From mattosborne1976@yahoo.com Mon Mar 1 18:09:17 2021 From: mattosborne1976@yahoo.com (Matthew Osborne) Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2021 23:09:17 +0000 (UTC) Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market References: <1001009395.1829815.1614640157864.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1001009395.1829815.1614640157864@mail.yahoo.com> This weekend something popped into my mind from the past that never made much sense to me.? Maybe someone on this list might have some more insight into it...In the Boston market, the show 'American Top 40 with Casey Kasem' used to run on WBZ 1030 from 1985 until sometime around 1991.? Why in the world did this run here and not on Kiss 108 or even WZOU during this time period?? Did Sunny Joe White and/or whoever programmed WZOU at the time not care for the show?? Everywhere else I came across the show during this time, it was on a CHR FM station except for Boston. If anyone has any inside knowledge on why this was please share. Matthew OsborneWest Sand Lake, NY From mamros@mit.edu Tue Mar 2 08:49:23 2021 From: mamros@mit.edu (Shawn Mamros) Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2021 13:49:23 +0000 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: <1001009395.1829815.1614640157864@mail.yahoo.com> References: <1001009395.1829815.1614640157864.ref@mail.yahoo.com>, <1001009395.1829815.1614640157864@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1614692964761.15762@mit.edu> WBZ was still playing music up until the 1991-92 timeframe, so it wouldn't have been out of line for them to run AT40. I'm not sure if network affiliation would have been a factor as well, but it could have been. They had at least a loose affiliation with ABC Radio at the time. -Shawn ________________________________ From: Matthew Osborne Sent: Monday, March 1, 2021 6:09 PM To: boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market This weekend something popped into my mind from the past that never made much sense to me. Maybe someone on this list might have some more insight into it...In the Boston market, the show 'American Top 40 with Casey Kasem' used to run on WBZ 1030 from 1985 until sometime around 1991. Why in the world did this run here and not on Kiss 108 or even WZOU during this time period? Did Sunny Joe White and/or whoever programmed WZOU at the time not care for the show? Everywhere else I came across the show during this time, it was on a CHR FM station except for Boston. If anyone has any inside knowledge on why this was please share. Matthew OsborneWest Sand Lake, NY From scott@fybush.com Tue Mar 2 10:03:43 2021 From: scott@fybush.com (Scott Fybush) Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2021 10:03:43 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: <1614692964761.15762@mit.edu> References: <1001009395.1829815.1614640157864.ref@mail.yahoo.com> <1001009395.1829815.1614640157864@mail.yahoo.com> <1614692964761.15762@mit.edu> Message-ID: It was more than a loose affiliation... until Westinghouse bought CBS in '95, the ABC affiliation was our primary one and we did a lot with them, including having Gary LaPierre fill in for Paul Harvey and having WBZ talent appear on ABC newscasts. When I started in 1992, the only other affiliations we had were CNN Radio and the AP audio service. So it's very possible that WBZ had first refusal on AT40 - and in its full-service days, it fit decently with the format. On Tue, Mar 2, 2021, 9:22 AM Shawn Mamros wrote: > WBZ was still playing music up until the 1991-92 timeframe, so it wouldn't > have been out of line for them to run AT40. I'm not sure if network > affiliation would have been a factor as well, but it could have been. They > had at least a loose affiliation with ABC Radio at the time. > > > -Shawn > > ________________________________ > From: Matthew Osborne > Sent: Monday, March 1, 2021 6:09 PM > To: boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org > Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market > > This weekend something popped into my mind from the past that never made > much sense to me. Maybe someone on this list might have some more insight > into it...In the Boston market, the show 'American Top 40 with Casey Kasem' > used to run on WBZ 1030 from 1985 until sometime around 1991. Why in the > world did this run here and not on Kiss 108 or even WZOU during this time > period? Did Sunny Joe White and/or whoever programmed WZOU at the time not > care for the show? Everywhere else I came across the show during this > time, it was on a CHR FM station except for Boston. > If anyone has any inside knowledge on why this was please share. > Matthew OsborneWest Sand Lake, NY > From jimduffy75@gmail.com Tue Mar 2 14:06:14 2021 From: jimduffy75@gmail.com (James Duffy) Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2021 14:06:14 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market Message-ID: <000d01d70f97$1eacabf0$5c0603d0$@gmail.com> I think I can provide some context based purely on memory. Fare warning though, this might be a little more detail than some would care to know. AT40 was on AC formatted 98.5 WROR from at least 1980 until the end of 85, maybe through the year end top 100 special. Before picking up AT40, WBZ was carrying Dick Clark's National music survey. In November of 85, Dick Clark took over Countdown America. This initiated several affiliate changes that did not all occur at once. When Dick Clark moved to Countdown America in November of '85, WROR picked it up from top40 WHTT. Then in January of '86, WROR dropped At40 for Countdown USA, which happened to be hosted by John Leader, the previous host of Countdown America. WBZ actually only carried AT40 until June of '88, when it switched to WZOU until the end of 1992, which I think is when many affiliates across the country started abandoning it. If you ever listen to Casey mention affiliates on his Classic programs, even as late as 1987 and 1988, you will notice AT40 was carried by many stations that were full service, AM or not necessarily CHR. -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest On Behalf Of boston-radio-interest-request@lists.BostonRadio.org Sent: Tuesday, March 2, 2021 12:00 PM To: boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org Subject: Boston-Radio-Interest Digest, Vol 25, Issue 11 Send Boston-Radio-Interest mailing list submissions to boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://lists.BostonRadio.org/mailman/listinfo/boston-radio-interest or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to boston-radio-interest-request@lists.BostonRadio.org You can reach the person managing the list at boston-radio-interest-owner@lists.BostonRadio.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Boston-Radio-Interest digest..." From wollman@bimajority.org Tue Mar 2 16:49:29 2021 From: wollman@bimajority.org (Garrett Wollman) Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2021 16:49:29 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: <000d01d70f97$1eacabf0$5c0603d0$@gmail.com> References: <000d01d70f97$1eacabf0$5c0603d0$@gmail.com> Message-ID: <24638.45801.540750.486479@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> < said: > took over Countdown America. This initiated several affiliate changes that > did not all occur at once. When Dick Clark moved to Countdown America in > November of '85, WROR picked it up from top40 WHTT. Did (CBS-owned) WHTT ever carry (CBS-syndicated) Top 40 Satellite [sic] Survey with Dan Ingram in this timeframe? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Ingram's is the countdown show I remember most from growing up; it aired on WQCR 98.9 in Burlington (now WOKO) -- and it was distributed on a pair of long-playing discs, not satellite. WQCR ran an illegal contest when they were airing Ingram, call in Monday evening and name the Nth song on Sunday's countdown and they would give you "all the songs" on that week's chart -- by which they actually meant they would give you the "destroy after air" syndication discs, complete with Ingram's patter, commercials, prerecorded promos, and everything.[1] (I just got out my 1989 M Street Directory to see if Q-99 had switched to WOKO by then, but they were still WQCR. A quick rundown of the Spring '88 Arbitron 12+ AQH ratings for the Burlington-Plattsburgh market: WXXX 95.3, 19.8; WIZN 106.7, 16.9; WEZF 92.9, 14.1; WQCR 98.9, 9.6; WJOY 1230, 9.0; WVMT 620, 7.3; WDOT 1390, 5.1; WLFE 102.3, 3.4. Who gets ratings like that any more? None of the Plattsburgh stations made it into the Arbitron book, not even class-C WGFB 99.9. WNCS was still on 96.7 in Montpelier, an unrated market, and -- I did not know this -- was apparently competing with WORK for the 104.7 allocation. M Street also gives Birch ratings, which included non-commercial stations, and Vermont Public Radio's WVPS got an 8.1 in the Spring '88 Birch book.[2]) -GAWollman [1] The set that I received was, I think, lost in a flood in 1991. I can remember two bits of Ingram patter, one talking up Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" 'in your ears', and one talking up Sting's "Russians" 'yes, the Russians _are_ coming'. Unfortunately, these songs charted about a year apart so I have no idea whether either one was on the discs that I "won". [2] I'd love to see the intab for either of these surveys just to assuage my curiosity about how much listenership CFQR, CJFM, and CHOM were getting south of the 45th parallel, before all the drop-ins came on the air and made those frequencies uncopyable. From joe@attorneyross.com Tue Mar 2 23:50:54 2021 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A Joseph Ross) Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2021 23:50:54 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: <24638.45801.540750.486479@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> References: <000d01d70f97$1eacabf0$5c0603d0$@gmail.com> <24638.45801.540750.486479@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> Message-ID: <44c5958b-bc3c-2668-e553-47b282b6cb98@attorneyross.com> WOKO?? I remember when that call was in Albany.? When did that change? On 3/2/2021 4:49 PM, Garrett Wollman wrote: > < said: > >> took over Countdown America. This initiated several affiliate changes that >> did not all occur at once. When Dick Clark moved to Countdown America in >> November of '85, WROR picked it up from top40 WHTT. > Did (CBS-owned) WHTT ever carry (CBS-syndicated) Top 40 Satellite > [sic] Survey with Dan Ingram in this timeframe? > > ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ > > Ingram's is the countdown show I remember most from growing up; it > aired on WQCR 98.9 in Burlington (now WOKO) -- and it was distributed > on a pair of long-playing discs, not satellite. WQCR ran an illegal > contest when they were airing Ingram, call in Monday evening and name > the Nth song on Sunday's countdown and they would give you "all the > songs" on that week's chart -- by which they actually meant they would > give you the "destroy after air" syndication discs, complete with > Ingram's patter, commercials, prerecorded promos, and everything.