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Post by adam31 on Jan 28, 2021 14:52:46 GMT -5
--and for the first time, in the show’s closing, Casey acknowledged Watermark Inc. as "a unit of ABC Radio Enterprises"; details of ABC’s acquisition of Watermark were described in an article in Billboard’s January 30, 1982 issue “Now, on with the countdown...” ....and the rest is history. ABC screws up AT40 a little each year until its ultimate demise in 1995.
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Post by dukelightning on Jan 28, 2021 20:44:59 GMT -5
Here’s a preview for this weekend’s January 30, 1982 program… --Journey kicked off the countdown at #40 and returned for an encore at #21 --this week’s three-decade artists (with hits in the 60s, 70s and 80s) included Stevie Wonder, Neil Diamond, the Beach Boys, Kenny Rogers, Diana Ross, Barbra Streisand and the Rolling Stones --as “Why Do Fools Fall In Love” by Diana Ross fell out of the Top 40, she debuted at #29 this week with “Mirror, Mirror” --enjoying their greatest influence on the American charts, Australia was well-represented on the survey with Rick Springfield, Air Supply, Little River Band and, with a British nod, Olivia Newton-John --a chart first as Daryl Hall & John Oates moved into the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot Soul Singles survey with “I Can’t Go For That” --and poor Foreigner, 10 consecutive weeks at #2 --similar to a Christmas countdown where Casey once observed music originating “from the ridiculous to the sublime,” this week he visits a video game arcade with a novelty featuring Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde … and later attends the symphony to present Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Gershwin in “Hooked On Classics” --in retrospect, this week’s Top 40 one-hit-wonders include Buckner & Garcia, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Eddie Schwartz and Bertie Higgins --and for the first time, in the show’s closing, Casey acknowledged Watermark Inc. as "a unit of ABC Radio Enterprises"; details of ABC’s acquisition of Watermark were described in an article in Billboard’s January 30, 1982 issue “Now, on with the countdown...” That move into the #1 spot of the soul chart was the first time that year that a song hit #1 on both the soul chart and Hot 100. Nothing unusual there seeing as it was still January. But come the end of the year, it was still the only song to do that. That was unusual!
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Post by mga707 on Jan 28, 2021 20:51:40 GMT -5
That move into the #1 spot of the soul chart was the first time that year that a song hit #1 on both the soul chart and Hot 100. Nothing unusual there seeing as it was still January. But come the end of the year, it was still the only song to do that. That was unusual! Was the next song to hit #1 on both charts "Billie Jean", or did "Baby Come To Me" reach #1 Soul?
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Post by dukelightning on Jan 28, 2021 20:55:53 GMT -5
"Billie Jean". Baby only hit #9 Soul btw.
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Post by dth1971 on Jan 28, 2021 21:20:41 GMT -5
--and for the first time, in the show’s closing, Casey acknowledged Watermark Inc. as "a unit of ABC Radio Enterprises"; details of ABC’s acquisition of Watermark were described in an article in Billboard’s January 30, 1982 issue “Now, on with the countdown...” ....and the rest is history. ABC screws up AT40 a little each year until its ultimate demise in 1995. How did ABC screw up AT40 a little each year until its 1995 demise?
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Post by adam31 on Jan 29, 2021 8:44:20 GMT -5
....and the rest is history. ABC screws up AT40 a little each year until its ultimate demise in 1995. How did ABC screw up AT40 a little each year until its 1995 demise? I have a lot of respect for what Watermark as a company achieved and it appears to have been a tight knit family like company. I don't know how ABC came to acquire Watermark, whether through hostile takeover or what, but after ABC became involved it seemed from what I read, a corporate culture began to evolve. I obviously wasn't there like Pete, but reading through Rob Durkee's book "Countdown Of The Century", my opinion is that ABC screwed AT40 a little each year by (in chronological order) 1. Overbearing ad inventory demands and tactics on affiliates causing a high turnover of stations. ABC's threatening posture towards affiliates to take other network offerings or risk losing AT40. 2. Hardball negoitations with Casey Kasem over his final two contracts, eventually leading to his departure in 1988 and creation of competition in the form of Casey's Top 40. This threatened to tarnish the legacy of Casey and AT40 forever. Thankfully, it all worked out as Casey was able to get favorable terms in his contract crediting him and Don Bustany with the creation of the show when leaving, leading to him and Don reacquiring their rights and allowing AT40 to come back and continue to this day. 3. ABC's direction of personality and script changes to Shadoe Stevens, stifling his creativity and even forcing the incredibly professional radio broadcaster to work with a voice coach and to try to "wrap his words" around copy written in Casey Kasem's style. 4. Transitioning to a digital studio which only had the memory space for one version of a song to be stored at a time, leading to the dreaded "looping" in the countdowns later years. If I really thought about it, I could probably come up with more but there's a start.
