"Revamped" AT40

[Scott Lakefield]

For those that haven't listened to AT40 in the past six weeks, I strongly advise you to give it another listen...and with an open mind.

After a large makeover, it's now got far more talk (Ryan intros about 30-35 of the songs in the countdown) and sounds far more like the "classic" shows than Ryan probably ever has. I liken it to the Shadoe era in terms of format. There were even station mentions on this past weekend's show.

In short, it seems like a LOT more effort is being put into the show and overall I like it. True, there's things I'd still change, but give it a listen and share what you think.

Let's keep this discussion purely to the show format as I'd like to hear what you all think on that topic.

I know there are many on here who don't like today's music (separate discussion). I also know there are many that think Seacrest can't do anything right(I respectfully disagree, but again, separate discussion). Let's keep those and similar topics to other threads. Thanks!

[Deleted]

I heard a few minutes. Seems nice but honestly I had gotten used to the other format finally that it didn't bother me anymore. Admittedly I have gotten behind on the old stuff I listen to. I've been listening to more news lately since I discovered some no name Schnitt guy left Tampa. Wonder where he is or who would dare work for him .

[BrettVW]

I agree wholeheartedly. I had gotten so used to the typical schtick of generic iHeart liners between songs with some copied and pasted content from Ryan's morning show between the songs that I had simply accepted it as the new normal long ago.

While I admittedly don't hear the whole show most weekends, it is so refreshing to hear Ryan actually sound like he is hosting a countdown again. I have always said the show is now tailored to exactly what it needs to be to succeed - and they have found a way to keep that vibe, keep it PPM friendly, and bring back actual AT40 show content very successfully. I'm not sure who backed this, but they deserve some major props. I am proud that AT40 sounds so great again after some lackluster years. Ryan and the entire staff should be proud.

[Scott Lakefield]

Apr 11, 2016 17:24:27 GMT -5 BrettVW said:

I agree wholeheartedly. I had gotten so used to the typical schtick of generic iHeart liners between songs with some copied and pasted content from Ryan's morning show between the songs that I had simply accepted it as the new normal long ago.

While I admittedly don't hear the whole show most weekends, it is so refreshing to hear Ryan actually sound like he is hosting a countdown again. I have always said the show is now tailored to exactly what it needs to be to succeed - and they have found a way to keep that vibe, keep it PPM friendly, and bring back actual AT40 show content very successfully. I'm not sure who backed this, but they deserve some major props. I am proud that AT40 sounds so great again after some lackluster years. Ryan and the entire staff should be proud.

Well said, Brett. I agree with your agreement. Lol

[adam31]

I will be giving it a listen if I can find a station airing online. This sounds exactly what I was hoping they would do.

[BrettVW]

Good news there is that you can listen 24/7 on the AT40 channel on iHeartRadio.

[statenislandfan]

Having been listening to Ryan since the beginning, (January 2004) there is a huge improvement on the performance of the show. Maybe it's because he's doing less things now (No more Idol)it seems like he's not rushing through the show anymore. It's like he's enjoying doing the show now. However, "Tell me something good" has to go.

[Deleted]

I'm up to a point in my past listening where I have some of the AT40 shows from 10 years ago. I've been listening. I have to say the show now sounds much better flow wise to me then the ones from then. Some of show id's starting and ending segments felt long and unnecessary, the interviews just seem to go and go and go, that few seconds he'd talk about something completely random before the show even began. Things are MUCH better now.

[Deleted]

I am listening to AT40 CHR on a weekly basis since the show could be heard on wednesdays and I like it. It makes me feel I am in the 90s again or so, it has that chart spirit when we were younger . It is obvious Ryan knows and respects the show´s legacy. I like when some listeners requests are played and cities or places are mentioned, it is closer to those old LDDs. Maybe the HAC could be even more interesting according to my taste. I have to tried it,too.

[BrettVW]

I actually prefer the CHR version. The music is so similar these days, and there are segments in the HAC version that are still not quite as put together. I feel as if they produce the CHR show and then edit as much of it into the HAC show as possible. You will hear more sweeps and generic segments in the HAC version. Not anything like the horrible cut and paste job of the Dees Hot AC shows in the 90s and early 2000s (remember when the Weekly Top 40 would start at #30?) but you still aren't getting the full show on the CHR version.

[80sat40fan]

Given the topic, I thought I would give a Ryan Seacrest hosted show a listen... something I haven't done in 3 years. Admittedly, I don't listen to Top 40 songs these days but as Scott said, give it a try. So I did for 45 minutes or so. My thoughts:

* The show streamed online didn't match up with the chart posted online on AT40's website. The chart was for the week ending July 9 while the showing playing today (Friday afternoon, July 15) is this week's show, for the week ending July 16. Because of this, I had to jump around and see who was where last week.
* There were two extras in the time I listened (#29 - #21). One was a predicted future hit. Why was it played in the second hour? Rick Dees playing the "Sure Shot" at the beginning of his shows made sense. The other was "Locked Out Of Heaven" by Bruno Mars which basically put most of the songs around it to shame... but I kept listening! I was a little turned off to hearing two extras within an hour.
* Sometimes Ryan speaks too quickly in identifying an artist, and with him not always introing and outroing a song, I would have missed who the artists were had I not had the chart in front of me.
* "JB at 24 with Lose Yourself". I don't think Casey Kasem would ever say, "BA at 5 with Summer of '69." He would say, "Bryan Adams on American Top 40. He moves up two notches to #5 with Summer of '69." There's a difference between making a show sound like it's geared towards teens and a show for the mass audience. Casey understood people of all ages listened to him... Ryan's people don't get that.
* I only heard two quick stories about songs or artists, and one of the stories was about Paul Rudd. Casey would have done a better job tying the story in with the artist.
* "Locked Out Of Heaven" was played as an extra without a story behind it. Why?
* Ryan didn't identify many songs' chart movements from the previous week... Casey almost always did save for the first few years in the 70s.

Basically, it's a countdown show just trying to sound like any Top 40 station across America. Why have this type of show if there's no feel for a buildup in counting down the Top 40 hits?

I really wanted to like this... and I probably sound like everyone's father when I write this . If his show is getting good ratings, then the format is working for AT40. It's just not a show I would listen to with any regularity.

BTW, 49 year-old male here... I'm probably not Ryan's target audience but I would have been part of Casey's target audience.

[OnWithTheCountdown]

Didn't want to create a new thread, but thought I'd put it here. This past weekend's show (the first regular countdown of 2021) features new imaging, which hadn't been updated in quite some time. It's not completely new (a la 1/14/1984 or 2/11/1989), but much of it is. Been listening more regularly since the first weekend of December 2019.

[dth1971]

But Ryan's AT40 still uses the no recurrent rule?

[statenislandfan]

Must be a sign that the pandemic is going away slowly. The 24 hour I Heart Station has started playing commercials again. Optional extras are also being played.

[OnWithTheCountdown]

Apr 11, 2021 5:28:31 GMT -5 statenislandfan said:

Must be a sign that the pandemic is going away slowly. The 24 hour I Heart Station has started playing commercials again. Optional extras are also being played.

Was there a time when the iHeart station was playing commercials?  I've been a regular listener since 2019 (and sporadically before that) and I didn't hear any commercials then.  The classic channel (AT40 70s and 80s) are airing commercials, too, much to the displeasure of many (as already seen on these boards).  So I'm thinking this recent change isn't pandemic-related.

The optional extras (sometimes listener requests) just got added in as well, so listening to a show on loop got noticeably longer; before commercials and extras, it was just over 3 hours.  Previously you could only hear those on terrestrial radio (not all stations air them, though my local station has and still does).