[1] > > (I just got out my 1989 M Street Directory to see if Q-99 had switched > to WOKO by then, but they were still WQCR. A quick rundown of the > Spring '88 Arbitron 12+ AQH ratings for the Burlington-Plattsburgh > market: WXXX 95.3, 19.8; WIZN 106.7, 16.9; WEZF 92.9, 14.1; WQCR 98.9, > 9.6; WJOY 1230, 9.0; WVMT 620, 7.3; WDOT 1390, 5.1; WLFE 102.3, 3.4. > Who gets ratings like that any more? None of the Plattsburgh stations > made it into the Arbitron book, not even class-C WGFB 99.9. WNCS was > still on 96.7 in Montpelier, an unrated market, and -- I did not know > this -- was apparently competing with WORK for the 104.7 allocation. > M Street also gives Birch ratings, which included non-commercial > stations, and Vermont Public Radio's WVPS got an 8.1 in the Spring '88 > Birch book.[2]) > > -GAWollman > > [1] The set that I received was, I think, lost in a flood in 1991. I > can remember two bits of Ingram patter, one talking up Peter Gabriel's > "In Your Eyes" 'in your ears', and one talking up Sting's "Russians" > 'yes, the Russians _are_ coming'. Unfortunately, these songs charted > about a year apart so I have no idea whether either one was on the > discs that I "won". > > [2] I'd love to see the intab for either of these surveys just to > assuage my curiosity about how much listenership CFQR, CJFM, and CHOM > were getting south of the 45th parallel, before all the drop-ins came > on the air and made those frequencies uncopyable. -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From obrienron2@gmail.com Tue Mar 2 10:56:07 2021 From: obrienron2@gmail.com (Ron) Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2021 10:56:07 -0500 Subject: FW: American Top 40 in the Boston market References: <1001009395.1829815.1614640157864.ref@mail.yahoo.com> <1001009395.1829815.1614640157864@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> There was a thinking among some programmers that the show started to lose it's way with the ever growing striations of the Top 40/CHR formats. When AT40 started (on WMEX), it used Billboards Hot 100 to define the Top 40. As time went on, the billboard chart became a mishmash of songs that didn't all sound right on a mainstream Top 40 station. I think Casey Kasem ended up using Cashbox's(?) chart for awhile...but as we went into the 80's many variations of radio formats and the goalposts for each station became narrower. It made it hard to place the show. There was a week I was listening to the end of the show on WBZ, and the #1 song was "Angel in the Centerfold". Sounded really strange on BZ. Wasn't quite the most popular song on Kiss108 (which always leaned rhythmic), or WZOU. AT40 didn't exactly define what WZOU and Kiss108 sounded like at that time. My $.02 R -----Original Message----- From: Matthew Osborne Sent: Monday, March 1, 2021 6:09 PM To: boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market This weekend something popped into my mind from the past that never made much sense to me. Maybe someone on this list might have some more insight into it...In the Boston market, the show 'American Top 40 with Casey Kasem' used to run on WBZ 1030 from 1985 until sometime around 1991. Why in the world did this run here and not on Kiss 108 or even WZOU during this time period? Did Sunny Joe White and/or whoever programmed WZOU at the time not care for the show? Everywhere else I came across the show during this time, it was on a CHR FM station except for Boston. If anyone has any inside knowledge on why this was please share. Matthew OsborneWest Sand Lake, NY From bill.smith@comcast.net Wed Mar 3 13:01:10 2021 From: bill.smith@comcast.net (Bill Smith) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2021 13:01:10 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in Boston Message-ID: I recall that it was on WCGY, Lawrence in the early 70s and an even vaguer memory puts it on WMEX before that From jimduffy75@gmail.com Wed Mar 3 13:09:12 2021 From: jimduffy75@gmail.com (James Duffy) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2021 13:09:12 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston Market Message-ID: <001f01d71058$51cd8970$f5689c50$@gmail.com> WHTT did indeed carry Dan Ingram's countdown from 9PM-12AM Sunday nights. Countdown America with John Leader aired on WHTT 8AM-12PM Sunday mornings. When Countdown America moved to WROR with the change to Dick Clark as host, WHTT picked up Rick Dees WT40 until the format change to WMRQ in July, 1986. -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest On Behalf Of boston-radio-interest-request@lists.BostonRadio.org Sent: Wednesday, March 3, 2021 12:00 PM To: boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org Subject: Boston-Radio-Interest Digest, Vol 25, Issue 12 Send Boston-Radio-Interest mailing list submissions to boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://lists.BostonRadio.org/mailman/listinfo/boston-radio-interest or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to boston-radio-interest-request@lists.BostonRadio.org You can reach the person managing the list at boston-radio-interest-owner@lists.BostonRadio.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Boston-Radio-Interest digest..." From dlh@donnahalper.com Wed Mar 3 14:20:37 2021 From: dlh@donnahalper.com (Donna Halper) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2021 14:20:37 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in Boston In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <38d5ba0c-227f-cf3e-d067-986d0f3e48fe@donnahalper.com> On 3/3/2021 1:01 PM, Bill Smith wrote: > I recall that it was on WCGY, Lawrence in the early 70s and an even vaguer > memory puts it on WMEX before that Interestingly, when AT-40 first went on the air, it debuted on the old WMEX, which was surprising-- one would have expected it to be on WRKO back then, but nope. WMEX got it. I think John H. Garabedian was the guy who snagged it for WMEX. -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From adamnw@aol.com Wed Mar 3 16:10:49 2021 From: adamnw@aol.com (ADAM WOLF) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2021 16:10:49 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> References: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> Message-ID: <643CD270-EA76-4CD4-88E9-9B9BA3323966@aol.com> This was on WBZ?s Wikipedia page. Not that I believe everything I read. The time line looks correct. I think AT40 ended on WBZ late in 1990. ......? ,[57] but listener complaints[58] led the station to return Brudnoy to the air by the end of September.[59] It was also late in 1985 that American Top 40 moved to WBZ from WROR (98.5 FM, now WBZ-FM), remaining on WBZ for the rest of its years as a full-service AC station, around the same time WBZ's most famous slogan, "The Spirit of New England" (made famous by a 1987 JAM Creative Productions jingle package of the same name), was introduced.? Sent from my iPad > On Mar 3, 2021, at 12:42 AM, Ron wrote: > > ? > There was a thinking among some programmers that the show started to lose it's way with the ever growing striations of the Top 40/CHR formats. > > When AT40 started (on WMEX), it used Billboards Hot 100 to define the Top 40. As time went on, the billboard chart became a mishmash of songs that didn't all sound right on a mainstream Top 40 station. > > I think Casey Kasem ended up using Cashbox's(?) chart for awhile...but as we went into the 80's many variations of radio formats and the goalposts for each station became narrower. It made it hard to place the show. > > There was a week I was listening to the end of the show on WBZ, and the #1 song was "Angel in the Centerfold". Sounded really strange on BZ. Wasn't quite the most popular song on Kiss108 (which always leaned rhythmic), or WZOU. > > AT40 didn't exactly define what WZOU and Kiss108 sounded like at that time. > > My $.02 > > R > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Matthew Osborne > Sent: Monday, March 1, 2021 6:09 PM > To: boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org > Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market > > This weekend something popped into my mind from the past that never made much sense to me. Maybe someone on this list might have some more insight into it...In the Boston market, the show 'American Top 40 with Casey Kasem' used to run on WBZ 1030 from 1985 until sometime around 1991. Why in the world did this run here and not on Kiss 108 or even WZOU during this time period? Did Sunny Joe White and/or whoever programmed WZOU at the time not care for the show? Everywhere else I came across the show during this time, it was on a CHR FM station except for Boston. > If anyone has any inside knowledge on why this was please share. > Matthew OsborneWest Sand Lake, NY > > From wftn@comcast.net Thu Mar 4 05:54:42 2021 From: wftn@comcast.net (Gary Ford LAST_NAME) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2021 05:54:42 -0500 (EST) Subject: Fwd: Re: FW: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: <625186809.120931.1614778216040@connect.xfinity.com> References: <1001009395.1829815.1614640157864.ref@mail.yahoo.com> <1001009395.1829815.1614640157864@mail.yahoo.com> <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> <625186809.120931.1614778216040@connect.xfinity.com> Message-ID: <900720230.122232.1614855282755@connect.xfinity.com> Casey used Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on AT40 until he left the show and started Casey's top 40 in 1988 on Westwood One. Then for Casey's Top 40 they used Radio & Records Top 40 CHR chart which was strictly airplay rankings. Shadoe Stevens took over American Top 40 after Casey's departure and they continued to use the Billboard Hot 100 for the next few years. It got odd when Shadoe would count down some sales only songs like the Geto Boys "Mind Playing Tricks on Me" which went to #23 on the Hot 100 and they had to highly edit that song. Thanks, Gary Ford > > > On 03/02/2021 10:56 AM Ron wrote: > > > > > > There was a thinking among some programmers that the show started to lose it's way with the ever growing striations of the Top 40/CHR formats. > > > > When AT40 started (on WMEX), it used Billboards Hot 100 to define the Top 40. As time went on, the billboard chart became a mishmash of songs that didn't all sound right on a mainstream Top 40 station. > > > > I think Casey Kasem ended up using Cashbox's(?) chart for awhile...but as we went into the 80's many variations of radio formats and the goalposts for each station became narrower. It made it hard to place the show. > > > > There was a week I was listening to the end of the show on WBZ, and the #1 song was "Angel in the Centerfold". Sounded really strange on BZ. Wasn't quite the most popular song on Kiss108 (which always leaned rhythmic), or WZOU. > > > > AT40 didn't exactly define what WZOU and Kiss108 sounded like at that time. > > > > My $.02 > > > > R > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Matthew Osborne > > Sent: Monday, March 1, 2021 6:09 PM > > To: boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org > > Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market > > > > This weekend something popped into my mind from the past that never made much sense to me. Maybe someone on this list might have some more insight into it...In the Boston market, the show 'American Top 40 with Casey Kasem' used to run on WBZ 1030 from 1985 until sometime around 1991. Why in the world did this run here and not on Kiss 108 or even WZOU during this time period? Did Sunny Joe White and/or whoever programmed WZOU at the time not care for the show? Everywhere else I came across the show during this time, it was on a CHR FM station except for Boston. > > If anyone has any inside knowledge on why this was please share. > > Matthew OsborneWest Sand Lake, NY From mamros@mit.edu Thu Mar 4 10:18:51 2021 From: mamros@mit.edu (Shawn Mamros) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2021 15:18:51 +0000 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: <643CD270-EA76-4CD4-88E9-9B9BA3323966@aol.com> References: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com>, <643CD270-EA76-4CD4-88E9-9B9BA3323966@aol.com> Message-ID: <1614871132449.57677@mit.edu> BZ's "The Spirit of New England" slogan long pre-dated 1987! I know they were using it in the early 80s at least, and though I don't have the personal knowledge to back it up, I would think it would date back to the 1970s, if not before. The 70s is when Westinghouse (aka Group W) was doing serious branding of their stations, with jingles galore. I grew up in Pittsburgh and remember well what they did with KDKA ("Someplace Special" was their equivalent to "The Spirit of NE") at the time. Somebody who lived up this way or who has more historical knowledge of BZ (Scott?) might be able to identify when "The Spirit of NE" started. -Shawn ________________________________ From: ADAM WOLF Sent: Wednesday, March 3, 2021 4:10 PM To: Ron Cc: boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org Subject: Re: American Top 40 in the Boston market This was on WBZ's Wikipedia page. Not that I believe everything I read. The time line looks correct. I think AT40 ended on WBZ late in 1990. ......" ,[57] but listener complaints[58] led the station to return Brudnoy to the air by the end of September.[59] It was also late in 1985 that American Top 40 moved to WBZ from WROR (98.5 FM, now WBZ-FM), remaining on WBZ for the rest of its years as a full-service AC station, around the same time WBZ's most famous slogan, "The Spirit of New England" (made famous by a 1987 JAM Creative Productions jingle package of the same name), was introduced." Sent from my iPad > On Mar 3, 2021, at 12:42 AM, Ron wrote: > > ? > There was a thinking among some programmers that the show started to lose it's way with the ever growing striations of the Top 40/CHR formats. > > When AT40 started (on WMEX), it used Billboards Hot 100 to define the Top 40. As time went on, the billboard chart became a mishmash of songs that didn't all sound right on a mainstream Top 40 station. > > I think Casey Kasem ended up using Cashbox's(?) chart for awhile...but as we went into the 80's many variations of radio formats and the goalposts for each station became narrower. It made it hard to place the show. > > There was a week I was listening to the end of the show on WBZ, and the #1 song was "Angel in the Centerfold". Sounded really strange on BZ. Wasn't quite the most popular song on Kiss108 (which always leaned rhythmic), or WZOU. > > AT40 didn't exactly define what WZOU and Kiss108 sounded like at that time. > > My $.02 > > R > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Matthew Osborne > Sent: Monday, March 1, 2021 6:09 PM > To: boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org > Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market > > This weekend something popped into my mind from the past that never made much sense to me. Maybe someone on this list might have some more insight into it...In the Boston market, the show 'American Top 40 with Casey Kasem' used to run on WBZ 1030 from 1985 until sometime around 1991. Why in the world did this run here and not on Kiss 108 or even WZOU during this time period? Did Sunny Joe White and/or whoever programmed WZOU at the time not care for the show? Everywhere else I came across the show during this time, it was on a CHR FM station except for Boston. > If anyone has any inside knowledge on why this was please share. > Matthew OsborneWest Sand Lake, NY > > From geo.allen@comcast.net Thu Mar 4 12:26:39 2021 From: geo.allen@comcast.net (George Allen) Date: Thu, 04 Mar 2021 12:26:39 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <202103041759.124HxZog060142@isfahel.bostonradio.org> Speaking of WBZ slogans ... and jingles from long ago, how about "Time is of the essence, get it now, on W [snap] BZ, W [snap ] BZ, W [snap] BZ. Or something like that, back in the 60's maybe? Lodged in my head somewhere all these years. ADAM WOLF adamnw@aol.com Wed Mar 3 16:10:49 EST 2021 This was on WBZ's Wikipedia page. Not that I believe everything I read. The time line looks correct. I think AT40 ended on WBZ late in 1990. ......" ,[57] but listener complaints[58] led the station to return Brudnoy to the air by the end of September.[59] It was also late in 1985 that American Top 40 moved to WBZ from WROR (98.5 FM, now WBZ-FM), remaining on WBZ for the rest of its years as a full-service AC station, around the same time WBZ's most famous slogan, "The Spirit of New England" (made famous by a 1987 JAM Creative Productions jingle package of the same name), was introduced." From aerie.ma@comcast.net Thu Mar 4 14:31:32 2021 From: aerie.ma@comcast.net (aerie.ma@comcast.net) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2021 14:31:32 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: <202103041759.124HxZog060142@isfahel.bostonradio.org> References: <202103041759.124HxZog060142@isfahel.bostonradio.org> Message-ID: <017c01d7112c$fc088910$f4199b30$@comcast.net> My favorite jingle was "Zing (Sing?) the GIANT...with fifty thousand watts of living sound....W (snap) BZ' -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest On Behalf Of George Allen Sent: Thursday, March 4, 2021 12:27 PM To: boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org Subject: Re: American Top 40 in the Boston market Speaking of WBZ slogans ... and jingles from long ago, how about "Time is of the essence, get it now, on W [snap] BZ, W [snap ] BZ, W [snap] BZ. Or something like that, back in the 60's maybe? Lodged in my head somewhere all these years. ADAM WOLF adamnw@aol.com Wed Mar 3 16:10:49 EST 2021 This was on WBZ's Wikipedia page. Not that I believe everything I read. The time line looks correct. I think AT40 ended on WBZ late in 1990. ......" ,[57] but listener complaints[58] led the station to return Brudnoy to the air by the end of September.