When was the first time you heard At40?

[Deleted]

First time was when Chicago ´s "If you leave me now" was at number 14 in the summer of 1976, considering the show was on AFRTS Rota with 2 weeks of delay. I did listen to it with my old sister´s HiFi at her house. Then I had to wait till I had my very own FM radio.

Then regulary when ABBA´s "When all is said and done" was somewhere in the top 30

[MEF]

First time hearing AT40, most likely the former WJML in Petoskey, Michigan. In 1979 on Sunday morning, there was only 4 TV stations in northern Michigan. Three channels had religion shows. PBS had shows for preschoolers. For teens like me, it was Casey Kasem on the radio when vacationing during the summer months.

[emorejnworb]

The first time that I listened to American Top 40 was on New Years Day in 1987. I was visiting some relatives and I was in my cousin's bedroom and he was listening to AT40's year-end countdown show from 1986. It was the first time that I heard Casey Kasem's voice on the radio. The show was played on WHYT-FM in Detroit. Surprisingly, I didn't listen to the show when I got home. As a matter of fact, I didn't listen to the show again until about a couple of months later. I don't remember the exact date, but I remember the first song that I listened to on AT40 at home was "Respect Yourself" by Bruce Willis. This was back around March 1987. That sort of began I disagreeociation with the show, and for the first few months of I disagreeociation with the show, I listened to bits and pieces of the show. Then around August of that year, I started listening to the show from beginning to end and it became my Sunday morning ritual and I did this for the next several years and that's how I disagreeociation with American Top 40 got started.

[Deleted]

Dec 13, 2010 10:34:54 GMT -5 @jcaragon said:

Then regulary when ABBA´s "When all is said and done" was somewhere in the top 30

Well, that was last weekend show by Premiere , with ABBA at number 27. So from that week, I did not miss a single AT40 show hoping to listen to ABBA again.

[matt]

I can't remember the exact date of the show, but I started listening to AT40 around the spring of 1980 (sometime in the April-June timeframe - I believe that Blondie's "Call Me" was at or near #1 and Christopher Cross' "Ride Like the Wind" was also in the top 2 or 3 on the first show I listened to). I also remember listening to the 4th of July weekend special that year on the way home from a family road trip...

[Deleted]

I dont know if I have ever commented in this thread, if I have then I apologize for saying the same thing again most likely. My first recollection of knowing who Casey Kasem was came not from AT40, but "Americas Top 10." It aired Saturdays at noon on our local CBS station after reruns of "Land of the Lost." Then, soon after this, my older sisters and I...well, mainly them, I just followed along...would run out the church door as soon as the service was over to go run to the car and hear the top 3 or 4 songs of the week.

[dukelightning]

I can relate to going to church and running out afterward to listen to AT40. My local station ran it on Sunday morning and I would hear the first part of it before church and then when it was over, I would quickly head back to the car to get back to it. So I would miss at least an hour in between. Luckily the station would reair it later in the day so I heard the whole show, 3 hours back then.

[Deleted]

Mar 23, 2011 20:17:18 GMT -5 dukelightning said:

I can relate to going to church and running out afterward to listen to AT40. My local station ran it on Sunday morning and I would hear the first part of it before church and then when it was over, I would quickly head back to the car to get back to it. So I would miss at least an hour in between. Luckily the station would reair it later in the day so I heard the whole show, 3 hours back then.

For us it was 2 1/2 hours. Our Grandfather was the pastor so we had to go to Sunday School and church.

[Deleted]

Did you try to get the show on another station which took it on Saturdays or later on Sundays ?. Those days it was easy, I think, to do radio DXing and find another station giving the show, but perhaps it was not an easy thing for kids to do ...

[Deleted]

No, I was like 5 or 6. I probably thought it was live or on at the same time everywhere so I never attempted to listen elsewhere.

[caseyfan100]

I can relate to the church thing. In the area of Iowa where I lived,one station started the show at 10 in the morning and once it hit 11,I too was out in the car after church to start listening. I was also lucky because I could pick up three stations that ran the show and one started at Noon. Some people might not have been so lucky because if you lived in or near a large city with only one affliate of the show you missed part of it because there was nowhere else to turn.
One thing I did miss however is America's Top 10. No t.v. station in our area ran the show.

[johnnywest]

I was a little kid at the time. I didn't even know what a countdown was!

[at40petebattistini]

Noting the first time I heard Casey and AT40, the 40th anniversary of that event is just a few days away. It's hard to believe it's been that long.

Reading some of the other posts in this thread, it's also difficult to understand sometimes how the program had such a profound effect on so many of us. And likely many more. We're in good company, guys!

[chrislc]

Early 1973 WTRY Troy NY.

Began listening every week, then buying Billboard Magazine, then became announcer and music director for about 20 years. If someone less talented than Casey had been the host, maybe I would have taken a different path? Probably.

[dukelightning]

chrisic, holy @#!*, I started listening to AT40 later that same year on that same station. Years later I did an internship at WTRY but never got into the industry. BTW, WTRY only started playing AT40 on 3/17/73.