no more AT40 Best Of's on 94.5?

[indieradioguy]

One of the last remaining ways to hear 70's-era on 94.5 (provided it was a 70's-era AT40 - there was Casey's AT40 in the 70's, too) and now it's gone.

And with that...94.5 deleted off the pre-sets.

 

[The Media Observer]

One of the last remaining ways to hear 70's-era on 94.5 (provided it was a 70's-era AT40 - there was Casey's AT40 in the 70's, too) and now it's gone.

And with that...94.5 deleted off the pre-sets.

Now that's a real WOW factor! Pun intended.

I agree, terrible decision.

 

[landtuna]

One of the last remaining ways to hear 70's-era on 94.5 (provided it was a 70's-era AT40 - there was Casey's AT40 in the 70's, too) and now it's gone.

And with that...94.5 deleted off the pre-sets.

I beat you by about 4 years.

 

[TheBigA]

Now that's a real WOW factor! Pun intended.

Speaking of which, why wouldn't Sebastian pick it up now that it's available? Hello?

The show fits better there anyway.

 

[EricStein]

Is it still being syndicated? If so, I’d imagine it will end up on The Mountain spoon.

 

[CTListener]

Speaking of which, why wouldn't Sebastian pick it up now that it's available? Hello?

The show fits better there anyway.

Not enough re-recordings or '90s country hits in those old AT40s. To add AT40 would be breaking format!

 

[The Media Observer]

Not enough re-recordings or '90s country hits in those old AT40s. To add AT40 would be breaking format!

Good one CT!

 

[The Media Observer]

Is it still being syndicated? If so, I’d imagine it will end up on The Mountain spoon.

Agreed. If anybody in Phoenix would pick up vintage AT40 countdowns, it would be The Mountain.

 

[Deus Ex Machiato]

A couple of points...

First off, I'm fairly certain that for at least the past few years, KOOL has been playing the 80's version of Casey's show.

Second, from a programming perspective, I can kinda understand the decision. You want control over every single song that goes on your station all the time, and for those few hours that Casey's show is running, what your station is playing is totally out of your hands. Plus, since Casey's show was just a repeat of his (in this case) 80's broadcasts, there were bound to be some stinkers down at the lower end of the countdown. Sure, some listeners might be pleasantly surprised to hear "Take It Easy" by Andy Taylor of Duran Duran or "Respect Yourself" by Bruce Willis (seriously, that charted), but familiarity breeds contempt and ratings, unfortunately.

Finally, it's also an unfortunate fact that Casey is quite dead. I can see why Premiere would want to squeeze some dollars out of his legacy, but come on...NPR stopped producing reruns of "Car Talk" a couple years ago, and one of those guys is still alive! Don't get me wrong. I loved listening to Casey, and somewhere I still have a cassette of the infamous out-takes, but it's time to let the man rest.

p.s. Take It Easy by Andy Taylor was actually not half bad.

 

[TheBigA]

Second, from a programming perspective, I can kinda understand the decision. You want control over every single song that goes on your station all the time,

Exactly, and for that reason, CBS (and now Entercom) has an in-house program that basically does the same thing: Scott Shannon's America's Greatest Hits. The difference is that Scott & his team have weeded out all of the duds from the list. We've often discussed how charts are merely a picture of music at the time, and you can't assume what was popular 40 years ago is popular now.

And yes to your point, Premiere offers two versions of AT40. The 70s and the 80s. The shows are still offered now.

 

[EricStein]

Exactly, and for that reason, CBS (and now Entercom) has an in-house program that basically does the same thing: Scott Shannon's America's Greatest Hits. The difference is that Scott & his team have weeded out all of the duds from the list. We've often discussed how charts are merely a picture of music at the time, and you can't assume what was popular 40 years ago is popular now.

And yes to your point, Premiere offers two versions of AT40. The 70s and the 80s. The shows are still offered now.

I don’t care for “America’s Greatest Hits.” It’s the same music they play during the week. Not appointment listening.

I know that once KOOL started focusing on the signature ‘80s pop sound about late 2016, they did not play many of the shows from 1980-82 because of the “yacht rock”/“countrypolitan” and soft sounds that permeated the Top 40 charts during that era.

 

[TheBigA]

I don’t care for “America’s Greatest Hits.” It’s the same music they play during the week. Not appointment listening.

I think that's fair, and I think radio stations don't aim to program for appointment listening as they once did.

They expect people will listen when it's convenient, and they want to be in format whenever that is. Running 30 year old radio shows is breaking format.

