When was the first time you heard At40?

[friarboy]

Honestly, I have no idea. It would have been in the early-mid 80s on WQWK- 97 Quick in State College, PA. I remember always listening while getting ready for church on Sundays.

I used to always love to listen for the first hour so I could be ahead of my friends on the new music that was out there and hear him announce some big hits one last time before they dropped out.

I used to keep my own notebook to guess the Top 10.

[dlm1129]

Jun 15, 2009 0:34:15 GMT -5 pandy said:

I believe that I'm the oldest listening person to hear AT40 for the first time. I do not have Pete's book on hand right now to find the exact call letters of the station, but it was the week ending 2/13/1971 that I first heard AT40 from a station in Wichita Falls, TX. while I was stationed in Fort Sill, OK. In October 1971 WDRC-FM was my prime station for recording the shows on Sunday nights and playing them endlessly throughout the week.

Shoot! You beat me by about 2 or 3 weeks. I think the week was 2/27/71...maybe the week after. I was in 4th grade and a good friend of mine tipped me off to it, knowing how avid I was in collecting local radio playlists. Listened and wrote down every song every week for the next 7-1/2 years, finally giving it up about the time they switched to the 4-hour show. I listened to it on KJR Seattle every Sunday night from 6-9pm (at some point they moved it to 7-10pm).

I kept all those lists in a nice notebook chronologically. It was stored away until about 1998 when I decided I could get the info elsewhere -- specifically Joel Whitburn's books -- and at that point I threw it out to consolidate and make space in the garage. I really regret that; it was a huge artifact of my teen years that I can never get back.

But I'm loving the replays of those 70s shows every Sunday morning now on KJR-FM!

[shadoeargentina]

My first full show was in december of 1988 in the early days of Shadoe, in my local station , Radio Rock & Pop in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Now I know that it was december 3 because my favourite band was at nª 4 and I started to write every AT40 since this day to 1993

[Jeffster]

Welp, I could answer this question in 3 different ways. ;D

If the question is just "When was the first time you heard AT40?", then the answer is May 6, 1989 when Shadoe Stevens was host (and coincidentally the first week that Rob Durkee was credited as an official staff member of AT40.)

If the question is "When was the first time you heard AT40 with Casey Kasem?", then the answer is March of 1998 when AMFM Radio brought back the name to Casey's shows.

OR if the question is "When was the first time you heard Casey Kasem do a countdown?", then the answer is late June or early July 1989 when I heard a bit of Casey's Top 40 on a static-filled out of town station that I struggled to listen to as I wondered "Why does his voice sound so familiar?" of course not realizing at first that this was the same guy I had heard as the voice of Shaggy and several Transformers including Cliffjumper and Teletran-1. ;D

[Timo]

I first discovered Casey's shows during his CT40 years in 1992 on VOA Europe as their programs were being broadcast here in Finland by our local radio station during evenings. Later in the decade the show disappeared, but when the Internet came along, I rediscovered him and have listened to his shows online every week ever since.

[BROWNJB1]

I heard the show for the first time on New Years Day in 1987. I was over at a relative's house and my cousin was listening to the AT40 year-end countdown show from 1986. I probably didn't start listening to the show on a regular basis until about 2 or 3 months later, and a regular Sunday morning ritual was born.

[robert]

First I might have heard some bits and pieces probably already in the summer of 1983 but the first time I really remember to listen to the show was in late 1984 and I've been on it ever since still having each survey recorded in writing starting with the 1984 year-end countdown.

[marv101]

I grew up listening to Casey here in LA on KRLA/Pasadena; he was part of a superb air personality lineup which included Bob Eubanks ('The Newlywed Game' host), and Charlie O'Donnell, who's been the announcer on 'Wheel Of Fortune for decades.

I listened to his very first show in July of 1970 on KRLA, a year after he'd left KRLA, and Three Dog Night's 'Mama Told Me' (Not To Come) was #1.