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Post by Mike on Jan 29, 2021 10:40:22 GMT -5
I have a lot of respect for what Watermark as a company achieved and it appears to have been a tight knit family like company. I don't know how ABC came to acquire Watermark, whether through hostile takeover or what, but after ABC became involved it seemed from what I read, a corporate culture began to evolve. I obviously wasn't there like Pete, but reading through Rob Durkee's book "Countdown Of The Century", my opinion is that ABC screwed AT40 a little each year by (in chronological order) 1. Overbearing ad inventory demands and tactics on affiliates causing a high turnover of stations. ABC's threatening posture towards affiliates to take other network offerings or risk losing AT40. 2. Hardball negoitations with Casey Kasem over his final two contracts, eventually leading to his departure in 1988 and creation of competition in the form of Casey's Top 40. This threatened to tarnish the legacy of Casey and AT40 forever. Thankfully, it all worked out as Casey was able to get favorable terms in his contract crediting him and Don Bustany with the creation of the show when leaving, leading to him and Don reacquiring their rights and allowing AT40 to come back and continue to this day. 3. ABC's direction of personality and script changes to Shadoe Stevens, stifling his creativity and even forcing the incredibly professional radio broadcaster to work with a voice coach and to try to "wrap his words" around copy written in Casey Kasem's style. 4. Transitioning to a digital studio which only had the memory space for one version of a song to be stored at a time, leading to the dreaded "looping" in the countdowns later years. If I really thought about it, I could probably come up with more but there's a start. You bought the book fairly recently, didn't you?
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Post by adam31 on Jan 29, 2021 10:52:58 GMT -5
I have a lot of respect for what Watermark as a company achieved and it appears to have been a tight knit family like company. I don't know how ABC came to acquire Watermark, whether through hostile takeover or what, but after ABC became involved it seemed from what I read, a corporate culture began to evolve. I obviously wasn't there like Pete, but reading through Rob Durkee's book "Countdown Of The Century", my opinion is that ABC screwed AT40 a little each year by (in chronological order) 1. Overbearing ad inventory demands and tactics on affiliates causing a high turnover of stations. ABC's threatening posture towards affiliates to take other network offerings or risk losing AT40. 2. Hardball negoitations with Casey Kasem over his final two contracts, eventually leading to his departure in 1988 and creation of competition in the form of Casey's Top 40. This threatened to tarnish the legacy of Casey and AT40 forever. Thankfully, it all worked out as Casey was able to get favorable terms in his contract crediting him and Don Bustany with the creation of the show when leaving, leading to him and Don reacquiring their rights and allowing AT40 to come back and continue to this day. 3. ABC's direction of personality and script changes to Shadoe Stevens, stifling his creativity and even forcing the incredibly professional radio broadcaster to work with a voice coach and to try to "wrap his words" around copy written in Casey Kasem's style. 4. Transitioning to a digital studio which only had the memory space for one version of a song to be stored at a time, leading to the dreaded "looping" in the countdowns later years. If I really thought about it, I could probably come up with more but there's a start. You bought the book fairly recently, didn't you? Ummmm no, I've had it for many years! Did some speculating with a few copies too...Gamestop stock anyone?
