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Post by chrislc on Apr 11, 2011 13:27:59 GMT -5
Yes, dukedeb, that would explain why I didn't begin listening before that. What a great show. I remember WTRY had that contest at the end of 1973 during Christmas vacation. The first listener to send in the year-end Top 40 with the songs at the correct positions would win something or other. Of course I don't believe the station ever played Why Me that week except maybe once at about 4:30 AM when no one would hear it.
It must easily be the smallest hit ever to make a year-end Top 10.
I felt really cheated when they announced Why Me at #6 or whatever it was.
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Post by dukelightning on Apr 11, 2011 13:38:24 GMT -5
chrisic, this blast from the past is most unexpected. I played that contest on WTRY for 3 or 4 years. I never did get the whole darn thing filled out. Why Me was #2 on AT40's top 40 of 1973. But I thought the contest was based on WTRY's own charts. Actually you could have heard AT40 before that. It was on WABY prior to that. Of course, WTRY had it until 1982 when WFLY took over AT40. Those were the days!
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Post by theblackswan on Sept 28, 2011 8:17:48 GMT -5
Relive those memories again. I have recordings of Casey Kasem's AT 40 the 70's for download. Check out my website at theblackswan.606h.net/ Feel free to download the shows. |
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Post by top40collector on Nov 3, 2012 2:23:51 GMT -5
In Spring 1971 on a Sunday night I found a countdown show of Casey Kasem on a local FM radio station
playing while going through the FM radio dial. I kept a list of songs in a notebook - one page per month -
the left side the name of the song, the right side one column per date listing the song number. I would record on cassette tape each new song and other songs played. The Special and Year End shows recorded in full without commercials. This was a nice way to hear current songs each week. In 1975 the entire show was recorded without commercials and continue each week until the day WDRC cancel it in 1986. I couldn't get NYC FM stations or WPRO. I remember WBZ 1030 Stereo AM. I place my special Sony FM AM Stereo Walkman next to the electric power meter using AC power supply and a audio patch to my bedroom stereo. A little static but no mistake Casey Kasem voice came through and was very happy.
Two train trips to a Providence hotel with a stereo boombox in my travel bag. I thought AT40 would be
on Friday night for the Year End show. That Friday night was the Top 86 of 1986 for WPRO recorded on
4 high bias cassette tapes. I heard the promo for AT40 would be on Sunday morning.. Return home Saturday morning. Got 4 more cassette tapes. Another train ride Sunday morning Got there 30 minutes to
spare before WPRO started AT40. Next 6 months back to my WBZ Stereo AM when I heard WQGN will
have it and found WKSS also had it on another FM tuner. I also recorded Casey Kasem other radio shows
when I found them. Other radio shows not by Casey Kasem was recorded. When I got 2 stero vhs video recorders I would record them and play back to cassette tapes. Most other radio shows left the area.
In 2004 I found them on my computer via the internet. At that time switch to cd-r recordings and VHS
video cassette tapes continue. Started DVD-R recordings March 2010 and HDD recordings in 2012. I found
WDRC had Friday afternoon Top 40 countdowns in 1970. I would cut out WDRC music surveys in the Hartford Courants around 1969. I didn't even knew other radio stations had countdown shows or music surveys at that time. I would buy 45's, LP's, precorded cassette tapes. Later CD's. Now you know my music roots.
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Post by at40petebattistini on Nov 3, 2012 7:22:35 GMT -5
top40collector,
Just curious about the FM radio station you first heard AT40 in the spring of 1971. Do you remember its call letters? WDRC, perhaps?
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Post by top40collector on Nov 3, 2012 10:19:30 GMT -5
Yes. I heard the AT40 show but don't know the first show WDRC aired. I always search on FM radio Sunday nights and found it by luck. I knew nothing about it. My notebook in storage. I began listening to radio around 1960 and saw the 2 Beatles Ed Sullivan tv shows. I ask my father to watch it. I also watch and recorded American Top Ten on TV 18 from Hartford (outside TV/FM antenna) on VHS video cassette tapes. This tv station was not our cable lineup. I was trying to find this topic after reading it 2-3
months ago. I DVD-R disc can hold up to 4 CD-Rs with commercials without piggyback 2 home cdr recorders.
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Post by doomsdaymachine on Nov 3, 2012 16:45:09 GMT -5
In mid-1980. I was 14 at the time but hadn't had much interest in Top 40 music before. Rather, I had concentrated on collecting all the '50s and '60s hits that I could get my young hands on.
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Post by robynwatts on Mar 4, 2013 20:27:38 GMT -5
The first time that I remember hearing AT40 was in 1980 or 1981 was on 97-IT WWIT/Canton, NC while my family was living in nearby Maggie Valley. I only heard bits and pieces of the show at the time as I didn't really have an interest in the show at the time. BTW: That area of the country was interesting as it was one of the last holdouts of AM Top 40 radio as WWIT, WISE in nearby Asheville, and WHKP in Hendersonville continued to play the hits into the early 80s until WISE's newly acquired sister FM, Beautiful/Easy Listening outlet WRLX, changed format to Top 40 as WKSF in September, 1984. This move eventually killed off AM Top 40 radio in the area.
Back to AT40: When my family moved to Columbia, SC later in 1981, I "discovered" "America's Top 10" on the local ABC affiliate (WOLO) and began to watch the show more and more. From there, I found AT40 on WNOK and started to tape songs from the countdown (too poor to buy all of the current singles).
