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87-513: Cash Box said that "a funk rhythm is established quickly with some screaming guitar licks, and the vocal, handled by the female lead, plays well against the arrangement ." Record World said that "The beguiling vocal sound of [' Crazy on You '] is duplicated here and accompanied by sumptuous guitar work that should steer it to the top." "Magic Man" was originally released in Canada in June 1975 as

174-512: A competing weekly countdown. Industry trade paper Billboard magazine reported that the main disputes between Kasem and Watermark/ABC were over his salary (which Westwood One tripled upon his signing), because of declining ratings and a smaller group of stations airing the show. Kasem's final AT40 show, the 940th in the series, aired on August 6, 1988. Kasem was replaced by Shadoe Stevens , whose first American Top 40 show aired on August 13, 1988, on 1,014 stations. Later, Stevens and AT40 lost

261-486: A condensed daily top-5 countdown, would begin airing as part of the daily radio program On Air , also hosted by Seacrest. In March 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic , Seacrest started to host AT40 from his house; the show also included pre-recorded messages from artists thanking healthcare workers and encouraging listeners to stay home, practice social distancing, and to keep in touch with loved ones. In August 2020,

348-490: A corresponding year from seven years later, or 1977–1979). The 1980s version premiered on April 8, 2007, replacing the American Top 40 Flashback reruns. The shows are available in either their full original four-hour format, or an abbreviated three-hour version that omits the first hour of the show. To date, the latest program to air as part of the " AT40 : The 80s" package has been August 6, 1988 – Kasem's last show with

435-686: A grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources. The Looking Ahead chart was the Cash Box equivalent to the Bubbling Under charts of Billboard . It commenced on October 3, 1959, with 20 positions. By April 29, 1961, the magazine had 50 positions and maintained that format during the 1960s. During the 1970s, it was in the 20–30 position format until its cessation on February 27, 1982. It recommenced on August 4, 1990, with 15 positions until its final cessation on March 27, 1993. This

522-481: A history of the Cash Box singles chart data covering October 1952 through the 1996 demise of the original magazine. Randy Price maintains the original Cash Box data for the online archives. The Swem Library at The College of William and Mary maintains the archive of the original print editions of Cash Box magazine. The print editions were digitized in collaboration with the Internet Archive, via

609-461: A mid-December to early-December time period while Billboard's survey year varied from year to year. AT40 matched Billboard's No. 1 year-end song every year except 1977, 1984, 1990 and 1993. With the show's revival in 1998, a new chart was implemented, the top 40 portion of Radio and Records CHR/Pop top 50 chart, which was already in use on Casey's Top 40 . This chart used a recurrent rule that removed songs below No. 25 that had exceeded 26 weeks in

696-560: A new chart that used no recurrent rule. On the first show with Ryan Seacrest, this led to several older songs reappearing after having dropped off many weeks earlier. Over the long term, it meant songs could spend long runs for about a year on the chart even after they went to recurrent status on other published charts. " Here Without You " by 3 Doors Down set a longevity record in 2004 for the CHR show by lasting 50 weeks before finally falling off. In 2006, " Scars " by Papa Roach would go on to tie

783-541: A political talk show on listener-sponsored KPFK .) By the early 1980s, the show could be heard on 520 stations in the United States and at its zenith, the show was broadcast on 1,000-plus stations in some 50 countries. In the 1980s, it aired in the United Kingdom on Signal Radio , DevonAir , Radio 210 , County Sound , Chiltern Radio , Northants 96 , Radio Tees , Saxon Radio and Fox FM and

870-507: A printed edition as a bi-monthly publication beginning with their November/December 2018 issue, featuring country music artist Blake Shelton on the cover. In addition to being the publisher for Cashbox, Wilds & Associates also serves as the distributor of the publication. Since returning to a print edition, a new website was unveiled in late 2021. The new site offers readers a preview of each issue, music news, and subscription information. In 2014, Whitburn's Record Research Inc. published

957-423: A program of the "ABC Contemporary Radio Network". The program was hosted by Kasem and co-created by Kasem; Don Bustany , Kasem's childhood friend from Detroit, MI; radio veteran Tom Rounds ; and 93/KHJ Program Director Ron Jacobs, who produced and directed the various production elements. Rounds was also the marketing director; the initial funder was California strawberry grower Tom Driscoll . The show began as

