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Rick Dees on iHeart

Dees owns his content, so my suspicion is that he's paying for these streaming channels. iHeart leases access to other broadcasters, such as Cumulus and Beasley. Now Dees has added his content to that group. It's also available at Rick.com.

iHeartRadio the streaming app isn't programmed like iHeart owned radio stations. It's not based on Nielsen ratings or any conventional radio stuff. It's about getting users to sign up for the app and building a mass user base that they sell to advertisers. Very different business model, and on that seems to be working for them.
 
I knew live stations from other groups like Cumulus were on iHeart but I wasn't aware they could also create a custom channel.

The iHeart stream for the classic shows appears to be random, but it's a much better setup than the actual Rick Dees app as far as listening to the old shows.

I put a few minutes of the current weekly show on and it was a bit jarring to hear how old and out of format it sounded.
 
Oh I remember that. What I meant was the current weekly show from this past weekend is *still* using many of the same jingles and soundbites as the shows from the 80s and 90s. And poor Rick sounded so old I wouldn't have necessarily recognized his voice right away if I didn't know it was him.

I can't imagine any CHR station airing it. And from the looks of it, very few do.
 
vw86 said:
Oh I remember that. What I meant was the current weekly show from this past weekend is *still* using many of the same jingles and soundbites as the shows from the 80s and 90s. And poor Rick sounded so old I wouldn't have necessarily recognized his voice right away if I didn't know it was him.

I can't imagine any CHR station airing it. And from the looks of it, very few do.
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When I listened to WT40 again a few years ago, I couldn't believe how different Rick sounded from how he had sounded when I was listening to WT40 on a regular basis in the 90's. I think the only thing they've updated are the song parody intros and removing the Don LaFontaine voiceovers.
 
The fact that they are still using song parody intros and the canned comedy bits in 2025 is why the show has zero affiliates in the markets that matter.

And the fact that the 80s and 90s show contain them is why those shows don't enjoy even a fraction of the success when compared to the AT40 replays even though the Dees shows worked well at the time
 
vw86 said:
The fact that they are still using song parody intros and the canned comedy bits in 2025 is why the show has zero affiliates in the markets that matter.

And the fact that the 80s and 90s show contain them is why those shows don't enjoy even a fraction of the success when compared to the AT40 replays even though the Dees shows worked well at the time
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Eh, he's still on in Kansas City.
 
They have already played this weekend's show today on the current channel loop.

SPOILER:

Gracie Abrams took over No. 1 with That's So True.

Also Rick Dees will be on KOST 103.5 FM in Los Angeles with Ellen K in a mini reunion of Rick Dees in the Morning from KISS 102.7 (1981-2004) on Friday Morning.
 
vw86 said:
The fact that they are still using song parody intros and the canned comedy bits in 2025 is why the show has zero affiliates in the markets that matter.

And the fact that the 80s and 90s show contain them is why those shows don't enjoy even a fraction of the success when compared to the AT40 replays even though the Dees shows worked well at the time
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What bothered me about the Rick Dees shows, especially those between 1993 and 1995, was that he wouldn't play many rap songs, even if they had radio friendly versions (with the profanity removed) on his countdown shows. He would note the songs and their current positions and move on to the next song.

This was different from Casey Kasem, who, at that time, was using the same source (Radio & Records) for his shows. He would play the rap songs that Rick Dees wouldn't play.

I think it was in 1996 that Rick Dees finally began playing some of the harder edged rap songs that charted. What he did, and it is still done today, was to record two different versions of his shows, one for top-40 stations and one for hot AC stations.

Regarding his voice, very few disc jockeys have managed to retain their voices into old age. Steve Goddard's voice is still (relatively) unscathed and so is the voice of Wink Martindale who is now in his 90s. At the time of his passing, Charlie Tuna still sounded pretty much how he sounded like in the early 1970s when he was on KHJ--but they were the exceptions, not the rule.
 
I always wonder why iHeart runs the Casey Kasem AT40 70s/80s channel with no commercials. It's good for me but how does it make money (apart from the commercial we hear when we first turn on the iHeartRadio channel)? I haven't heard the 80s/90s channel so I don't know if that one has spots.

My guess is the two Rick Dees channels will have commercials.
 
ted chittenden said:
Regarding his voice, very few disc jockeys have managed to retain their voices into old age. Steve Goddard's voice is still (relatively) unscathed and so is the voice of Wink Martindale who is now in his 90s. At the time of his passing, Charlie Tuna still sounded pretty much how he sounded like in the early 1970s when he was on KHJ--but they were the exceptions, not the rule.
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Poorman still sounds the same, so does Stern.
 
Gregg. said:
My guess is the two Rick Dees channels will have commercials.
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The AT40 70s/80s and 90s/00s channels are both commercial free. Dees' 80s/90s channel is also commercial free, but the station looping the current show sounds like it's airing the national spots embedded the show for affiliates and iHeart fill promos.

I've always assumed that since Premiere/iHeart owns and has the right to the Casey archives that there is no need to air spots on the AT40 channel. They don't air spots on their original music stations like the decade channels and since they already own the source material it's really no different. Plus there is revenue for Premiere in selling spots for the weekend version sent out to affiliates for a show that, at this point, is a series of repeats of repeats and costs zero to produce.
 
vw86 said:
I've always assumed that since Premiere/iHeart owns and has the right to the Casey archives that there is no need to air spots on the AT40 channel. They don't air spots on their original music stations like the decade channels and since they already own the source material it's really no different.
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There are expenses for those channels because they have to pay royalties to artists, labels, musicians, and songwriters.
 
I had the current week's show on a week or ago and at the end of the show Rick plugged his new channels on "the iHeartMusic app". :oops:
 


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