We moved again to Abbeville, SC in 1982 and it took some time before I could find AT40 on the radio, but I found it on WFBC-FM/Greenville and proceeded to tape songs off of it again. For some reason, I could not get a crystal clear signal from the station, so listening to AT40 during that time was spotty (I did manage to find "America's Top 10" on TV, so I wasn't totally without Casey during that period).
Again, my family moved back to Columbia in the Summer of 1983 (my father worked in the construction industry which meant that we moved ever year or so), so that meant that at least I had a clear AT40 affiliate (WNOK). During that time, three things happened:
1): I realized that it would be a good idea to start recording AT40, rather that just try to tape songs off of the show. Since I didn't have the money to buy a lot of cassettes, I just recorded the Top 10 records of the week and kept a log of the 40 songs of the week.
2): I also discovered that there were more that one countdown show to listen to over the weekend. I found out about "Countdown America with John Leader" during that time and would listen to that show on Sunday mornings, while listening to AT40 on Sunday nights. Sadly, "Countdown America" was dropped in my market and I assumed that it was canceled (I discovered a little bit later that wasn't the case). WNOK had replaced "Countdown America" with the then-new "Rick Dees & The Weekly Top 40" (which had turned out to be a good move on their part). Also I discovered that WNOK's rival, Z96 WZLD, was airing "Dick Clark's National Music Survey" and "On The Radio With Big Ron O'Brian" and I started to listen to them as well.
3): I discovered that I loved radio! I found out that Radio Shack sells FM wireless microphones and another company offers a similar product that would allow you to broadcast on AM. So I played around with both mics during my middle school and freshman years of high school, but slowly switched to mixing tapes instead. I did eventually get into the industry, but at the wrong time as consolidation was under way and I soon found myself out of the business, but that's another story.
Anyway, that how I started listening to AT40. Thanks for letting me blab.
Robyn
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Post by folderol on Mar 4, 2013 22:18:44 GMT -5
Nice to see RobynWatts here (I'm from the radio-info boards too!).
My first time would have to be in 1977, on a station out of New York City known as 99x. I would listen every Saturday morning I could, and was boggled that I heard some songs on the countdown my local station wasn't playing - WTH? I later moved to a remote area with little to no radio reception, so the next time I caught up with Casey was on WAVA out of Northern Virginia in the early 80's. Casey is probably the most responsible (along with Dr. Johnny Fever) for me getting into radio. I can still remember Casey telling me (and everyone) one time that a new record has been set - the Top 13 songs were the exact same for two consecutive weeks. I think "Hollywood Nights" by Bob Seger was on the countdown that week. Good times, good times....
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Post by robynwatts on Mar 4, 2013 23:15:30 GMT -5
Hi Folderol, thanks for the welcome.
Slightly OT: Your post had reminded me of a week back in the Spring of 1983 when Casey had mentioned on one of his AT40 shows that there were (I think) 17 acts in that weeks survey that had 2 songs in the Top 40 at the same time (a record at the time and it also became the subject of a trivia question a few years later).
Robyn
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Post by mkarns on Mar 4, 2013 23:58:37 GMT -5
Nice to see RobynWatts here (I'm from the radio-info boards too!). My first time would have to be in 1977, on a station out of New York City known as 99x. I would listen every Saturday morning I could, and was boggled that I heard some songs on the countdown my local station wasn't playing - WTH? I later moved to a remote area with little to no radio reception, so the next time I caught up with Casey was on WAVA out of Northern Virginia in the early 80's. Casey is probably the most responsible (along with Dr. Johnny Fever) for me getting into radio. I can still remember Casey telling me (and everyone) one time that a new record has been set - the Top 13 songs were the exact same for two consecutive weeks. I think "Hollywood Nights" by Bob Seger was on the countdown that week. Good times, good times.... I don't think WAVA ever aired AT40 during its top 40 days (1983-92). In the 80s WPGC and then WRQX (Q107) aired the show in the DC area. WAVA did pick up Casey's Top 40 when that debuted in 1989. |
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Post by at40petebattistini on Mar 5, 2013 2:13:43 GMT -5
folderol,
The week of August 19, 1978 contained a repeat of the previous week's Top 14 songs.
robynwatts and folderol,
Thanks for sharing your stories.
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Post by folderol on Mar 5, 2013 3:47:05 GMT -5
I don't think WAVA ever aired AT40 during its top 40 days (1983-92). In the 80s WPGC and then WRQX (Q107) aired the show in the DC area. WAVA did pick up Casey's Top 40 when that debuted in 1989. Are you sure? I can distinctly remember hearing "Wrap Her Up" by Elton John on the countdown and wonder why WAVA wasn't playing the record at the time, and it was fairly high in its chart run. That said, I could have listened to WAVA during the week and Q107 for the countdowns. It was a long time ago  |
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Post by folderol on Mar 5, 2013 3:54:53 GMT -5
folderol, The week of August 19, 1978 contained a repeat of the previous week's Top 14 songs. robynwatts and folderol, Thanks for sharing your stories. That would be the right time period, "Hollywood Nights" was just making it's AT40 debut. Score one for the old man's memory! (Ok, I said Top 13 and it was really Top 14, but still, not bad for 35 years ago!) |
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Post by robynwatts on Mar 5, 2013 8:33:58 GMT -5
I have a OT question: Doesn't anyone remember "The Weekly Music Magazine" hosted by Charlie Van Dyke (which lasted through 1982 IIRC).
Thanks for any info.
Robyn
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