[number39]

I was first listening somewhere around late 1970/early 1971. I was 8 years old, and my older brother would tape it. I still have the tapes, so could figure out what the earliest countdown I have is. I know I have a tape of Casey doing the 1970 year-end countdown!

[kc40]

You guys are lucky to have listened to the show during its original run since I'm only 22. Ironically, I was introduced to AT40 on tape before the radio as my uncle had recorded a ton of shows off the cassette player during the '80s. I think the first show I ever listened to was one from August 23, 1986. I remember listening to my first radio broadcast of his show in 2000 and thinking, wow his voice sounds a lot older now! I followed the show until late 2001 when the music just wasn't appealing to me anymore. Now it's great to hear these old broadcasts from the 70s and 80s!

[nickle98499]

I don't remember when the first time I ever heard AT40 was, although it might have been on some station on vacation a long time ago; actually after I started watching Scooby Doo regularly I started to listen to AT40(or some of Casey's other shows on a regular basis), for the most part the first time I got to hear some of the older shows was on XM or as part of Premiere's AT40 70's and 80's series.

Thinking about and reading that some people wrote down lists of songs from the countdowns got me to thinking about one of the things I currently do: that is looking up music surveys and writing down the songs and chart positions from there into notebooks; I have like 20 or so notebooks filled with that info and other sports, music, TV and radio related info; i'll admit it's kind of weird, but it's kind of a cool hobby for me.

[your friend]

May 1, 2010 1:00:46 GMT -5 kc40 said:

You guys are lucky to have listened to the show during its original run since I'm only 22. Ironically, I was introduced to AT40 on tape before the radio as my uncle had recorded a ton of shows off the cassette player during the '80s. I think the first show I ever listened to was one from August 23, 1986. I remember listening to my first radio broadcast of his show in 2000 and thinking, wow his voice sounds a lot older now! I followed the show until late 2001 when the music just wasn't appealing to me anymore. Now it's great to hear these old broadcasts from the 70s and 80s!

I'm 24, and while the music didn't appeal to me much either, I was addicted to AT40. I felt like I gained a deeper appreciation of the music, and of music history in general.

I wasn't raised in the church, so in a sense, AT40 became my "church" every Sunday morning. Fittingly, the show ended its run my senior year. I feel dumb saying this, but I was devastated at the time. I used to do my high school's morning announcements, hosted a TV show for my high school, was on Speech Team, was featured occasionally throughout the year on a station that would compete with the local AT40 station, and volunteered at the local public-access cable station -- and I have to attribute this interest and love of broadcasting to Casey Kasem.

Nowadays, I've found my way back into church (my grandmother would be ecstatic) and listen to the Pastor during the time I used to listen to AT40. Kasem's AT40 is very much an ingrained part of me, and I look back on my teen years and remember what a huge role Casey Kasem played in shaping me. The final long distance dedication was quite fitting.

Even though we've never met... he's someone I considered my "radio" friend and during the angsty hormone-filled teen years, his show was a rock of stability for me.

[shemp9971]

Yeah, I first heard AT40 in 1981. My older sister's radio was on and I heard it from her room. The first #1's I heard were "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" by Chicago and "Abracadabra" by the Steve Miller Band.

[jdelachjr2002]

Yeah, I first heard AT40 in 1981. My older sister's radio was on and I heard it from her room. The first #1's I heard were "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" by Chicago and "Abracadabra" by the Steve Miller Band.

Shemp, these were #1 songs in 1982, not 1981.

[at40freak]

The first time I was introduced to Casey was during the CT40 era in the Spring of 1994. I was only 7 years old and just starting to listen to Top 40 music. I couldn't even tell you what was #1, probably Mariah Carey. As for AT40, I'm not exactly sure. It was probably not too long after it was brought back in the late 90's. I actually never became a real faithful listener like most here until about a year and a 1/2 ago, first through the reruns on XM and now the 70's and 80's series on terrestrial radio.