 

[Deus Ex Machiato]

I think that's fair, and I think radio stations don't aim to program for appointment listening as they once did.

I think they do program for appointment listening. It's just the appointment is minutes away instead of hours or days. They're programming to the meters. Setting mini-appointments, or what they call tease-payoff. "Coming up in 6 minutes, I'll tell you what Tom Hanks said at the Golden Globes last night" or "coming up in 10 minutes I'll give you the keyword to text and win your chance to win a chance to go to the iHeart Music Awards."

The fact that you've got a show on the air that lets you relive your youth waiting until the weekend to listen to Casey "counting 'em down" doesn't play well with PPM. Saturday morning? That's an eternity in meter time. I'm not saying I like it. I'm just saying it's the reality.

 

[gr8oldies]

There's plenty of places to get your Classic AT40 fix. iHeart has a channel dedicated to it.There are domestic stations that stream it, Sirius XM runs it several times every weekend on 70s on 70s

I think that's fair, and I think radio stations don't aim to program for appointment listening as they once did.

They expect people will listen when it's convenient, and they want to be in format whenever that is. Running 30 year old radio shows is breaking format.

 

[Derek]

Casey is still listed as Sat 6-10am on the KOOL site. The show didn't air last Saturday, but that's happened a few times before only to return the next week (didn't receive the feed? Maybe related to Entercom getting hacked?) Do we know for a fact that the show has been dropped?

 

[EricStein]

Casey is still listed as Sat 6-10am on the KOOL site. The show didn't air last Saturday, but that's happened a few times before only to return the next week (didn't receive the feed? Maybe related to Entercom getting hacked?) Do we know for a fact that the show has been dropped?

Or the only choices of countdowns they had this week were either 1980 or 1981!

 

[99KTKT]

Or the only choices of countdowns they had this week were either 1980 or 1981!

If Premiere runs an '80/'81/'82 show as their 'A' offering for a particular week, they also offer a "B' show from later in the decade for those stations (like KOOL) that think 'the '80s' did not really begin until 1983. The inverse is true as well: If Premiere's '80s 'A' show is from '86/'87/first half of '88 (Casey left 'AT40' in early August 1988 and Premiere does not have the rights to the Shadoe Stevens-hosted shows), then they also offer a "B' show from earlier in the decade to please those affiliates who do not care to run the later '80s shows with their more prevalent rap/hip-hop songs.
But none of this matters for this past weekend, as Premiere's offering for the past two weekends was the two-part Top 100 of 1985. Usual practice for year-end weekends.

 

[bulwnkl]

I got lost. Is the lament about a lack of ‘70s music on 94.5, or the lack of Casey Casem shows from the ‘70s in particular? I ask only because I still hear all ‘70s music on 94.5-HD3. I admit I don’t usually tune that channel on Saturday mornings, so maybe Casey’s ‘70s Show used to be there and is now gone(?).

 

[99KTKT]

I got lost. Is the lament about a lack of ‘70s music on 94.5, or the lack of Casey Casem shows from the ‘70s in particular? I ask only because I still hear all ‘70s music on 94.5-HD3. I admit I don’t usually tune that channel on Saturday mornings, so maybe Casey’s ‘70s Show used to be there and is now gone(?).

KOOL switched from Premiere's 'AT40--the '70s' to 'AT40--the '80s' some years back when they pretty much eliminated all '70s oldies from their playlist on their main frequency, 94.5. Not sure about the sub-frequencies, as I've never heard them. Nor has nearly anyone else, as almost nobody has HD radio. I took the original poster's comment to mean that KOOL has now dropped the show entirely. I guess we'll find out this Saturday morning, when the regular weekly countdowns resume after a two-weekend hiatus for the usual year-end countdowns. This week's '80s show is a 'standalone' (no 'A' or 'B' choices), as it is from the week ending January 15, 1983. If anyone is interested, here is a good source for all things related to the Classic AT40 rebroadcasts: http://at40fg.proboards.com/board/5/american-classics-casey-shadoe-stevens

 

[CTListener]

KOOL switched from Premiere's 'AT40--the '70s' to 'AT40--the '80s' some years back when they pretty much eliminated all '70s oldies from their playlist on their main frequency, 94.5. Not sure about the sub-frequencies, as I've never heard them. Nor has nearly anyone else, as almost nobody has HD radio.

HD-capable FM receivers have been standard in many cars over the past few years, so the number of owners is far from "almost nobody." There's no way to tell, of course, how many of those car owners take advantage of that capability or even know what HD Radio is, since publicity and promotion for it, by radio stations and by its parent company, have disappeared.