What do others think of your obsession?

[BrettVW]

I figure I would put this in General since it can cover any show...

I was just wondering what your friends and family think of the way we collect radio shows and wake up at crazy hours on the weekend to catch Casey Kasem, Ryan Seacrest, Rick Dees or Dick Clark count down the hits.

I know that back when AT40 with Casey aired from 6am-10am and I would get up on Saturdays, my mom thought I was absolutely nuts and would sometimes almost get a bit agitated that I could get up for AT40, but not for anything else. Plus, the fact that she is one of those anti-Casey-ites, it never went over well if we had to drive somewhere and the show was still on.

Now that AT20 is on from 9am-Noon on Sunday, and I am a few years older it's not quite as noticeable. But every Sunday that I am back home when I head down to my basement around 8:45, she always says "Time for Casey!" but now that I am a DJ on my college station, she says I have Casey to thank for being my radio inspiration. And on one Sunday when I was sick and had my clock radio tuned in, she knew somethign was wrong when I wasn't down in the basement by 8:55. (I have my main stereo and all of my CD's and shows down there)

However....here at college, where I get AT10 on Saturday morning at 9 and AT20 Sunday morning at 9...it definately is not on the traditional college student schedule. While I do not get up for the start of AT10, and rather simply tune in whenever I wake up....I do set the alarm for AT20 every Sunday, many times to the dismay of my roommate. And when I brought home one of my good friends for a weekend at my house, he went down in my basement and saw all of my shows which are displayed for all to see...he just went...oh my gosh, what an obsession.

But, even though I am in college, I do still faithfully wake up every Sunday morning for the 9am start of American Top 20. It's actually quite calming though. When it's not snowing and 10 degrees out, I will go outside and take a long walk around campus and listen to the show. It's quite peaceful, as at 9:30am or so on a Sunday morning, I am usually the only person on campus that is awake. Even now in the colder months, it is still very calming to just be the only one up, enjoying the show I have loved for so long.

We also have a 9pm-Midnight Sunday night airing, so I could just as easily sleep in. But I do enjoy waking up and enjoying the morning while listening to the show. Even though my friends think I am crazy. But they know that if it's before Noon on Sunday, i'm not going anywhere!

I was just wondering what your family and friends think. I know I have gotten a good friend totally hooked on Casey and following the charts, and we will often times talk online while listening to the show (it comes on at the same time but a different station for her-- so we will compare how the different affiliates go about running the show). We also place trivial bets with each other on how our favorite songs will do. And when one of us likes a song and the other doesn't, we always have fun with that. I teased her to no end when Daughters spent a single week at number one, but was never heard on AT20 at number one because of the year end countdown. She loves the song, I'm not a fan. With all of the winter weather at the end of December, our affiliate never got the first half of the AT20 year end show in time for airing on that Sundya, so on New Years Eve they ran the whole thing from 10am-4pm, so we got together and threw ourselves a little Year End Countdown Party. It is great to have a Casey buddy after all these years.

But most of my friends just think I am nuts for planning my weekends around the radio shows and having my collection of shows in my basement. I imagine this is the norm, but maybe others have at least one good friend that at least tolerates the obsession.

But we all know that sacrificing sleep for a countdown on a Saturday or Sunday morning IS perfectly sane.

Just wanted to see if this was a hot topic with anyone else. Most people still don't understand, but nearly everyone knows not to call or make plans with me from 9am-Noon on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

[Matt Cameron]

When I lived in Augusta Ga for the better part of 8 years, CT40 and eventually the reborn AT40 originally aired from 10:00am-2:00pm, perfect for an aging child of the '70's and '80's like me. Then they did the unthinkable, and moved the show to 6:00am! I found this out by tuning in a couple minutes before 10:00, only to hear the #1 song finishing up! So that threw my schedule out of whack, but I still got up at 5:55am every Sunday, and listened to the show at a much lower volume so as not to offend my neighbors (apartment building, thin walls). I will admit that if I tuned in and Casey had a sub-host, I usually went back to bed (sorry, I'm a Casey nut- we have the same birthday, April 27th).
My relatives don't seem to mind my fixation with the show. In fact, I've gotten more than a few phone calls from my sister at all wee hours of the night, when she and her friends are playing a music trivia (drinking) game and she's snuck into the bathroom and called me on her cellphone so I can give her the answer. I can remember telling her MeatLoaf's real name at about 3 in the morning.

