Post by K.M. Richards on Oct 20, 2024 18:41:23 GMT -5
What about the AT40 2.0 shows? Obviously they are available since some have been played during holiday weekends. Is the reason they are not aired on a weekly basis have something to do with that period of time not being as popular as the 80s? Also what about the Ryan Seacrest shows. I assume they are available to air with no legal issues. Is popularity the issue there as well?
I can't answer for Premiere definitively, but when Casey came back and sold the old shows and the AT40 name to Premiere, it's obvious (to me, anyway) that the agreement included the right to syndicate any AT40s that he hosted in the future. Hence the occasional shows from 1998 until his retirement in 2009 turning up as "bonus" shows.
So my best guess is that your presumption is correct, Duke. It's only been in recent years that Classic Hits stations have ventured into adding 90s titles, and many of those that have done so have been cautious about which ones have universal appeal. This is actually a dilemma for programmers; since CHR (top-40) splintered into sub-genres starting in the late 1980s, whether or not a specific song is still playable is dependent on which "flavor" of CHR the audience listened to when those were currents. For example, those CHRs that went more Urban in the 90s nurtured an audience that would find the more Pop titles from the decade not to their liking. (And vice versa!)
So, since AT40 was essentially trying to cover all the bases, the chart by necessity covering all subgenres, it's questionable as to whether or not those shows are ever going to attract enough affiliates for Premiere to even attempt to syndicate them.
I would imagine that whatever agreement Seacrest signed to host AT40 after Casey's retirement included a clause allowing for the syndication of any shows he hosted to be similarly offered. The only question, again, is whether there's a market for it among the stations.