[59] It was also late in 1985 that American Top 40 moved to WBZ from WROR (98.5 FM, now WBZ-FM), remaining on WBZ for the rest of its years as a full-service AC station, around the same time WBZ's most famous slogan, "The Spirit of New England" (made famous by a 1987 JAM Creative Productions jingle package of the same name), was introduced." From dlh@donnahalper.com Thu Mar 4 11:11:35 2021 From: dlh@donnahalper.com (Donna Halper) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2021 11:11:35 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: <1614871132449.57677@mit.edu> References: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> <643CD270-EA76-4CD4-88E9-9B9BA3323966@aol.com> <1614871132449.57677@mit.edu> Message-ID: <714417dc-32d0-08f2-8363-ae7d23918ccc@donnahalper.com> On 3/4/2021 10:18 AM, Shawn Mamros wrote: > BZ's "The Spirit of New England" slogan long pre-dated 1987! I know they were using it in the early 80s at least, and though I don't have the personal knowledge to back it up, I would think it would date back to the 1970s, if not before. In the mid-1960s, WBZ was using "the Spirit of 103" in many of their promotional ads, and then they transitioned into "the Spirit of New England" in the early 70s. I also vaguely recall a jingle from that era about "the spirit of Massachusetts is the Spirit of New England." -- Donna L. Halper, PhD Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley University, Cambridge MA From wollman@bimajority.org Thu Mar 4 15:59:58 2021 From: wollman@bimajority.org (Garrett Wollman) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2021 15:59:58 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: <714417dc-32d0-08f2-8363-ae7d23918ccc@donnahalper.com> References: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> <643CD270-EA76-4CD4-88E9-9B9BA3323966@aol.com> <1614871132449.57677@mit.edu> <714417dc-32d0-08f2-8363-ae7d23918ccc@donnahalper.com> Message-ID: <24641.19022.163028.880849@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> < said: > In the mid-1960s, WBZ was using "the Spirit of 103" in many of their > promotional ads, and then they transitioned into "the Spirit of New > England" in the early 70s. I also vaguely recall a jingle from that era > about "the spirit of Massachusetts is the Spirit of New England." Not from that era! That was the Massachusetts tourism jingle from the late 1980s. (Which is also when they changed the license plate design to add that slogan.) -GAWollman From wollman@bimajority.org Thu Mar 4 16:07:27 2021 From: wollman@bimajority.org (Garrett Wollman) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2021 16:07:27 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: <24641.19022.163028.880849@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> References: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> <643CD270-EA76-4CD4-88E9-9B9BA3323966@aol.com> <1614871132449.57677@mit.edu> <714417dc-32d0-08f2-8363-ae7d23918ccc@donnahalper.com> <24641.19022.163028.880849@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> Message-ID: <24641.19471.11089.619561@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> < said: < said: >> In the mid-1960s, WBZ was using "the Spirit of 103" in many of their >> promotional ads, and then they transitioned into "the Spirit of New >> England" in the early 70s. I also vaguely recall a jingle from that era >> about "the spirit of Massachusetts is the Spirit of New England." > Not from that era! That was the Massachusetts tourism jingle from the > late 1980s. (Which is also when they changed the license plate design > to add that slogan.) And now I belatedly realize that I was thinking of "The Spirit of America", and Donna wrote "The Spirit of New England". Sorry, Donna, my error. -GAWollman From kvahey@gmail.com Thu Mar 4 16:32:58 2021 From: kvahey@gmail.com (Kevin Vahey) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2021 16:32:58 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: <24641.19471.11089.619561@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> References: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> <643CD270-EA76-4CD4-88E9-9B9BA3323966@aol.com> <1614871132449.57677@mit.edu> <714417dc-32d0-08f2-8363-ae7d23918ccc@donnahalper.com> <24641.19022.163028.880849@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> <24641.19471.11089.619561@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> Message-ID: Does anybody recall when AT40 switched from vinal distribution to satellite? On Thu, Mar 4, 2021 at 4:08 PM Garrett Wollman wrote: > < wollman@bimajority.org> said: > > < > said: > >> In the mid-1960s, WBZ was using "the Spirit of 103" in many of their > >> promotional ads, and then they transitioned into "the Spirit of New > >> England" in the early 70s. I also vaguely recall a jingle from that era > >> about "the spirit of Massachusetts is the Spirit of New England." > > > Not from that era! That was the Massachusetts tourism jingle from the > > late 1980s. (Which is also when they changed the license plate design > > to add that slogan.) > > And now I belatedly realize that I was thinking of "The Spirit of > America", and Donna wrote "The Spirit of New England". Sorry, Donna, > my error. > > -GAWollman > > From saltzy@gmail.com Thu Mar 4 16:36:53 2021 From: saltzy@gmail.com (David A. Saltz) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2021 16:36:53 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: References: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> <643CD270-EA76-4CD4-88E9-9B9BA3323966@aol.com> <1614871132449.57677@mit.edu> <714417dc-32d0-08f2-8363-ae7d23918ccc@donnahalper.com> <24641.19022.163028.880849@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> <24641.19471.11089.619561@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> Message-ID: Not sure about AT40 but I used to run DC?s Countdown America on compact disc at WXLO I?m Worcester in 1991. On Thu, Mar 4, 2021 at 4:34 PM Kevin Vahey wrote: > Does anybody recall when AT40 switched from vinal distribution to > satellite? > > > > On Thu, Mar 4, 2021 at 4:08 PM Garrett Wollman > wrote: > > > < > wollman@bimajority.org> said: > > > > < > > said: > > >> In the mid-1960s, WBZ was using "the Spirit of 103" in many of their > > >> promotional ads, and then they transitioned into "the Spirit of New > > >> England" in the early 70s. I also vaguely recall a jingle from that > era > > >> about "the spirit of Massachusetts is the Spirit of New England." > > > > > Not from that era! That was the Massachusetts tourism jingle from the > > > late 1980s. (Which is also when they changed the license plate design > > > to add that slogan.) > > > > And now I belatedly realize that I was thinking of "The Spirit of > > America", and Donna wrote "The Spirit of New England". Sorry, Donna, > > my error. > > > > -GAWollman > > > > > From rbello@belloassoc.com Thu Mar 4 17:19:20 2021 From: rbello@belloassoc.com (Ron Bello) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2021 17:19:20 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: References: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> <643CD270-EA76-4CD4-88E9-9B9BA3323966@aol.com> <1614871132449.57677@mit.edu> <714417dc-32d0-08f2-8363-ae7d23918ccc@donnahalper.com> <24641.19022.163028.880849@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> <24641.19471.11089.619561@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> Message-ID: Mid 1970s ToH ID was: Spirit of New England, WBZ Boston, A Group W, Westinghouse broadcast station On Thursday, March 4, 2021, Kevin Vahey wrote: > Does anybody recall when AT40 switched from vinal distribution to > satellite? > > > > On Thu, Mar 4, 2021 at 4:08 PM Garrett Wollman > wrote: > > > < > wollman@bimajority.org> said: > > > > < > > said: > > >> In the mid-1960s, WBZ was using "the Spirit of 103" in many of their > > >> promotional ads, and then they transitioned into "the Spirit of New > > >> England" in the early 70s. I also vaguely recall a jingle from that > era > > >> about "the spirit of Massachusetts is the Spirit of New England." > > > > > Not from that era! That was the Massachusetts tourism jingle from the > > > late 1980s. (Which is also when they changed the license plate design > > > to add that slogan.) > > > > And now I belatedly realize that I was thinking of "The Spirit of > > America", and Donna wrote "The Spirit of New England". Sorry, Donna, > > my error. > > > > -GAWollman > > > > > -- Ron Bello 160 Speen St - Suite 303 Framingham, MA. 01701 508.820.1100 From joe@attorneyross.com Thu Mar 4 21:29:33 2021 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A Joseph Ross) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2021 21:29:33 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: References: <000d01d70f97$1eacabf0$5c0603d0$@gmail.com> <24638.45801.540750.486479@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> <44c5958b-bc3c-2668-e553-47b282b6cb98@attorneyross.com> Message-ID: Interesting.? Thanks. On 3/3/2021 3:26 AM, John Clark wrote: > The WOKO call letters originally disappeared from 1460 Albany in > 1983...which at that time became WWCN. The WOKO call letters were > restored to 1460 in 1987...only to be eliminated again a year later. > It was in 1990 that the call letters were moved to Burlington on 98.9.... > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > *From:* Boston-Radio-Interest > on behalf of A > Joseph Ross > *Sent:* Tuesday, March 2, 2021 11:50 PM > *To:* boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org > > *Subject:* Re: American Top 40 in the Boston market > WOKO?? I remember when that call was in Albany.? When did that change? > > > On 3/2/2021 4:49 PM, Garrett Wollman wrote: > > < said: > > > >> took over Countdown America.? This initiated several affiliate > changes that > >> did not all occur at once.? When Dick Clark moved to Countdown > America in > >> November of '85, WROR picked it up from top40 WHTT. > > Did (CBS-owned) WHTT ever carry (CBS-syndicated) Top 40 Satellite > > [sic] Survey with Dan Ingram in this timeframe? > > > >??????????????????? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ > > > > Ingram's is the countdown show I remember most from growing up; it > > aired on WQCR 98.9 in Burlington (now WOKO) -- and it was distributed > > on a pair of long-playing discs, not satellite. WQCR ran an illegal > > contest when they were airing Ingram, call in Monday evening and name > > the Nth song on Sunday's countdown and they would give you "all the > > songs" on that week's chart -- by which they actually meant they would > > give you the "destroy after air" syndication discs, complete with > > Ingram's patter, commercials, prerecorded promos, and everything.[1] > > > > (I just got out my 1989 M Street Directory to see if Q-99 had switched > > to WOKO by then, but they were still WQCR.? A quick rundown of the > > Spring '88 Arbitron 12+ AQH ratings for the Burlington-Plattsburgh > > market: WXXX 95.3, 19.8; WIZN 106.7, 16.9; WEZF 92.9, 14.1; WQCR 98.9, > > 9.6; WJOY 1230, 9.0; WVMT 620, 7.3; WDOT 1390, 5.1; WLFE 102.3, 3.4. > > Who gets ratings like that any more?? None of the Plattsburgh stations > > made it into the Arbitron book, not even class-C WGFB 99.9.? WNCS was > > still on 96.7 in Montpelier, an unrated market, and -- I did not know > > this -- was apparently competing with WORK for the 104.7 allocation. > > M Street also gives Birch ratings, which included non-commercial > > stations, and Vermont Public Radio's WVPS got an 8.1 in the Spring '88 > > Birch book.