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Post by Mike on Jan 29, 2021 11:48:05 GMT -5
It sounded like very fresh research, is all. 1 and 2 can only really be laid at ABC's feet. 3 sounds a lot like corporate culture run amok, like trying to force someone into an exact specific mold - I seem to recall that we've talked about Casey going robotic at CT40 as time went on as well. As for 4 - that might explain where the practice came from, and might explain instances where it seems like given songs would always be looped (I'm suspecting that "Humpin' Around" falls into this category) - but evidently something about the practice must have stuck somewhere, as it carried over into Casey's return in 1998. It seems like they finally managed to phase it out during 1999, but my point is that ABC wouldn't be the only ones guilty of it.
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Post by matt on Jan 29, 2021 13:59:43 GMT -5
How did ABC screw up AT40 a little each year until its 1995 demise? I have a lot of respect for what Watermark as a company achieved and it appears to have been a tight knit family like company. I don't know how ABC came to acquire Watermark, whether through hostile takeover or what, but after ABC became involved it seemed from what I read, a corporate culture began to evolve. I obviously wasn't there like Pete, but reading through Rob Durkee's book "Countdown Of The Century", my opinion is that ABC screwed AT40 a little each year by (in chronological order) 1. Overbearing ad inventory demands and tactics on affiliates causing a high turnover of stations. ABC's threatening posture towards affiliates to take other network offerings or risk losing AT40. 2. Hardball negoitations with Casey Kasem over his final two contracts, eventually leading to his departure in 1988 and creation of competition in the form of Casey's Top 40. This threatened to tarnish the legacy of Casey and AT40 forever. Thankfully, it all worked out as Casey was able to get favorable terms in his contract crediting him and Don Bustany with the creation of the show when leaving, leading to him and Don reacquiring their rights and allowing AT40 to come back and continue to this day. 3. ABC's direction of personality and script changes to Shadoe Stevens, stifling his creativity and even forcing the incredibly professional radio broadcaster to work with a voice coach and to try to "wrap his words" around copy written in Casey Kasem's style. 4. Transitioning to a digital studio which only had the memory space for one version of a song to be stored at a time, leading to the dreaded "looping" in the countdowns later years. If I really thought about it, I could probably come up with more but there's a start. In reading Durkee's book, the ABC merger in 1981 was one acquisition that forced some changes, while another was ABC's acquisition of Capital Cities in 1985. From reading between the lines so to speak, that may have been the one that ultimately led to Casey's exit. New suits came in and started making decisions that upset the apple cart with Casey and made him want to explore other options. But indeed, the ABC Watermark merger seemed to kick off some of the changes that rippled throughout the 80s though I have to admit, those years are some of my fondest memories of the show.
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Post by adam31 on Jan 29, 2021 14:18:24 GMT -5
It sounded like very fresh research, is all. 1 and 2 can only really be laid at ABC's feet. 3 sounds a lot like corporate culture run amok, like trying to force someone into an exact specific mold - I seem to recall that we've talked about Casey going robotic at CT40 as time went on as well. As for 4 - that might explain where the practice came from, and might explain instances where it seems like given songs would always be looped (I'm suspecting that "Humpin' Around" falls into this category) - but evidently something about the practice must have stuck somewhere, as it carried over into Casey's return in 1998. It seems like they finally managed to phase it out during 1999, but my point is that ABC wouldn't be the only ones guilty of it. No, not "fresh research", these ABC transgressions are firmly planted in my mind . One of the early examples of a terrible trend that continues today when corporate "suits" try to force changes in the radio medium I love, that are either because of their mismanagement, done only for their financial benefit, or because they are somehow thrown in a position of "power" when they have no idea what radio really is supposed to be. I thought most of us diehard AT40 fans and lovers already knew what happened. It kind of surprised me when dth1971 asked how ABC screwed up. Anyway...back to the countdown on WWIS from 1982. Enjoying the PAC-MAN story by Casey and all the sound effects. I blew every quarter I could find on all the arcade co-ops as a kid!
