AT40 - the late 70's?

[AAllen]

And after reading that memo linked earlier, AT40 was on vinyl as early as 1973, and distributed to 200 stations. I also have two sets of Dick Clark's American Music Survey from Mutual Broadcast System. It included a note that the discs must be DISTROYED immediately after airplay. (Shades of Mission Impossible.) Yet, there they are in stores and my record collection. On Ebay I managed to buy half a dozen CDs of Little Steven's Underground Garage. I had thought for sure such recent shows were now distrbuted exclusively by FTP, but there they were.

 

[dlm1129]

My uncle has a vinyl set from April 15, 1972. They may have been produced on vinyl beginning with the very first program but I really don't know.

Sure loved this morning's 1971 countdown. Lots of stuff I'd forgotten about. And other things, like "Draggin' the Line", brought me right back to spending the summer of 71 at Alki as this blasted out of people's radios, usually set to KJR. Quite inspiring to this 10-year-old.

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

Thanks so much for turning me on to this. I had started in the biz less than a month before this week's countdown (5/1971) and it brought back so many memories of the playlist we had at that time.

 

[searadiofreak]

I, too, caught most of today's 1971 countdown. Fascinating stuff. I was surprised at the number of "hits" that I do not recall, probably due to being too young at the time, combined with the fact that many just don't get airplay anymore. I was also somewhat surprised at the numer of R&B hits, but now that I think about it, this was not an "airplay", countdown, it was a "sales" countdown, and those R&B hits certainly sold. I would suppose KJR-AM (who ran this show in the 70's), played perhaps 70% of this chart. I know they stayed away from a lot of the R&B, for sure.

Also interesting is just the pure variety of this countdown. Everything from James Brown to Donny Osmond to Helen Reddy to John Denver. And frankly, a lot of the songs on this countdown don't deserve airplay today, some were pretty bad. A good reminder that every era has its share of garbage.

Casey, himself, was rather subdued here, acting more as a historian, than a host. And the fact that they threw in a Nat King Cole song from 1951, and Mark Dinning's "Teen Angel" tells us this was a different time indeed.

But, I'm now hooked. Great stuff.

 

[johnbasalla]

Great stuff indeed! I'm listening to a June, 1971 countdown and I've liked every song so far. I love, and have #40, "Cool Aid" by Paul Humphrey and the Cool Aid Chemists! I have some teenage nieces and we've been listening to these countdowns for fun (and as a learning experience, although I don't focus on that). These countdowns give you a great feel for the era. Anyway, to make it more interesting, as we listen, they are armed with Joel Whitburn's "Top Pop" book that has every song in the Hot 100 from 1955 - 2006. As we hear the title and artist, they go find that artists alphabetical listing to see how high the song got on the chart. I'll tell them a little about the artists if I have something interesting to share. I also have the ability to recall labels, so as an extra-added attraction I have to, without looking, see if I can tell them what label the record was on. If we're listening to "American Top 40 - The '70s" at my house, then if I have an original copy of the record being played, I bring it out to show them. This is a lot of fun.

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

I tried to see if there is a Billboard Archive for every week chart but couldn't find it. Many year-by-year recaps but that's all. Maybe one of Whitburn's books covers that territory.

Years ago I had sent a proposal to help Whitburn get his stuff into CD-ROM form (before Internet); but his "handlers" (I think they were attorneys) made it seem like the project was going to be anything but fun.

 

[johnbasalla]

Joel Whitburn's "Record Research, Inc." publishes big books with photo copies of every Hot 100 chart. One for 1955-1959, one for the 1960s, the 1970s and so-on.

 

[Jay F]

Searadiofreak mentioned Casey sounded like a historian on this weeks countdown. To some degree or another he always sounded like a historian every week. This is one of the things I enjoy about the show. He put songs and artists in historical perspective. He was also very detailed about the chart action.

Ryan Seacrest hosts the current edition of American Top 40. I noticed he doesn't talk about chart movement or anything historical. My impression is the countdown itself is just a throwaway or an excuse to have a weekend show with his typical celebrity news and interviews. Although it could be said he is just giving the listeners what they want. I don't think there are as many chart watchers as there were in Casey's day. People today aren't as interested in chart trivia, it's more of a shallow culture.

 

[notalent]

Perhaps there aren't as many chart watchers these days because there are no more singles for sale.

Music sales has become so diffused with with downloads, etc. One can not just go to the story and find a copy of a single for every song on todays top 40.

Record stores now sell CD's mostly in album form... Downloads... well are not always paid for...

The whole notion of an accurate chart these days is questionable.

It would however be interesting if Seacrest did give a historcal perspective on some of the current (er most of the current) songs that contain samples of hit songs from the past.

 

[Jay F]

It would however be interesting if Seacrest did give a historcal perspective on some of the current (er most of the current) songs that contain samples of hit songs from the past.

Yes, I would love to hear Ryan mention or even play "Falling In Love" by Hamilton Joe Frank and Reynolds before playing Drake "Best I Ever Had".

One thing that jumps out listening to the Casey 70s countdowns is there were a LOT more remakes back then than today. I wonder if there is a correlation between the rise of the sample and the decline of the remake/cover version?

 

[SeattleRadioPro]

Years ago I had sent a proposal to help Whitburn get his stuff into CD-ROM form (before Internet); but his "handlers" (I think they were attorneys) made it seem like the project was going to be anything but fun.

The problem may not have been with Whitburn but with Billboard.

In the late '80s RCS (the Selector people) put out a product called Musicbase. Essentially, it was the first "online" Billboard chart system. Like all RCS products, it wasn't sold - it was leased. RCS doesn't make Musicbase anymore but you can see what it looked like here: http://www.8bc.com/main/knihovny_en.htm

As for Whitburn - he now offers online chart services paid for on a per-search basis.

 

[Lonely Summer]

Great countdown this weekend. Was 1971 the beginning of female dominance on the charts? Top three songs were by the Honey Combs, Carpenters, and Carole King. I recall being told years ago not to play female artists back to back. Sounds kind of stupid now, doesn't it? One of the many unwritten rules of broadcasting from days of old. And why does it seem that so many of the best songs were on the radio in the summertime? Did it just seem that way because we were vacationing, and therefore (presumably) in a better mood? There's always been an undefinable magic to summer songs for me.

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

Was more the beginning of singer/songwriter dominance. C. King ... J Taylor (though this week's obviously NOT his comp) ... Croce ... Denver ... even Richard Carpenter. All set the tone that it's even more impressive when the artist composed the tune (mid-90's would have been LOST without that concept...remember all the Lillith artists??)

 

[dlm1129]

Great countdown this weekend. Was 1971 the beginning of female dominance on the charts? Top three songs were by the Honey Combs, Carpenters, and Carole King. I recall being told years ago not to play female artists back to back. Sounds kind of stupid now, doesn't it? One of the many unwritten rules of broadcasting from days of old. And why does it seem that so many of the best songs were on the radio in the summertime? Did it just seem that way because we were vacationing, and therefore (presumably) in a better mood? There's always been an undefinable magic to summer songs for me.

And yet you call yourself Lonely Summer. There must be a story there. But I do agree with you -- these AT40s of the summer months are just a notch better.

Looking forward to hearing 1974 this weekend. The #1 song of this particular week ruled Seattle radio back in the summer of '74 but you'd be hard pressed to hear it with any regularity at any point since. Oldies radio never put it into any kind of rotation. I can't wait!