[2]) > > > > -GAWollman > > > > [1] The set that I received was, I think, lost in a flood in 1991.? I > > can remember two bits of Ingram patter, one talking up Peter Gabriel's > > "In Your Eyes" 'in your ears', and one talking up Sting's "Russians" > > 'yes, the Russians _are_ coming'.? Unfortunately, these songs charted > > about a year apart so I have no idea whether either one was on the > > discs that I "won". > > > > [2] I'd love to see the intab for either of these surveys just to > > assuage my curiosity about how much listenership CFQR, CJFM, and CHOM > > were getting south of the 45th parallel, before all the drop-ins came > > on the air and made those frequencies uncopyable. > > -- > A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 > 617.367.0468 ? http://www.attorneyross.com -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From pleonard660@gmail.com Thu Mar 4 12:52:15 2021 From: pleonard660@gmail.com (Paul Leonard) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2021 12:52:15 -0500 Subject: AT40 Message-ID: The first ever broadcast of American Top 40 was on WMEX 1510 July 4th weekend 1970. Two other stations that Max Richmond owned at the time also had first play. WPGC, Morningside, MD and KBMI(location escapes me). There were four other stations for a total of seven that had first play on same weekend. Just my 2 cents. From rbello@belloassoc.com Thu Mar 4 22:47:48 2021 From: rbello@belloassoc.com (Ron Bello) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2021 22:47:48 -0500 Subject: AT40 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: *KBMI* 1400 / Henderson - Las Vegas --------------------------------------------------- On Thu, Mar 4, 2021 at 10:04 PM Paul Leonard wrote: > The first ever broadcast of American Top 40 was on WMEX 1510 July 4th > weekend 1970. Two other stations that Max Richmond owned at the time also > had first play. WPGC, Morningside, MD and KBMI(location escapes me). > There were four other stations for a total of seven that had first play on > same weekend. Just my 2 cents. > From dave@skywaves.net Thu Mar 4 23:27:49 2021 From: dave@skywaves.net (Dave Doherty) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2021 20:27:49 -0800 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: <44c5958b-bc3c-2668-e553-47b282b6cb98@attorneyross.com> References: <000d01d70f97$1eacabf0$5c0603d0$@gmail.com> <24638.45801.540750.486479@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> <44c5958b-bc3c-2668-e553-47b282b6cb98@attorneyross.com> Message-ID: <003d01d71177$e73ddad0$b5b99070$@skywaves.net> WOKO was the first radio job I ever had. And, yes, it was 1460 in Albany, down the street from where I lived as a teenager in the late 1960s. I worked at WOKO off and on for a couple of years through two owners, and it was an eye-opening experience in many ways. The WOKO call sign went away in 1983 when the owner changed format to all-news WWCN. Since then, it went back to WOKO a year, then WGNA for about four years while it simulcast the FM of the same call, then Disney for over a decade as WDDY, and since 2014, it's been WOPG . The Burlington FM picked up the WOKO call in 1990. It was also used by an FM in Paxton, IL for about a year 1983-1984. -d -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest [mailto:boston-radio-interest-bounces@lists.BostonRadio.org] On Behalf Of A Joseph Ross Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2021 8:51 PM To: boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org Subject: Re: American Top 40 in the Boston market WOKO? I remember when that call was in Albany. When did that change? On 3/2/2021 4:49 PM, Garrett Wollman wrote: > < said: > >> took over Countdown America. This initiated several affiliate >> changes that did not all occur at once. When Dick Clark moved to >> Countdown America in November of '85, WROR picked it up from top40 WHTT. > Did (CBS-owned) WHTT ever carry (CBS-syndicated) Top 40 Satellite > [sic] Survey with Dan Ingram in this timeframe? > > ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ > > Ingram's is the countdown show I remember most from growing up; it > aired on WQCR 98.9 in Burlington (now WOKO) -- and it was distributed > on a pair of long-playing discs, not satellite. WQCR ran an illegal > contest when they were airing Ingram, call in Monday evening and name > the Nth song on Sunday's countdown and they would give you "all the > songs" on that week's chart -- by which they actually meant they would > give you the "destroy after air" syndication discs, complete with > Ingram's patter, commercials, prerecorded promos, and everything.[1] > > (I just got out my 1989 M Street Directory to see if Q-99 had switched > to WOKO by then, but they were still WQCR. A quick rundown of the > Spring '88 Arbitron 12+ AQH ratings for the Burlington-Plattsburgh > market: WXXX 95.3, 19.8; WIZN 106.7, 16.9; WEZF 92.9, 14.1; WQCR 98.9, > 9.6; WJOY 1230, 9.0; WVMT 620, 7.3; WDOT 1390, 5.1; WLFE 102.3, 3.4. > Who gets ratings like that any more? None of the Plattsburgh stations > made it into the Arbitron book, not even class-C WGFB 99.9. WNCS was > still on 96.7 in Montpelier, an unrated market, and -- I did not know > this -- was apparently competing with WORK for the 104.7 allocation. > M Street also gives Birch ratings, which included non-commercial > stations, and Vermont Public Radio's WVPS got an 8.1 in the Spring '88 > Birch book.[2]) > > -GAWollman > > [1] The set that I received was, I think, lost in a flood in 1991. I > can remember two bits of Ingram patter, one talking up Peter Gabriel's > "In Your Eyes" 'in your ears', and one talking up Sting's "Russians" > 'yes, the Russians _are_ coming'. Unfortunately, these songs charted > about a year apart so I have no idea whether either one was on the > discs that I "won". > > [2] I'd love to see the intab for either of these surveys just to > assuage my curiosity about how much listenership CFQR, CJFM, and CHOM > were getting south of the 45th parallel, before all the drop-ins came > on the air and made those frequencies uncopyable. -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From tgordo49@gmail.com Thu Mar 4 16:14:42 2021 From: tgordo49@gmail.com (Tim Gordon) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2021 16:14:42 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: <24641.19471.11089.619561@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> References: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> <643CD270-EA76-4CD4-88E9-9B9BA3323966@aol.com> <1614871132449.57677@mit.edu> <714417dc-32d0-08f2-8363-ae7d23918ccc@donnahalper.com> <24641.19022.163028.880849@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> <24641.19471.11089.619561@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> Message-ID: I remember "The Spirit of New England" as a catchy ~1-2 minute promo tune on WRKO AM680 in the mid- or late-70's at the very tail end of their music days. It was played in rotation just like regular songs, not set apart in ad breaks. --Tim On Thu, Mar 4, 2021 at 4:08 PM Garrett Wollman wrote: > < wollman@bimajority.org> said: > > < > said: > >> In the mid-1960s, WBZ was using "the Spirit of 103" in many of their > >> promotional ads, and then they transitioned into "the Spirit of New > >> England" in the early 70s. I also vaguely recall a jingle from that era > >> about "the spirit of Massachusetts is the Spirit of New England." > > > Not from that era! That was the Massachusetts tourism jingle from the > > late 1980s. (Which is also when they changed the license plate design > > to add that slogan.) > > And now I belatedly realize that I was thinking of "The Spirit of > America", and Donna wrote "The Spirit of New England". Sorry, Donna, > my error. > > -GAWollman > > From raccoonradio@gmail.com Fri Mar 5 10:52:04 2021 From: raccoonradio@gmail.com (Bob Nelson) Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2021 10:52:04 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: References: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> <643CD270-EA76-4CD4-88E9-9B9BA3323966@aol.com> <1614871132449.57677@mit.edu> <714417dc-32d0-08f2-8363-ae7d23918ccc@donnahalper.com> <24641.19022.163028.880849@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> <24641.19471.11089.619561@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> Message-ID: Re AT 40--a friend recorded a rebroadcast of the show a few years ago off KOLA in Calif. One of the songs was Fight the Power by Isley Brothers. The "B.S." word was still in there, unedited. Later covered by Public Enemy. Over the years there were incidences where a song may have been edited for content or Casey wouldn't give the title for some reason. A friend of mine in England does oldies countdowns on "hospital radio". Some songs were UK hits but heard only on college/progressive radio here, by artists like Siouxie and the Banshees or Sham 69. There were novelty songs by The Barron Knights (who only hit here with the Supertramp parody Topical Song). In Nahant the signal of WHEB 750 Portsmouth came in and I could hear AT40 on it, with some splashover from WCAS 740. It was also I believe on WJTO and on WIGY (FM) Bath ME. One of the famed Casey Kasem outtakes was him reading, "You're listening to AT40 on WIGY, Maine's number one for--I'm not reading this. How do I know if they're really #1..."