This Day In AT40 History (1/14/1984)

[vto66]

Very interesting recap of the "American Top 40" broadcast from January 14, 1984. I vividly remember hearing that one ;D One of the things I remember most vividly about this particular AT40 show (although it was not mentioned in the recap) was that this was the week that AT40 completely changed all of its themes and jingles, including the replacement of the familiar "Shuckatoom" opening theme with a new, more "modern" at least for the 80s, intro. Casey Kasem even mentioned the change in theme music at the very beginning of the show, after introducing himself. I believe this was the only time during the entire "Classic AT40" run whenever AT40 changed theme or jingle music, Casey (or even Shadoe, for that matter) actually mentioned it on the air. This may also have been the first time that all of the themes (opening, hour close, hour open, show closing and logo jingles) changed in the same week, on the same show.

[Scott Lakefield]

Actually, on the 7/4/92 show, most of the thematic elements (save for a few holdover jingles from the 1989 package) were changed, and Shadoe mentioned it at the top of the show.

[Shadoe Fan]

admin said:

Actually, on the 7/4/92 show, most of the thematic elements (save for a few holdover jingles from the 1989 package) were changed, and Shadoe mentioned it at the top of the show.

Shadoe even mentioned on the previous week's show that changes were coming.

[pzimm7700]

admin said:

Actually, on the 7/4/92 show, most of the thematic elements (save for a few holdover jingles from the 1989 package) were changed, and Shadoe mentioned it at the top of the show.

Yes, changing from what I felt like personally were great jingles that induced feelings of importance, to jingles that made me feel like the show belonged on Saturday morning at 6am.....and it was.

[Scott Lakefield]

While at first I enjoyed the "1992 era" jingles, I quickly came to the conclusion that the "1989 era" jingles were SIGNIFICANTLY better. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

[CountEmUp]

at20fantoo said:

Shadoe even mentioned on the previous week's show that changes were coming.

Wow, and ABC actually LET him say something like that?! That doesn't sound like something that would have been scripted. Did they micro-edit any words or pauses?


Back on topic, that 1/14/1984 theme didn't last very long, did it? It sounds like maybe 1/26/85 is the show they switched again, from the "bbwwwweeeaaooooooo" synthesized theme that ends with a "casey's coast to coast" jingle (unvoiced of course), to the trumpet-fanfare theme that ends with the "american top 40" tune (again without vocal of course).

It must have been some time in late 1987 when they changed again, to the theme that starts with the "tumbling" sound effect and ends with the big drums. That one lasted into the Shadoe era.

Does anyone have a list of the themes and jingles and how long they lasted?

[coldcardinal]

ripmreko said:

Back on topic, that 1/14/1984 theme didn't last very long, did it? It sounds like maybe 1/26/85 is the show they switched again, from the "bbwwwweeeaaooooooo" synthesized theme that ends with a "casey's coast to coast" jingle (unvoiced of course), to the trumpet-fanfare theme that ends with the "american top 40" tune (again without vocal of course).

It must have been some time in late 1987 when they changed again, to the theme that starts with the "tumbling" sound effect and ends with the big drums. That one lasted into the Shadoe era.

Does anyone have a list of the themes and jingles and how long they lasted?

I think it was the first or second week of April 1987 that they changed to the "tumbling" opening. I like your descriptions, btw. I call that package the "bop bop bop ba-bop" era, based on the distinctive hour-closing theme.

[BrettVW]

All I know is that I would love to see a new jingle package/theme music on AT20. The current package will celebrate its 10th birthday in March.

[tacomalo]

It would be great if Casey would update the AT20 theme, and when he was doing it, play a medley of all the old jingles and theme music from 1970-present.

I was also hoping that someone would have a summary handy of all the times AT40 theme music and jingles were modified?

[vto66]

admin said:

While at first I enjoyed the "1992 era" jingles, I quickly came to the conclusion that the "1989 era" jingles were SIGNIFICANTLY better. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

That was exactly the way I felt when, in 1982, AT40 altered its closing theme with the jazzy-sax part inserted. I liked the then-current closing theme just the way it was, and felt it unneccessary to "jazz it up" the way they did in '82.

[ontheair]

Actually, the jazzy sax part was in the original version of that theme, introduced in 1979.
(That whole middle was edited out shortly after, but reappeared during the close of The Top 50 of 1979 and Top 50 of the 70s specials.)

[Hervard]

pzimm7700 said:

admin said:

Actually, on the 7/4/92 show, most of the thematic elements (save for a few holdover jingles from the 1989 package) were changed, and Shadoe mentioned it at the top of the show.

Yes, changing from what I felt like personally were great jingles that induced feelings of importance, to jingles that made me feel like the show belonged on Saturday morning at 6am.....and it was.

Yeah, one of the jingles sounded like it had to have been nicked from the "Entertainment Tonight" theme.

As for the theme that was first introduced in early 1984 - you said that it was replaced on January 26, 1985? I wonder if that's why they decided to run the show from January 19, so we'd hear the last show with the synthesized opening which, I thought, was one of the best.