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Post by BrettVW on Jul 2, 2016 10:48:10 GMT -5
Yes, the AC show still exists, at least as of a couple months ago. The only station I know that plays it is Mix 97.1 in Ashtabula, OH on Saturdays from 9-11am. I have caught it when I am visiting home a few times, and there is little to no actual content from Rick in the show. When it debuted they were even using "Weekly Top 40" jingles when it was known as the "Weekly Top 20." Now they use old WT40 jingles, but cut off the "WT40" part so you just hear "Rick Dees." Whole segments will pass by where it is just jingles and sweepers and no actual voicetracks from Rick.
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Post by BrettVW on Jul 2, 2016 20:01:45 GMT -5
For nostalgias sake, and after reading the article and listening to the Kid Kelly podcast this week, I am listening to Backtrax 80s tonight. Same as always. Reminds me of many Saturday nights in 2002-2003 I would listen to the show after hanging out with friends in high school (they would go do other things after we would go get pizza or something, I would go home and listen to Backtrax USA from 9-11pm... guess who was the geek in the group) I may actually miss this show more than I realized if it ends. Not that I listen to it more than once or twice a year at this point, but knowing it is always on and always the same is kind of comforting.
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Post by BrettVW on Jul 9, 2016 19:20:48 GMT -5
Listening to Backtrax 80s again tonight because, well, call me a sucker but I may actually miss it if it's gone. That said, I swear there is an entire segment they are reusing from an old CD copy of a show I have from 2003... music, clips, and Kid's VT's.
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Post by at40nut on Jul 9, 2016 22:44:24 GMT -5
I agree that BackTrax should end, but only the 80's version. I would like to hear more 90's at least for a couple years or so since there will not likely be any Shadoe and CT40 shows re-aired from the 90's. As far as WT40, that should come to an end without question. Even Dick Clark knew when to call it quits even though I would have liked to see him do Countdown America a little longer. 85-86 dueling countdown shows with Casey Kasem vs Dick Clark was a very interesting period. The sad fact of life is that times change even back in the 90's when two retro shows that I really liked came to an end-Yesterday Live with Dick Bartley and Reeling In The Years with George Taylor Morris. I think BackTrax has lasted longer than thoses two shows combined it seems like.
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Post by OldSchoolAT40Fan on Jul 11, 2016 4:40:32 GMT -5
Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 has had a long enough run, airing for nearly 35 years. I think it's time for it to head off into the sunset. As for broadcasting, it does still air in St. John's, Newfoundland on 99.1 HITS-FM.
Backtrax USA was a good show for the years I heard it on VOCM-FM (1998 to 2000), but after a while, I get tired of the same songs over and over again, rarely something new to the show (as in "lost" 80s tracks), wHich is why i had no desire to hear it on HITS-FM when it returned in the late-2000s. Said radio station dropped the show in late-2010 in favor of - you guessed it - American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest.
The previous radio station,VOCM-FM (known until 2002 as Magic 97), did drop Backtrax USA at the start of 2001 in favor of a local Backtrax show which also included Canadian talent. VOCM-FM switched to a classic rock format in February 2002 and remains to this day.
However, I wonder if Kid Kelly only wanted to focus on 20th century material for his series, and expand to as far as 4-hour broadcasts, and by the time 2017 comes around, he may have had to add 2000s material (which included (c)rap and flip-flop music (my way of describing hip-hop music), most of which Kid Kelly may have hated, resulting in his decision to end Backtrax USA after a quarter of a century?
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Post by BrettVW on Jul 11, 2016 8:07:04 GMT -5
I think you are looking way too much into this. If Kid Kelly saw an opportunity to make money on a 2000s show, he would have done it regardless of his personal music tastes.
