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eric_a View Drop Down
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Points: 0 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote eric_a Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 April 2007 at 5:27pm
From 1970, for the first couple of years, the show was distributed on reel-to-reel. Within a couple years, they started pressing vinyl instead. Based on some shows I have, I know they were still pressing vinyl by late 1988, and that they had CDs available by sometime in 1989, probably with some overlap in the meantime.
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Paul Haney View Drop Down
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Points: 60 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Paul Haney Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 April 2007 at 11:18am
Just FYI,

The first four-hour AT40 was October 7, 1978 and the first show distributed on CD was July 1, 1989.
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EdisonLite View Drop Down
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Interesting.

Paul, When was the very first AT40? (I heard it was July 4th weekend, 1970 - is that true?) And when was the last show with Casey, before Shadoe Stevens took over?
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EdisonLite View Drop Down
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<This is mentioned in Rob Durkee's book about American Top 40.>

What is the name of that book? I think I'd like to get it. Are there any other books on the subject of AT40 (I mean, other than the Whitburn chart books)?
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eric_a View Drop Down
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Points: 0 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote eric_a Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 April 2007 at 2:25pm
Originally posted by EdisonLite EdisonLite wrote:


Paul, When was the very first AT40? (I heard it was July 4th weekend, 1970 - is that true?) And when was the last show with Casey, before Shadoe Stevens took over?


I believe it was somewhere either on or close to 7/4/70. I have a recording somewhere, and I know #1 was "Mama Told Me (Not To Come)," if someone can cross-reference that.

Rob Durkee's book is called "American Top 40: The Countdown Of The Century."   Looks like it's out of print. It's expensive ($40) at amazon, but some half.com sellers have priced it more affordably.

Pete Battistini also wrote a book called "American Top 40 With Casey Kasem (The 1970's)" that appears to be an encyclopedic look at each show. This is still in print.
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JMD1961 View Drop Down
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Here's a link with a lot of information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Top_40
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Paul Haney View Drop Down
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Points: 60 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Paul Haney Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 April 2007 at 6:01pm
Originally posted by EdisonLite EdisonLite wrote:

Interesting.

Paul, When was the very first AT40? (I heard it was July 4th weekend, 1970 - is that true?) And when was the last show with Casey, before Shadoe Stevens took over?


The very first show was July 4, 1970. Casey's last show on the "original" AT40 was August 6, 1988.

I consider Rob Durkee and Pete Battistini to be the authorities when it comes to AT40. Rob actually worked on the show and his book tells the story from beginning to end with lots of "behind-the-scenes" perspectives... also his "American Top 40 Fun & Games" website is quite entertaining. Battistini has the world's biggest and best private collection of AT40 shows and his book really goes into great detail about the contents of each show. I used to think I was the only one that was really into the show, but Rob and Pete blow me away with their knowledge and insight.
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crapfromthepast View Drop Down
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Points: 238 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote crapfromthepast Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 April 2007 at 10:58am
The books about AT40 are an eye-opener for long-time fans like me, and, presumably, most of you. (And not just because I'm mentioned in the acknowledgments of Rob Durkee's book - right before Debbie Gibson!)

eric_a asked about carts. For those of you that didn't work in radio years ago, carts (short for cartridges) were used universally for everything from IDs, promos, ads, and music all throughout the '70s through the '90s. On old reruns of Frasier, you can see the wall of tapes behind Roz - all full of carts, and typical for radio control rooms. They're the same size as 8-tracks, but the sound quality is broadcast quality, and the insides are configured a little differently.

A radio station would usually record its own carts, so that they would have uniform levels, reliable start cues and so forth. The production guy at the station would "cart up" song additions to the playlist, so that they wouldn't wear out the records. Carts were usually pretty reliable and wouldn't skip, although we can all remember the cart deck getting mad and eating a cart.

AT40 got their music on records, just like the radio stations. Most likely, they recorded their own carts, just like the radio stations as well.

When CDs became more prominent in the late '80s, you would hear a credit that some of the music was provided by TM Century Hitdiscs, which (probably) continues to the present day.

Also, the reel-to-reel distribution of the show lasted about a year-and-a-half. I have a vinyl LP show from November 1971, which is only the third week ever distributed on LP.
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elcoleccionista View Drop Down
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Originally posted by crapfromthepast crapfromthepast wrote:

I did the same thing, writing down the songs every Sunday morning. (99X/WXLO-FM in New York, then 66 WNBC in New York, then WPLJ in New York, then 98PXY in Rochester, NY when I went off to college) I still have the 3-ring binder with all the pages from 1979-1989. Fond memories, indeed!

While AT40 played mostly the single edits, that wasn't a hard and fast rule.

I can think of a few examples off the top of my head.

Frank & Moon Zappa's "Valley Girl" only spent 3 weeks in the top 40 in 1982, and at least one of those was the LP version. (Maybe two?) At some point in the song chart life, they switched from LP to 45, or just faded out early.

Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science" was the DJ edit throughout its chart life, not the commercial 45 version, much to the dismay of this particular record buyer...

Murray Head's "One Night In Bangkok" began with an orchestra-type intro, then went straight into the vocals during the first verse. I'm not sure if that's the LP version, but it's certainly not the commercial 45.

I believe that Don McLean's "American Pie" was the DJ edit of the song, which clocked in at 5 minutes or so.

AT40 also used to occasionally edit songs to make the show segments fit into the allotted time. And not just during the year-end countdowns - this was year-round, and based on how much time they had to trim for a particular week. This is mentioned in Rob Durkee's book about American Top 40.

On the plus side, the old AT40 shows are where I first discovered the 45 version of Eddie Money's "Two Tickets To Paradise", with extra guitar overdubs and a totally new vocal track with different words!

I'd use the old shows as a guideline, or maybe a way to give yourself a red flag if you hear something you don't recognize. They're not a be-all, end-all, though.


Interesting topic! Had not been reading for a while.

I clearly remember Jody Watley's "Some Kind Of Lover" was played in both its remixed 45 and album versions during its run on AT40.
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anthology123 View Drop Down
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Points: 0 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote anthology123 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 April 2007 at 4:20pm
Love to hear AT40 every weekend, but I opted to record Solid Gold Saturday
Night instead. Both were good shows. This could convince me to go with XM.
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