 1982 year end part 1
3. somewhere up in Coneticut where you could not get Fm NYC stations.
4. the furthest by far was for the show mthe weekend of 9/3/1983. I was in Cape Cod up near Boston and since most of our summer was spent in Maine (My dad was the head of an art school up there) I wss not fermilier with the boston or Cape Cod radio stations. So I btried and got and listened to the 9/3/1983 show on Am all the way from NYC. I would only be the next year when we would spend the whole summer on Cape CVod that I found out Wror 98.5 played the show as well as pro fm from Rode Island. One of the great things about Cape cod is that you could get meny great radio stations and every Sunday night was spent with my Boom Box and all the meny differant Radio show I could find from radio stations as I couldget Fm stations from Cape Cod, Boston Rode island and even others. I spent 8 summers of part of summers on Cape Cod and believe it or not this is my fondest memory. A place where you could getAT40 on 3 differant stations in the same weekend What more could you ask for. When I started Bording School Again on Cape Cod this is one of the things I looked forward to most all the differant radio show and stations I could get.

[Hervard]

I don't know of any station other than a Top 40 station that carried AT40. I know that WLS-AM ran the show, but I believe they evolved towards AC in the mid-80s and dropped the show in the process.

I do know that AT40 Flashback aired on many AC stations, especially ones that were 80s-based, such as Sunny 101.5 in South Bend. That station has Totally 80s Weekends and carried the show until its demise in late 2002.

There was another station in Mississippi (WJKK 98.7, I believe) that ran the show for a few months, but they dropped it after a few months. I have a feeling that their reasoning was that there were a lot of hard rock songs that were unplayable on the format (many of them were on the June 4, 1988 show, which the station decided to forego).

There is a station somewhere in Ohio that rebroadcasts those Flashback shows, which they started doing about this time last year. This past week, they featured the show from February 20, 1982.

Click here to read about the shows that have been broadcast thus far.

[Scott Lakefield]

cdman71031 said:

until November 1983 New Yorkers could only get At40 on Am in Novmember 1983 the Same Week WPLJ in New York Started playing AT40 was the week NBc Dropped it. I Knew about the WPLJ start of AT40.

I remember this too. Except that I thought that AT40 was gone. Didn't realize it was on WPLJ until my mom happened to be reading the paper later that morning and came across an ad for the show being on WPLJ. So I missed more than half of the show.

Does anyone remember the exact week this happened?

[BrettVW]

Wouldn't it be nice if stations still took ads out for Casey? I realize newspaper advertising is no cheap endevour (I was editor of our high school newspaper my senior year, and was appaled at how much our school paper charged for an ad), but even a bit more radio advertising in general would be nice.

[cdman71031]

I remember the date only because Duran Duran dubuted way up in the top 25 with Union Of The Snake. it was November 18, 1983 that WNBc and WPLJ changed AT40 stations.

[Scott Lakefield]

cdman71031 said:

I remember the date only because Duran Duran dubuted way up in the top 25 with Union Of The Snake. it was November 18, 1983 that WNBc and WPLJ changed AT40 stations.

Thanks, CDMan! I'll have to dig that one out and give it a listen.

[johnnywest]

I used to listen to AT40 in the early 90s on KRWN, a classic rock station out of Farmington, NM. And the only time I would tune in was Sundays at 3pm for AT40. I think it was a lot more common 30+ years ago to have non-Top 40 stations carrying AT40. And Farmington didn't have its own Top 40 station at the time either.

[dth1971]

I remember back from September 1993 to April 1994 WXLC Hot 102.3 FM Waukegan/Libertyville, Illinois (now Star 102.3 FM which shares with McHenry County, Illinois Star 105.5 FM) when the station switched from Top 40 to modern rock it was still carrying Shadoe Stevens AT40 on Sunday mornings until WXLC dropped the show since it didn't fit the modern rock format in April 1994 replacing it temporary with 2 modern rock shows to fit the modern rock format - "Modern Roots" and "Post Modern Weekly". However, when in June 1994 after WXLC dropped modern rock and switched back to top 40 it was too late to give Shadoe AT40 another chance and replaced the 2 modern rock shows after 2 months with Rick Dees Weekly Top 40!