It just comes down to the fact that Kid has a very important executive level position at SXM and is likely a very busy man. Backtrax is on the bottom of his priority list now, and the show is not as popular as it was in its prime so he is thinking of ending it. That is all.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2016 19:12:03 GMT -5
I got to thinking about this and it is the same thing you could say for Dees. Imagine about 12-13 years ago, you are on 300+ radio stations domestically and whatever the international count is. Yes you are being forced on the air in many markets because of Premiere's distribution but even before that you were on most of those same affiliates or another one in the market. Revenue is continuing to roll in so you see no reason to change anything. Then, one day you and Premiere can't come to an agreement to continue to distribute your show. Within the next couple of years, your show disappears off of most of the stations it was on...many of whom as I already mentioned were carrying you prior to Premiere being your distributor. With few markets willing to pick you up that you are available, what do you do? You are much older than when you began. Been through ups and downs but you can recognize the industry as a whole has changed dramatically and you no longer have it in you to change much anymore to make your show appealing to a market that is much younger than you and doesn't identify with you anymore. So what's left but to hang on, make a buck, and as long as it doesn't become more expensive or more trouble than it's worth, you'll keep doing it until you've had enough.
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Post by mkarns on Aug 8, 2016 20:51:53 GMT -5
The 80s version of Backtrax, when it premiered in 1992, was something refreshing, or at least different, as at the time 80s nostalgia wasn't really a major "thing" as of yet, so there were a lot of songs played that listeners either remembered or were curious about that hadn't been played on radio much in years. It was among the first shows to successfully exploit nostalgia for the period, and may have ultimately been a victim of its success in a sense: many of the same songs that were not much played elsewhere in the early/mid 90s are now done to death on classic hits and similar stations everywhere, and to my knowledge the show hasn't dug much deeper into "lost" hits from the era.
I'm not as familiar with the 90s version, but since that period seems to get less retro play overall the show may feel less stale or predictable.
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Post by BrettVW on Aug 9, 2016 5:31:34 GMT -5
The 90s show has the idential structure, the same jingle package, and same limited playlist as the 80s. It has not changed since its debut in 2003, except when the show clock changed on both versions in I want to say 2010 or 2011. While some of the songs do not receive regular airplay like the 80s songs, the show unfortunately sounds just as stale.
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Post by BrettVW on Oct 29, 2016 19:29:09 GMT -5
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Post by BrettVW on Aug 5, 2017 19:06:54 GMT -5
After literally forever, Backtrax USA got a new show intro this weekend...... sort of. Instead of the lengthy "time machine" show open, as soon as the female voice says "destination confirmed" they edited in Spyder Harrison saying "The 80s" and it goes right into Kid introing the first song. About a month ago, the closing credits were shortened even more, and last week Kid started saying goodbye while introing the final song, and then after the song a Backtrax stinger liner closes out the show.
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Post by BrettVW on Aug 5, 2017 21:02:24 GMT -5
The 80s show closes with Kid doing a quick outro after the last song again. The 90s shows has the full opening still.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2017 14:03:07 GMT -5
Maybe he forgot the 90s show is still in existence.
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Post by BrettVW on Aug 20, 2017 7:55:58 GMT -5
Backtrax was really strange this weekend. Nearly every talk break had Kid saying a variation of "you've found the station that brings you the 80s Backtrax every week at this time". The first time I heard it I was kind of exciting he was changing up the routine a little. Then he said it again. And again. Then when it came to the "features" like the mystery movie and backwards track, he went into detail explaning them as if he was explaning what they were to a bunch of first graders. It was odd. And I swear they never actually identified the mystery movie, but maybe I wasn't paying attention.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2017 14:53:46 GMT -5
Was it said in such a way or positioned at a point where the station could input a personalized station ID right after? Back when I listened to ideologues on the radio, Scott Shannons intro to Sean Hannity's show was set up that way. He'd say "Sean Hannity is on...." and if the station had nothing it didn't sound awful it was just a few seconds longer instrumental intro, but he'd also do personalized lines for markets as well. Jacksonville and Orlando I know had one, so like Jacksonvilles would sound like "Sean Hannity is on 690 WOKV." And then Hannity would begin his drivel.
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