When was the first time you heard At40?

[vto66]

Mar 5, 2013 8:33:58 GMT -5 robynwatts said:

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

I remember hearing that show a few times on KDON.

[amsterdam]

First time was the summer of 1985. I'm from Holland, and there was no such thing as 100's of us stations on your radio. The only chance to listen was on the German radio station WDR2.
The show was completely in german language, it was a couple of months later when AFN appeared on the Amsterdam cable network.
Cause i was the only freak who taped all the nightshows i could predict what was gonna be a hit here in europe.........A lot of the top hits at that time came from the us only it took them a couple of months .
Offcourse some hits went the other way around.
Anyway, i founded out that the shows are rerunning and it came as a sort of flashback.
So now my new addiction.....scoring as much shows as possible.

[tpwbandit]

My earliest memory of listening to AT40 is probably the summer of 1973 between 7th and 8th grade. The local radio stations in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton PA that played it had to be either WILK 980 (Wilkes-Barre) or WARM 590 (Scranton) ? They were the only AM stations in the area with strong signals at the time. Listening to FM radio did not really become popular in Northeastern PA until I got to high school several years later and the most popular FM station WEZX 107.1 (Rock 107) played mostly classic rock. They never picked up AT40 that I can recall ?

[OldSchoolAT40Fan]

I do admit that the first time I heard AT40 was in July 1982 when I was on a road trip to the west coast of Newfoundland. As I was heading towards Grand Falls (a Central Newfoundland community), I think I was hearing "Don't You Want Me" by Human League, and maybe "Abracadabra" by Steve Miller Band and I could of sworn they were on the same show that week. I developed an interest in AT40 slowly but surely, though I was too focused on Saturday morning cartoons during the coming years.

But it wasn't until the fall of 1986 that I started to become a full-time listener. The first time I got to listen to just about a full show was on October 18, 1986. Not to mention that my taste for music was increasing greatly, and it might be due to the slow decline in my taste for newer TV shows by that time (my taste for TV hit its peak during the 1983-84 season, in fact). Saturday morning cartoons were becoming duller and duller as we headed towards the 1990s (I really got into game shows big time by 1987), thus allowing more opportunity for me to tune in to hear Casey Kasem's (and eventually Shadoe Stevens') voice counting down the hits every week, right through AT40's original last show in January 1995, though I did devote to Casey's Top 40 afterwards, and AT40's replacement show, The World Chart Show, is just lame.

Now, in this day and age, Ryan's hosting, and the show is just pure crap now. Plus shortly after Ryan's run started, and the existing cartoons on Saturday mornings being dull (cartoons on ABC - the only remaining of the big three networks to air cartoons on Saturday mornings - were on the way out by that time), I sought an interest in the Internet and certain associated sites, where I could get a retro trip with certain shows and music that I enjoyed greatly back in the 80s. If not for my computer and the Internet, I probably wouldn't enjoy weekends the same anymore.

But I agree, since I have my iPod, I can fill it with the game shows, some Saturday morning cartoons, and AT40 episodes and retro music I grew up with, and listen and view to my heart's content any time. TV was just dull after the 80s were over, except for Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Arthur and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? - and I have lost interest in all of those shows eventually.

[prezes]

March 1992 so I don't know Casey's period. I must say Shadoe was my favorite host and what I loved the most were loops of intro.

[Deleted]

After hearing "Hold on Tight" on Casey Kasem's American Top 40 Mighty 690 AM Radio Show back in 1981 while with family around Ventura, California, a US 101 road trip to Santa Barbara when I was just 8 years old, Dad then bought me my very first Electric Light Orchestra album from Tower Records, an audio cassette of Time by ELO, thus started the fandom, 33 years ago...

That was my very 1st and last AT40 countdown show memory until 30 years later, 3 years ago my Mom helped me revisit it when she said she'd been listening to KOLA 99.9 out of Redlands, California, with Casey Kasem on Saturdays - The 80's, then Sundays - The 70's from January-March, so now I'm a big fan, thanks!

[radiogeekheaven]

October, 1973. I was visiting my grandparents and heard the Sunday night broadcast on KNOX-AM 1310 out of Grand Forks. Was riding my bike and turning the dial on my red and white Arvin Bike Radio. (Remember those?) KDWB-AM 630 in my hometown of Minneapolis didn't pick up AT40 until the first week of January, 1974. For 3 months, I listened to a fading, interference-prone signal from KOIL-AM 1290 in Omaha. But I could always pick out enough of each song to write down the title, artist, and chart position in my Spiral notebook. Been a huge fan ever since!