--Bob Nelson On Thursday, March 4, 2021, Tim Gordon wrote: > I remember "The Spirit of New England" as a catchy ~1-2 minute promo tune > on WRKO AM680 in the mid- or late-70's at the very tail end of their music > days. It was played in rotation just like regular songs, not set apart in > ad breaks. > --Tim > > > On Thu, Mar 4, 2021 at 4:08 PM Garrett Wollman > wrote: > > > < > wollman@bimajority.org> said: > > > > < > > said: > > >> In the mid-1960s, WBZ was using "the Spirit of 103" in many of their > > >> promotional ads, and then they transitioned into "the Spirit of New > > >> England" in the early 70s. I also vaguely recall a jingle from that > era > > >> about "the spirit of Massachusetts is the Spirit of New England." > > > > > Not from that era! That was the Massachusetts tourism jingle from the > > > late 1980s. (Which is also when they changed the license plate design > > > to add that slogan.) > > > > And now I belatedly realize that I was thinking of "The Spirit of > > America", and Donna wrote "The Spirit of New England". Sorry, Donna, > > my error. > > > > -GAWollman > > > > > From kvahey@gmail.com Thu Mar 4 23:00:03 2021 From: kvahey@gmail.com (Kevin Vahey) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2021 23:00:03 -0500 Subject: AT40 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: KBMI was in Henderson, Nevada and Mac bought it so he could write off travel expenses to Vegas - Richmond was a notorious card player. On Thu, Mar 4, 2021 at 10:05 PM Paul Leonard wrote: > The first ever broadcast of American Top 40 was on WMEX 1510 July 4th > weekend 1970. Two other stations that Max Richmond owned at the time also > had first play. WPGC, Morningside, MD and KBMI(location escapes me). > There were four other stations for a total of seven that had first play on > same weekend. Just my 2 cents. > From tgordo49@gmail.com Fri Mar 5 12:53:17 2021 From: tgordo49@gmail.com (Tim Gordon) Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2021 12:53:17 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: <000b01d711ca$91fc8370$b5f58a50$@gmail.com> References: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> <643CD270-EA76-4CD4-88E9-9B9BA3323966@aol.com> <1614871132449.57677@mit.edu> <714417dc-32d0-08f2-8363-ae7d23918ccc@donnahalper.com> <24641.19022.163028.880849@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> <24641.19471.11089.619561@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> <000b01d711ca$91fc8370$b5f58a50$@gmail.com> Message-ID: That must be it! Thanks, Ron. Hard to believe that was ever released, let alone that it's cataloged somewhere. On Fri, Mar 5, 2021 at 9:19 AM Ron wrote: > > >> I remember "The Spirit of New England" as a catchy ~1-2 minute promo > tune on WRKO AM680 in the mid- or late-70's at the very tail end of their > music days. It was played in rotation just like regular songs, not set > apart in ad breaks. > > I believe you are thinking about " The* Rhythm* of New England" A song > that was cut up into jingles. > > > *https://www.discogs.com/Jim-Kirk-The-Rhythm-Of-New-England-RKO-Song/release/3321818* > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Boston-Radio-Interest < > boston-radio-interest-bounces@lists.BostonRadio.org> On Behalf Of Tim > Gordon > Sent: Thursday, March 4, 2021 4:15 PM > To: Boston Radio Group > Subject: Re: American Top 40 in the Boston market > > I remember "The Spirit of New England" as a catchy ~1-2 minute promo tune > on WRKO AM680 in the mid- or late-70's at the very tail end of their music > days. It was played in rotation just like regular songs, not set apart in > ad breaks. > > --Tim > > On Thu, Mar 4, 2021 at 4:08 PM Garrett Wollman > > wrote: > > > < > > wollman@bimajority.org> said: > > > > > > < > > > > > said: > > > >> In the mid-1960s, WBZ was using "the Spirit of 103" in many of > > > >> their promotional ads, and then they transitioned into "the Spirit > > > >> of New England" in the early 70s. I also vaguely recall a jingle > > > >> from that era about "the spirit of Massachusetts is the Spirit of New > England." > > > > > > > Not from that era! That was the Massachusetts tourism jingle from > > > > the late 1980s. (Which is also when they changed the license plate > > > > design to add that slogan.) > > > > > > And now I belatedly realize that I was thinking of "The Spirit of > > > America", and Donna wrote "The Spirit of New England". Sorry, Donna, > > > my error. > > > > > > -GAWollman > > > > > > > From mattosborne1976@yahoo.com Fri Mar 5 14:37:32 2021 From: mattosborne1976@yahoo.com (Matthew Osborne) Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2021 19:37:32 +0000 (UTC) Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: References: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> <643CD270-EA76-4CD4-88E9-9B9BA3323966@aol.com> <1614871132449.57677@mit.edu> <714417dc-32d0-08f2-8363-ae7d23918ccc@donnahalper.com> <24641.19022.163028.880849@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> <24641.19471.11089.619561@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> Message-ID: <508798489.390510.1614973052212@mail.yahoo.com> Distribution of the show was changed from vinyl to CD in 1990.? I am trying to find the exact date but having trouble - I've seen copies of letters sent by ABC to the affiliates announcing the change with the exact date.? I also believe that, after the formal conversion date a limited number of copies were still sent on vinyl for a few months afterward. Matthew Osborne West Sand Lake, NY On Thursday, March 4, 2021, 4:36:53 PM EST, Kevin Vahey wrote: Does anybody recall when AT40 switched from vinal distribution to satellite? From mattosborne1976@yahoo.com Fri Mar 5 22:44:11 2021 From: mattosborne1976@yahoo.com (Matthew Osborne) Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2021 03:44:11 +0000 (UTC) Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: References: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> <643CD270-EA76-4CD4-88E9-9B9BA3323966@aol.com> <1614871132449.57677@mit.edu> <714417dc-32d0-08f2-8363-ae7d23918ccc@donnahalper.com> <24641.19022.163028.880849@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> <24641.19471.11089.619561@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> Message-ID: <1223613357.556846.1615002251674@mail.yahoo.com> I was finally able to locate the date... my original guess of 1990 was off by a year.? The first American Top 40 Show distributed on CD was the weekend of July 1, 1989.? Shannon Lynn's website (www.charismusicgroup.com) has the cue sheets posted for that show, along with instructions for affiliates on how to "operate" the CDs.? The show also appears to have had a limited number distributed on vinyl beyond this date as well.? The last reference to vinyl distribution is made in the Jan 6, 1991 show. As far as the show "Caseys's Top 40" goes, that was distributed on vinyl through the weekend of February 29, 1992.? The first show distributed on CD was the weekend of March 7, 1992. Matthew OsborneWest Sand Lake, NY On Thursday, March 4, 2021, 4:36:53 PM EST, Kevin Vahey wrote: Does anybody recall when AT40 switched from vinal distribution to satellite? From obrienron2@gmail.com Fri Mar 5 09:19:35 2021 From: obrienron2@gmail.com (Ron) Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2021 09:19:35 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: References: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> <643CD270-EA76-4CD4-88E9-9B9BA3323966@aol.com> <1614871132449.57677@mit.edu> <714417dc-32d0-08f2-8363-ae7d23918ccc@donnahalper.com> <24641.19022.163028.880849@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> <24641.19471.11089.619561@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> Message-ID: <000b01d711ca$91fc8370$b5f58a50$@gmail.com> >> I remember "The Spirit of New England" as a catchy ~1-2 minute promo tune on WRKO AM680 in the mid- or late-70's at the very tail end of their music days. It was played in rotation just like regular songs, not set apart in ad breaks. I believe you are thinking about " The Rhythm of New England" A song that was cut up into jingles. https://www.discogs.com/Jim-Kirk-The-Rhythm-Of-New-England-RKO-Song/release/3321818 -----Original Message----- From: Boston-Radio-Interest On Behalf Of Tim Gordon Sent: Thursday, March 4, 2021 4:15 PM To: Boston Radio Group Subject: Re: American Top 40 in the Boston market I remember "The Spirit of New England" as a catchy ~1-2 minute promo tune on WRKO AM680 in the mid- or late-70's at the very tail end of their music days. It was played in rotation just like regular songs, not set apart in ad breaks. --Tim On Thu, Mar 4, 2021 at 4:08 PM Garrett Wollman > wrote: > < wollman@bimajority.org > said: > > < > > said: > >> In the mid-1960s, WBZ was using "the Spirit of 103" in many of > >> their promotional ads, and then they transitioned into "the Spirit > >> of New England" in the early 70s. I also vaguely recall a jingle > >> from that era about "the spirit of Massachusetts is the Spirit of New England." > > > Not from that era! That was the Massachusetts tourism jingle from > > the late 1980s. (Which is also when they changed the license plate > > design to add that slogan.) > > And now I belatedly realize that I was thinking of "The Spirit of > America", and Donna wrote "The Spirit of New England". Sorry, Donna, > my error. > > -GAWollman > > From joe@attorneyross.com Sat Mar 6 02:20:20 2021 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A Joseph Ross) Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2021 02:20:20 -0500 Subject: AT40 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I didn't know that Max Richmond owned any other stations. On 3/4/2021 12:52 PM, Paul Leonard wrote: > The first ever broadcast of American Top 40 was on WMEX 1510 July 4th > weekend 1970. Two other stations that Max Richmond owned at the time also > had first play. WPGC, Morningside, MD and KBMI(location escapes me). > There were four other stations for a total of seven that had first play on > same weekend. Just my 2 cents. -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From joe@attorneyross.com Sat Mar 6 02:27:37 2021 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A Joseph Ross) Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2021 02:27:37 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: <003d01d71177$e73ddad0$b5b99070$@skywaves.net> References: <000d01d70f97$1eacabf0$5c0603d0$@gmail.com> <24638.45801.540750.486479@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> <44c5958b-bc3c-2668-e553-47b282b6cb98@attorneyross.com> <003d01d71177$e73ddad0$b5b99070$@skywaves.net> Message-ID: <269cf79a-6a20-efaf-14be-7bca407fafde@attorneyross.com> I was aware of the WGNA call for some reason, but not the others. My family moved from the Albany area in 1957, when I was in 6th grade.? I liked to listen to WOKO when they had a regular weekly all-Elvis hour or two.?? Elvis was at his height at the time and, as I said, I was in 6th grade. On 3/4/2021 11:27 PM, Dave Doherty wrote: > WOKO was the first radio job I ever had. And, yes, it was 1460 in Albany, down the street from where I lived as a teenager in the late 1960s. > > I worked at WOKO off and on for a couple of years through two owners, and it was an eye-opening experience in many ways. > > The WOKO call sign went away in 1983 when the owner changed format to all-news WWCN. Since then, it went back to WOKO a year, then WGNA for about four years while it simulcast the FM of the same call, then Disney for over a decade as WDDY, and since 2014, it's been WOPG . > > The Burlington FM picked up the WOKO call in 1990. > > It was also used by an FM in Paxton, IL for about a year 1983-1984. > > -d > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Boston-Radio-Interest [mailto:boston-radio-interest-bounces@lists.BostonRadio.org] On Behalf Of A Joseph Ross > Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2021 8:51 PM > To: boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org > Subject: Re: American Top 40 in the Boston market > > WOKO? I remember when that call was in Albany. When did that change? > > > On 3/2/2021 4:49 PM, Garrett Wollman wrote: >> < said: >> >>> took over Countdown America. This initiated several affiliate >>> changes that did not all occur at once. When Dick Clark moved to >>> Countdown America in November of '85, WROR picked it up from top40 WHTT. >> Did (CBS-owned) WHTT ever carry (CBS-syndicated) Top 40 Satellite >> [sic] Survey with Dan Ingram in this timeframe? >> >> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ >> >> Ingram's is the countdown show I remember most from growing up; it >> aired on WQCR 98.9 in Burlington (now WOKO) -- and it was distributed >> on a pair of long-playing discs, not satellite. WQCR ran an illegal >> contest when they were airing Ingram, call in Monday evening and name >> the Nth song on Sunday's countdown and they would give you "all the >> songs" on that week's chart -- by which they actually meant they would >> give you the "destroy after air" syndication discs, complete with >> Ingram's patter, commercials, prerecorded promos, and everything.[1] >> >> (I just got out my 1989 M Street Directory to see if Q-99 had switched >> to WOKO by then, but they were still WQCR. A quick rundown of the >> Spring '88 Arbitron 12+ AQH ratings for the Burlington-Plattsburgh >> market: WXXX 95.3, 19.8; WIZN 106.7, 16.9; WEZF 92.9, 14.1; WQCR 98.9, >> 9.6; WJOY 1230, 9.0; WVMT 620, 7.3; WDOT 1390, 5.1; WLFE 102.3, 3.4. >> Who gets ratings like that any more? None of the Plattsburgh stations >> made it into the Arbitron book, not even class-C WGFB 99.9. WNCS was >> still on 96.7 in Montpelier, an unrated market, and -- I did not know >> this -- was apparently competing with WORK for the 104.7 allocation. >> M Street also gives Birch ratings, which included non-commercial >> stations, and Vermont Public Radio's WVPS got an 8.1 in the Spring '88 >> Birch book.[2]) >> >> -GAWollman >> >> [1] The set that I received was, I think, lost in a flood in 1991. I >> can remember two bits of Ingram patter, one talking up Peter Gabriel's >> "In Your Eyes" 'in your ears', and one talking up Sting's "Russians" >> 'yes, the Russians _are_ coming'. Unfortunately, these songs charted >> about a year apart so I have no idea whether either one was on the >> discs that I "won". >> >> [2] I'd love to see the intab for either of these surveys just to >> assuage my curiosity about how much listenership CFQR, CJFM, and CHOM >> were getting south of the 45th parallel, before all the drop-ins came >> on the air and made those frequencies uncopyable. > -- > A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 > 617.367.0468 ? http://www.attorneyross.com > > > -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From raccoonradio@gmail.com Fri Mar 5 11:00:00 2021 From: raccoonradio@gmail.com (Bob Nelson) Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2021 11:00:00 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: <1614871132449.57677@mit.edu> References: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> <643CD270-EA76-4CD4-88E9-9B9BA3323966@aol.com> <1614871132449.57677@mit.edu> Message-ID: Speaking of Boston and Pittsburgh and the TV versions of WBZ and KDKA-- youtube has promos for both stations using the same song. It was "We're 4" here and "Here's 2" there. "We're for, great old Cape Cod, we're for, old Hahvad Yahd.We love to get lost in the traditions of Boston." Pittsburgh's version had similar localisms. Remember the tv ad with Dave Maynard dealing with winter weather and he sees a rescue dog next to a "closed" sign--"oh no, not you too?" KDKA did the same ad with a local meteorologist or radio host. On Thursday, March 4, 2021, Shawn Mamros wrote: > BZ's "The Spirit of New England" slogan long pre-dated 1987! I know they > were using it in the early 80s at least, and though I don't have the > personal knowledge to back it up, I would think it would date back to the > 1970s, if not before. The 70s is when Westinghouse (aka Group W) was doing > serious branding of their stations, with jingles galore. I grew up in > Pittsburgh and remember well what they did with KDKA ("Someplace Special" > was their equivalent to "The Spirit of NE") at the time. Somebody who > lived up this way or who has more historical knowledge of BZ (Scott?) might > be able to identify when "The Spirit of NE" started. > > > -Shawn > > ________________________________ > From: ADAM WOLF > Sent: Wednesday, March 3, 2021 4:10 PM > To: Ron > Cc: boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org > Subject: Re: American Top 40 in the Boston market > > This was on WBZ's Wikipedia page. Not that I believe everything I read. > The time line looks correct. I think AT40 ended on WBZ late in 1990. > > ......" ,[57] but listener complaints[58] led the station to return > Brudnoy to the air by the end of September.[59] It was also late in 1985 > that American Top 40 moved to WBZ from WROR (98.5 FM, now WBZ-FM), > remaining on WBZ for the rest of its years as a full-service AC station, > around the same time WBZ's most famous slogan, "The Spirit of New England" > (made famous by a 1987 JAM Creative Productions jingle package of the same > name), was introduced." > > Sent from my iPad > > > On Mar 3, 2021, at 12:42 AM, Ron wrote: > > > > ? > > There was a thinking among some programmers that the show started to > lose it's way with the ever growing striations of the Top 40/CHR formats. > > > > When AT40 started (on WMEX), it used Billboards Hot 100 to define the > Top 40. As time went on, the billboard chart became a mishmash of songs > that didn't all sound right on a mainstream Top 40 station. > > > > I think Casey Kasem ended up using Cashbox's(?) chart for awhile...but > as we went into the 80's many variations of radio formats and the goalposts > for each station became narrower. It made it hard to place the show. > > > > There was a week I was listening to the end of the show on WBZ, and the > #1 song was "Angel in the Centerfold". Sounded really strange on BZ. > Wasn't quite the most popular song on Kiss108 (which always leaned > rhythmic), or WZOU. > > > > AT40 didn't exactly define what WZOU and Kiss108 sounded like at that > time. > > > > My $.02 > > > > R > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Matthew Osborne > > Sent: Monday, March 1, 2021 6:09 PM > > To: boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org > > Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market > > > > This weekend something popped into my mind from the past that never made > much sense to me. Maybe someone on this list might have some more insight > into it...In the Boston market, the show 'American Top 40 with Casey Kasem' > used to run on WBZ 1030 from 1985 until sometime around 1991. Why in the > world did this run here and not on Kiss 108 or even WZOU during this time > period? Did Sunny Joe White and/or whoever programmed WZOU at the time not > care for the show? Everywhere else I came across the show during this > time, it was on a CHR FM station except for Boston. > > If anyone has any inside knowledge on why this was please share. > > Matthew OsborneWest Sand Lake, NY > > > > > From wollman@bimajority.org Sat Mar 6 12:22:07 2021 From: wollman@bimajority.org (Garrett Wollman) Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2021 12:22:07 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: References: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> <643CD270-EA76-4CD4-88E9-9B9BA3323966@aol.com> <1614871132449.57677@mit.edu> Message-ID: <24643.47679.980129.810170@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> < said: > Speaking of Boston and Pittsburgh and the TV versions of WBZ and KDKA-- > youtube has promos for both stations using the same song. It was "We're 4" > here and "Here's 2" there. "We're for, great old Cape Cod, we're for, old > Hahvad Yahd.We love to get lost in the traditions of Boston." Pittsburgh's > version had similar localisms. It was pretty normal even in 6/6/6 days for a group owner to spread the cost of a custom jingle package across multiple stations, and that certainly goes as well for TV promos and graphics packages as well. -GAWollman From kvahey@gmail.com Sun Mar 7 02:31:23 2021 From: kvahey@gmail.com (Kevin Vahey) Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2021 02:31:23 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: References: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> <643CD270-EA76-4CD4-88E9-9B9BA3323966@aol.com> <1614871132449.57677@mit.edu> Message-ID: The KYW-TV promos of that era were really painful to listen to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdFQuy5zZ1c Back in 1968, WBZ came very close to going all news after WRKO came along and changed the landscape. Westinghouse had enjoyed success with all news at WINS New York, KYW in Philly and KFWB in LA. WIND in Chicago was ready to make the switch but William Paley personally ordered WBBM to go all news. WIND had been holding their own in Chicago with Top 40 and they as well branded themselves as "The Greatest Air Show On Earth". Group W didn't think all news would work in Pittsburgh and certainly not in Fort Wayne but Boston they were unsure of. They also were clueless on what to do with WBZ-FM which they finally unloaded in 1981. On Sat, Mar 6, 2021 at 8:47 AM Bob Nelson wrote: > Speaking of Boston and Pittsburgh and the TV versions of WBZ and KDKA-- > youtube has promos for both stations using the same song. It was "We're 4" > here and "Here's 2" there. "We're for, great old Cape Cod, we're for, old > Hahvad Yahd.We love to get lost in the traditions of Boston." Pittsburgh's > version had similar localisms. > Remember the tv ad with Dave Maynard dealing with winter weather and he > sees a rescue dog next to a > "closed" sign--"oh no, not you too?" > KDKA did the same ad with a local meteorologist > or radio host. > > On Thursday, March 4, 2021, Shawn Mamros wrote: > > > BZ's "The Spirit of New England" slogan long pre-dated 1987! I know they > > were using it in the early 80s at least, and though I don't have the > > personal knowledge to back it up, I would think it would date back to the > > 1970s, if not before. The 70s is when Westinghouse (aka Group W) was > doing > > serious branding of their stations, with jingles galore. I grew up in > > Pittsburgh and remember well what they did with KDKA ("Someplace Special" > > was their equivalent to "The Spirit of NE") at the time. Somebody who > > lived up this way or who has more historical knowledge of BZ (Scott?) > might > > be able to identify when "The Spirit of NE" started. > > > > > > -Shawn > > > > ________________________________ > > From: ADAM WOLF > > Sent: Wednesday, March 3, 2021 4:10 PM > > To: Ron > > Cc: boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org > > Subject: Re: American Top 40 in the Boston market > > > > This was on WBZ's Wikipedia page. Not that I believe everything I read. > > The time line looks correct. I think AT40 ended on WBZ late in 1990. > > > > ......" ,[57] but listener complaints[58] led the station to return > > Brudnoy to the air by the end of September.[59] It was also late in 1985 > > that American Top 40 moved to WBZ from WROR (98.5 FM, now WBZ-FM), > > remaining on WBZ for the rest of its years as a full-service AC station, > > around the same time WBZ's most famous slogan, "The Spirit of New > England" > > (made famous by a 1987 JAM Creative Productions jingle package of the > same > > name), was introduced." > > > > Sent from my iPad > > > > > On Mar 3, 2021, at 12:42 AM, Ron wrote: > > > > > > ? > > > There was a thinking among some programmers that the show started to > > lose it's way with the ever growing striations of the Top 40/CHR formats. > > > > > > When AT40 started (on WMEX), it used Billboards Hot 100 to define the > > Top 40. As time went on, the billboard chart became a mishmash of songs > > that didn't all sound right on a mainstream Top 40 station. > > > > > > I think Casey Kasem ended up using Cashbox's(?) chart for awhile...but > > as we went into the 80's many variations of radio formats and the > goalposts > > for each station became narrower. It made it hard to place the show. > > > > > > There was a week I was listening to the end of the show on WBZ, and the > > #1 song was "Angel in the Centerfold". Sounded really strange on BZ. > > Wasn't quite the most popular song on Kiss108 (which always leaned > > rhythmic), or WZOU. > > > > > > AT40 didn't exactly define what WZOU and Kiss108 sounded like at that > > time. > > > > > > My $.02 > > > > > > R > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Matthew Osborne > > > Sent: Monday, March 1, 2021 6:09 PM > > > To: boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org > > > Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market > > > > > > This weekend something popped into my mind from the past that never > made > > much sense to me. Maybe someone on this list might have some more > insight > > into it...In the Boston market, the show 'American Top 40 with Casey > Kasem' > > used to run on WBZ 1030 from 1985 until sometime around 1991. Why in the > > world did this run here and not on Kiss 108 or even WZOU during this time > > period? Did Sunny Joe White and/or whoever programmed WZOU at the time > not > > care for the show? Everywhere else I came across the show during this > > time, it was on a CHR FM station except for Boston. > > > If anyone has any inside knowledge on why this was please share. > > > Matthew OsborneWest Sand Lake, NY > > > > > > > > > From rfgenerator@gmail.com Sat Mar 6 10:01:58 2021 From: rfgenerator@gmail.com (Mike Malone) Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2021 10:01:58 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: References: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> <643CD270-EA76-4CD4-88E9-9B9BA3323966@aol.com> <1614871132449.57677@mit.edu> Message-ID: I remember WBCN did a parody of the "We're 4" WBZ TV promos. If I remember right the lyrics were something like "We're 4, kicking puppies, We're 4, getting disease, We'd love to get locked into a condo in Brockton....". That's all I remember, but now it's stuck playing over and over in my head! On Sat, Mar 6, 2021 at 8:47 AM Bob Nelson wrote: > Speaking of Boston and Pittsburgh and the TV versions of WBZ and KDKA-- > youtube has promos for both stations using the same song. It was "We're 4" > here and "Here's 2" there. "We're for, great old Cape Cod, we're for, old > Hahvad Yahd.We love to get lost in the traditions of Boston." Pittsburgh's > version had similar localisms. > Remember the tv ad with Dave Maynard dealing with winter weather and he > sees a rescue dog next to a > "closed" sign--"oh no, not you too?" > KDKA did the same ad with a local meteorologist > or radio host. > > On Thursday, March 4, 2021, Shawn Mamros wrote: > > > BZ's "The Spirit of New England" slogan long pre-dated 1987! I know they > > were using it in the early 80s at least, and though I don't have the > > personal knowledge to back it up, I would think it would date back to the > > 1970s, if not before. The 70s is when Westinghouse (aka Group W) was > doing > > serious branding of their stations, with jingles galore. I grew up in > > Pittsburgh and remember well what they did with KDKA ("Someplace Special" > > was their equivalent to "The Spirit of NE") at the time. Somebody who > > lived up this way or who has more historical knowledge of BZ (Scott?) > might > > be able to identify when "The Spirit of NE" started. > > > > > > -Shawn > > From joe@attorneyross.com Mon Mar 8 01:07:50 2021 From: joe@attorneyross.com (A Joseph Ross) Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2021 01:07:50 -0500 Subject: American Top 40 in the Boston market In-Reply-To: References: <000a01d70f7c$8f7e9d40$ae7bd7c0$@gmail.com> <643CD270-EA76-4CD4-88E9-9B9BA3323966@aol.com> <1614871132449.57677@mit.edu> Message-ID: When they first introduced the "We're 4" promos, they were playing them so repeatedly in the morning during the Today show that I called the station and complained.? As I recall, they sometimes would play the same promo twice, back to back.? I finally took to watching the Today show on Channel 10, despite the inferior reception quality. On 3/6/2021 10:01 AM, Mike Malone wrote: > I remember WBCN did a parody of the "We're 4" WBZ TV promos. > If I remember right the lyrics were something like "We're 4, kicking > puppies, We're 4, getting disease, We'd love to get locked into a condo in > Brockton....". That's all I remember, but now it's stuck playing over and > over in my head! > > On Sat, Mar 6, 2021 at 8:47 AM Bob Nelson wrote: > >> Speaking of Boston and Pittsburgh and the TV versions of WBZ and KDKA-- >> youtube has promos for both stations using the same song. It was "We're 4" >> here and "Here's 2" there. "We're for, great old Cape Cod, we're for, old >> Hahvad Yahd.We love to get lost in the traditions of Boston." Pittsburgh's >> version had similar localisms. >> Remember the tv ad with Dave Maynard dealing with winter weather and he >> sees a rescue dog next to a >> "closed" sign--"oh no, not you too?" >> KDKA did the same ad with a local meteorologist >> or radio host. >> >> On Thursday, March 4, 2021, Shawn Mamros wrote: >> >>> BZ's "The Spirit of New England" slogan long pre-dated 1987! I know they >>> were using it in the early 80s at least, and though I don't have the >>> personal knowledge to back it up, I would think it would date back to the >>> 1970s, if not before. The 70s is when Westinghouse (aka Group W) was >> doing >>> serious branding of their stations, with jingles galore. I grew up in >>> Pittsburgh and remember well what they did with KDKA ("Someplace Special" >>> was their equivalent to "The Spirit of NE") at the time. Somebody who >>> lived up this way or who has more historical knowledge of BZ (Scott?) >> might >>> be able to identify when "The Spirit of NE" started. >>> >>> >>> -Shawn >> -- A. Joseph Ross, J.D. ? 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 ? Newton, MA 02459 617.367.0468 ? http://www.attorneyross.com From raccoonradio@gmail.com Thu Mar 11 15:21:52 2021 From: raccoonradio@gmail.com (Bob Nelson) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2021 15:21:52 -0500 Subject: Dale Arnold retires at WEEI-FM Message-ID: - #1 WEEI-FM's Dale Arnold retires after tomorrow; Andy Gresh may replace via Mark/Bos Radio Watch, Chad Finn/Globe on twitter https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1370093408132476928