[Deleted]

While none of them understand why it is such a part of my life(they just listen to whatevers on the radio) the explaination I gave once that I can't "just listen" to the radio, I HAVE to have a starting point and ending point, helped them to understand why I like countdown shows so much.

The difference with me is two fold, #1, I have my computer set up to automatically record the shows I want to record everyweek. So, I don't have to make time to listen to them. At some point, I split the segments, remove the commercials and put them on CD or my Dell DJ to listen to later. #2, I actually incorporated work with the shows, everyone at work knew what show I was listening to on what day, and Friday was the day I would pull out an old show from that week in a different year, and people around me would want to listen to that one especially.

[Michael1973]

I think my parents were annoyed when our obsession with countdown shows began (which is ironic, since it was my father who first told me about Casey). Anytime we had to go somewhere during a show, we'd insist that they put in on in the car -- then I'd cringe whenever an "annoying" song came on (my parents had little tolerance for most popular music!).

Then, my brother and I would spend countless hours discussing the shows when they weren't on. For years, we'd make up our own variations of shows or we'd predict what next week's show would sound like.

And yes, there were times when I'd be up at 6:00 AM on weekends to hear the top 40, and I didn't mind a bit!

[Hervard]

Well, back in 1987, before I knew about the means to obtain the R&R paper (and having a limited allowance that made even one edition of R&R unaffordable), my mom was rather reticent about my listening to the show all the time (although even she got annoyed), my dad and stepfamily got all PO'ed about "having to gear their day around my show", which was a bunch of baloney anyway. I was the one who geared MY day around it. If I knew we were going somewhere when the show would be on, I'd take my radio and a tape with me and I'd leave it in the van so I could tape it, or listen to it on the way to and/or from where we were going. But that was bad enough for them. They got all upset, even when I was listening with my headphones. I mean, geez, at least it keeps me occupied instead of fighting with my stepsisters! If I were driving, I'd certainly accept my son listening to the radio instead of shouting "Don't make me pull over this car!" every five minutes.
They didn't even want me taping the show when we were eating dinner during the time it was on, which also didn't make sense. I asked why, and, according to my stepmother, she responded with every parent's number one copout, "because I said so". She couldn't tell me what the downside to my taping my show was because there wasn't one.
Luckily, this happened a limited number of times, since I didn't live with them, but, it happened enough times for me!
Now, it no longer presents a problem, since I have means of getting the charts from the countdowns via the Internet and the R&R paper.

[Deleted]

I understand perfectly Chris, in the early 90's living in J-ville, my father was a choir director at some church in south Georgia someplace, I think it was called Sunny Baptist Church...I am not making that name up. I took MY WALKMAN so I COULD LISTEN to Casey's Top 40 and NOT BE BOTHERED BY MY STEPSISTERS AND SO I WOULDN'T BE ACCUSED OF BOTHERING THEM, my stepmom(aka witch or a few other choice words) made out like my walkman was the problem and we all got in trouble for it because those two wouldn't quit acting immature.

[Matt Cameron]

Has ANYONE ever had a step-parent that they actually liked? Me neither.
I can remember so many Sundays monopolizing the radio so I could listen to the countdown, or trading dish duty or some other chore with one of my siblings so I could listen to the countdown instead of what they wanted to, The lesser mortals never got it....

[BrettVW]

I remember I used to record the show while I had breakfast. Then I decided that was pointless, I could just eat and bring down the portable radio. Boy that got me some looks from my mom.

Now, however, it's commonplace, and she hums along, listening to a few minutes of the show here and there while I get breakfast and read the paper while listening to Casey.