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Post by trekkielo on Jan 29, 2021 16:06:03 GMT -5
It sounded like very fresh research, is all. 1 and 2 can only really be laid at ABC's feet. 3 sounds a lot like corporate culture run amok, like trying to force someone into an exact specific mold - I seem to recall that we've talked about Casey going robotic at CT40 as time went on as well. As for 4 - that might explain where the practice came from, and might explain instances where it seems like given songs would always be looped (I'm suspecting that "Humpin' Around" falls into this category) - but evidently something about the practice must have stuck somewhere, as it carried over into Casey's return in 1998. It seems like they finally managed to phase it out during 1999, but my point is that ABC wouldn't be the only ones guilty of it. Anyway...back to the countdown on WWIS from 1982. Enjoying the PAC-MAN story by Casey and all the sound effects. I blew every quarter I could find on all the arcade co-ops as a kid! I was at all the SoCal local arcades like Aladdin in Redlands Mall, Inland Center, Fiesta Village, Castle Park and Disneyland's Starcade, etc. "Well now we're up to the new hit record inspired by a melody that was played four billion times during 1981, a tune that never had the possibility of hitting the charts because it wasn't released as a record, it came from a form of entertainment that's taking over the world, the video games, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Defender, Asteroids and more coming all the time, and their flashing video screens are accompanied by sound effects, boops 'n' beeps, and crunching 'n' crashing, and even jingles 'n' songs, and there's one particular game that features a piece of music that was played more often last year than any other song in the USA, it couldn't be found on a jukebox, or heard on the radio, or bought in a record store, but drop a quarter in the machine and out comes...according to the trade journal RePlay Magazine, that's the theme of the biggest money making video game of 1981, the average machine is played 136 times a day, that's nearly 50,000 plays a year, and with more than 90,000 of these machines gobbling up quarters all over the country, it totaled more than four billion plays in the year 1981, let's make it four billion and one...that's the jingle from the Pac-Man video game, the one where the little round Pac-Man tries to gobble up monsters in the maze before they gobble him up, well now the inevitable has happened, someone has made a commercial recording of the Pac-Man jingle, and here it is debuting at #38 this week on American Top 40, Pac-Man Fever by Buckner & Garcia..."
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Post by mike1985 on Jan 29, 2021 20:09:17 GMT -5
So we've had 84, then 83, 82 this weekend, and 81 next weekend. We already had an 80 show to start the year off, so in two weeks are we looking at an 88 show, then going down in order to 85? If I remember right there was 4 or 5 weeks in a row of shows that were in order. Not that it matters with the music, but I like the scattered aspect to the years. I don't really miss the 1988 shows, but I think we are well overdue for one.
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Post by burcjm on Jan 30, 2021 1:30:55 GMT -5
^I would guess we get 2/20/88 the third week of February. That one has aired only once more than a half decade ago.
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Post by dth1971 on Jan 30, 2021 7:16:37 GMT -5
It sounded like very fresh research, is all. 1 and 2 can only really be laid at ABC's feet. 3 sounds a lot like corporate culture run amok, like trying to force someone into an exact specific mold - I seem to recall that we've talked about Casey going robotic at CT40 as time went on as well. As for 4 - that might explain where the practice came from, and might explain instances where it seems like given songs would always be looped (I'm suspecting that "Humpin' Around" falls into this category) - but evidently something about the practice must have stuck somewhere, as it carried over into Casey's return in 1998. It seems like they finally managed to phase it out during 1999, but my point is that ABC wouldn't be the only ones guilty of it. No, not "fresh research", these ABC transgressions are firmly planted in my mind . One of the early examples of a terrible trend that continues today when corporate "suits" try to force changes in the radio medium I love, that are either because of their mismanagement, done only for their financial benefit, or because they are somehow thrown in a position of "power" when they have no idea what radio really is supposed to be. I thought most of us diehard AT40 fans and lovers already knew what happened. It kind of surprised me when dth1971 asked how ABC screwed up. Anyway...back to the countdown on WWIS from 1982. Enjoying the PAC-MAN story by Casey and all the sound effects. I blew every quarter I could find on all the arcade co-ops as a kid! Even ABC Watermark screwed up AT40 allowing to use the songs making the top 40 the Billboard Hot 100 chart source until it abandoned the chart source in November 1991. Blame it on songs making the top 40 that were rap or fueled by sales! Same for the November 1991-December 1992 Billboard Top 40 Radio Monitor source era when a number of dance/rap songs made the top 40 reaches that never even made much CHR radio stations!
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