[Hervard]

Paul said:

I understand perfectly Chris, in the early 90's living in J-ville, my father was a choir director at some church in south Georgia someplace, I think it was called Sunny Baptist Church...I am not making that name up. I took MY WALKMAN so I COULD LISTEN to Casey's Top 40 and NOT BE BOTHERED BY MY STEPSISTERS AND SO I WOULDN'T BE ACCUSED OF BOTHERING THEM, my stepmom(aka witch or a few other choice words) made out like my walkman was the problem and we all got in trouble for it because those two wouldn't quit acting immature.

Do you mean listening in the car as you were going to church or actually listening during the service? My Dad and stepmother would have guillotined me for even suggesting that idea.

It seems to me that they tried like anything to keep me from listening to the show, because all signs seem to point to it. I already mentioned that they nixed taping it while we were eating dinner. I mean come on, what the heck could be the smallest bit wrong with that? The tapes I had were 45 minutes on each side. We wouldn't be eating for 45 minutes and even if we were, don't you think it would be normal for someone to get up and leave the room for a moment, say, to use the restroom? I'd probably need to do that at least once and, on the way back, I'd switch the tape. But we never spent that long eating anyway, so that situation never arose.

Then, in August of 1987, they came up with the rule "you have to come to church with us or you can't come over". I mean, puh-friggin'-lease! Can you get more ridiculous than that? That had "we're trying to get you out of listening to your radio show" written all over it! The problem with them was, none of them had a life and to get their kicks, they had to stoop to levels so low. It's like, "Well kids, our family trip that Chris won't be going with us on isn't for months, now. We can tantalize him about that later, but what can we do in the meantime? Let's see, I KNOW! Let's try to think up as many ways as we can to get Chris out of listening to his radio show? Doesn't that sound like fun?" Yeah, that sounds like it would be a real ball!

One time, we were going to a carnival. We had planned to go during the afternoon, but it rained and we had to postpone. My oldest stepsister had to run in a race in South Bend and, since it would be over at 7:00, that meant we'd be going to the carnival during the show. After enduring my stepsisters whining about me worrying about my radio show on the way back(yeah, they sure had it tough! ), we got home and I got out a tape of mine that I'd left at their house and put it inside my jam box, on which I'd been listening to the show on the way home from South Bend. As we were on our way to the carnival, I began taping. The only problem was, only one side was blank and the other side had stuff that I wanted to keep. When we got there, after my Dad locked the doors to the van, I unlocked the one on the door that I was sitting by, and then, every half hour, I'd run back to the van, rewind the tape and listen through it real quick - just leaving it on long enough to know every song that was played, and then rewind the tape. I kept the radio on to catch the songs that were played during both rewinds, then, after the tape was rewound, I'd start taping again and then repeat that process until the show was over (I had no idea why we stayed at the carnival until past 10:00, even though that was way past the two youngest ones' bedtimes, but whatever). And nobody knew what I was doing, so I didn't get in trouble. A perfect example of the principle "what you don't know won't hurt you".

I have no idea why I'm venting about this nearly eighteen years after it happened. I guess I had been PO'ed about it for so long, only I never said anything about it, then when BrettVW posed the question, the memories came back. (No need to worry, though, venting is good for you, even if it's about stuff that happened nearly two decades ago!)

[Deleted]

Did I mention my grandfather was the preacher of this church??? I meant listen to it ON THE WAY to church, I wouldnt have been so stupid or irreverent to suggest listening to it during the service. I am so engrained on christianity I turn the radio down as I drive through the parking lot, just a respect thing. Now look, I am studying to be one. ;D

[Hervard]

Yeah, I figured that you meant listening to it on the way to church. In that case, the situation that you spoke of was a typical scenario of my stepsisters when riding in the car. Such as the part about me listening to the show (which, BTW, was "Rockin' America Top 30 Countdown with Scott Shannon") on the way home back from South Bend. The kids, as I said, were getting all upset about the fact that I was listening to my radio show, which, as I said, was through headphones, so I have no idea why they were so pissed, but whatever. My stepmother blamed their crappy attitude on my listening to the radio, but not once did she tell them that as long as it didn't directly affect them, they shouldn't worry about it (or something along those lines)
But she finally came to her senses about it as we were on our way to the carnival. My Dad stopped by the house so he could get some extra spending money at the carnival and so whoever needed to could use the can. When one of my stepsisters came out, she said, "My mom said that she doesn't want you listening to the radio." I replied, "That's nice." When everyone came back out to the car, she said, "Mom, didn't you say that you didn't want Chris to listen to his radio?" After all that had happened during the car trip home from SB, I expected her to say, "That's right, Chris, turn it off now!" But instead, she said, "(Lisa), would you just mind your own business?" Apparently, she didn't want to talk or hear about the radio show situation anymore (that's why I secretly unlocked the door so I could get into the car - if I asked my Dad to leave it unlocked, war would certainly have broken out!)

[Deleted]

ulij20 said:

Yeah, I figured that you meant listening to it on the way to church. In that case, the situation that you spoke of was a typical scenario of my stepsisters when riding in the car. Such as the part about me listening to the show (which, BTW, was "Rockin' America Top 30 Countdown with Scott Shannon") on the way home back from South Bend. The kids, as I said, were getting all upset about the fact that I was listening to my radio show, which, as I said, was through headphones, so I have no idea why they were so pissed, but whatever. My stepmother blamed their crappy attitude on my listening to the radio, but not once did she tell them that as long as it didn't directly affect them, they shouldn't worry about it (or something along those lines)
But she finally came to her senses about it as we were on our way to the carnival. My Dad stopped by the house so he could get some extra spending money at the carnival and so whoever needed to could use the can. When one of my stepsisters came out, she said, "My mom said that she doesn't want you listening to the radio." I replied, "That's nice." When everyone came back out to the car, she said, "Mom, didn't you say that you didn't want Chris to listen to his radio?" After all that had happened during the car trip home from SB, I expected her to say, "That's right, Chris, turn it off now!" But instead, she said, "(Lisa), would you just mind your own business?" Apparently, she didn't want to talk or hear about the radio show situation anymore (that's why I secretly unlocked the door so I could get into the car - if I asked my Dad to leave it unlocked, war would certainly have broken out!)

Its funny you mentioned Scott Shannons show, that was the show that came on from 6-9 just before Casey's Top 40, so I was actually concluding listening to it and then began listening to Casey.

[aTorridGustofSun]

I was hooked to the charts when I first started listening to Radio AAHS here in Minneapolis/Saint Paul, and loved hearing the top 30 countdown on Saturdays (or was it Sunday?). I used to picture the "charts" as this big thing posted on a wall with cards, and they moved things up a notch or dropped down a few.

A year or so later I discovered American Top 40 with Shadoe Stevens on AT40, and I listened to that until KDWB finally dropped it. I can't remember hearing Casey's Top 40, but I do remember Rick Dees, which KDWB dropped once Casey came back on AT40. I still remember hearing that first show with Casey, and thinking how glad I was that they changed to Casey because he had more chart facts and sounded more professional.

My friends all think that it is a cool hobby to have, but sometimes they think I'm a bit obsessed. Sometimes they try to stump me with chart facts as well ("What was the number 53 hit this week in 1956?"), and to their amusement I get frustrated if I don't know it.

It did lead to good things though. In September 2003 I was a Guest DJ on Ellen K's Rhythm Countdown, which lead to my involvement on Speech Team. In Septemer 2004 I was selected to be the Tone E Fly Morning Show's "Official High School Senior" and every few days they'd call me up and talk to me about life.

Now I'm in college and hosting my own mini-show.

Oh, and everyone laughs when they come into my room and see my framed and autographed copy of Casey's last AT40... . Which I am forever grateful for... it was a great gift to receive.

[Matt Cameron]

Very cool memento! It's a shame you didn't live during the glory days of AT40. Check out some of those old shows if you get the opportunity. By the way, I've got an autographed (by CK) CD copy of the very first AT40 from July 4th, 1970. It was issued as a promo by AM/FM when AT40 was reborn in 1998. I saw a listing for it on e-Bay last year and was prepared to pay a small fortune for it if necessary. Only ended up paying $10 for it!! I treasure it and have listened to it repeatedly since acquiring it.

[BrettVW]

Which last Casey AT40 do you have? August of '88 or January of '04? Either way...an awesome thing to have!!