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1044-691: A significant number of affiliates when, on January 21, 1989, Kasem's Westwood One show launched. The program, titled Casey's Top 40 , used the weekly chart survey published by Radio & Records ("R&R", which is based on radio airplay) instead of the Billboard Hot 100 chart AT40 was still using (which at the time was based on record sales). Further complications arose when some stations that stayed with Stevens also added Kasem's new show. In an attempt to win back an audience, AT40 tried new features, including interview clips, music news, top 5 flashbacks, and previews of upcoming chart hits (called

1131-487: A song into one chart position with artist and label information shown for each version, alphabetized by label. Originally, no indication of which version was the biggest seller was given, but from October 25, 1952, a star was placed next to the names of the most important artists. Cashbox also printed shorter jukebox charts that included specific artist data beginning in spring 1950. Separate charts were presented for jukebox popularity, record sales and radio airplay . This

1218-469: A third countdown for hot adult contemporary stations titled Casey's Hot 20 . Things were not all positive, though. Westwood One had been acquired by Infinity Broadcasting Corporation in 1993, which put Kasem in the same fold as radio personalities such as Howard Stern . Then, in 1996, Infinity Broadcasting was purchased by CBS . Kasem grew frustrated that no effort had been made to cross promote his shows over CBS’ airwaves, and had also complained that he

1305-598: A three-hour program written and directed by Bustany, counting down the top 40 songs on Billboard 's Hot 100 Singles chart. The show quickly gained popularity once it was commissioned, and expanded to a four-hour-program on October 7, 1978, to reflect the increasing average length of singles on Billboard 's Hot 100 chart. The producing staff expanded to eight people, some of them still in the business: Nikki Wine, Ben Marichal, Scott Paton, Matt Wilson, Merrill Shindler, Guy Aoki , Ronnie Allen, and Sandy Stert Benjamin. (Bustany retired from AT40 in 1989; beginning in 1994, he hosted

1392-475: A variant of the CHR/Pop chart provided by Mediabase , the data provider to Radio & Records . The most noticeable feature of this new chart was its ambiguous recurrent rule. Songs would be removed regularly from within the top 15, seemingly regardless of the number of weeks they had spent on the chart. Additionally, the chart has resulted in songs that otherwise peaked at #41–50 on R&R's charts appearing on

1479-620: A wide schism as rock splintered into several formats in the early 1980s. As a result, AT40 's weekly playlist could be very diverse in the styles and formats of the songs played. Historians have noted that no one station actually played all of the songs on the Billboard Hot 100 list, because they represented overlapping formats, such as hard rock, mainstream rock, heavy metal, dance, new wave, punk, rap, pop, easy listening/adult contemporary and country. Stations tended to specialize in only one or two of these formats and completely ignore

1566-416: A year into his job, he was gunned down in the street late one night on Nashville's famous Music Row . After years of investigation, police arrested his former Cashbox coworker, Richard D'Antonio, for the murder. Prosecutors maintained the killing was in connection with a payola scheme where record promoter Chuck Dixon paid Cashbox employees for favorable chart positions and other publicity. A Dixon client

1653-535: A young man of 22, Hughes thought he had landed his dream job in Nashville as the chart director for Cashbox ' s country music chart for up-and-coming artists. He compiled data from jukebox plays, record sales, and radio play to determine the Cashbox chart positions of various country music records. He reportedly was looking to introduce more scientific and transparent methods of determining chart positions, when

1740-476: Is an internationally syndicated , independent song countdown radio program created by Casey Kasem , Don Bustany , Tom Rounds , and Ron Jacobs . The program is currently hosted by Ryan Seacrest and presented as an adjunct to his weekday radio program, On Air with Ryan Seacrest . Originally a production of Watermark Inc. (later a division of ABC Radio known as ABC Watermark , now Cumulus Media Networks which merged with Westwood One ), American Top 40

1827-596: Is now iHeartMedia ) in 1999, at which point AT40 and other syndicated shows from AMFM Radio Networks were transferred into Premiere Radio Network. The resurrected American Top 40 kept the Radio and Records CHR/Pop chart previously used for Casey's Top 40 and was used as the basis for the show for the majority of this period. In December 2003, as part of a new deal with Premiere Radio Networks, Kasem announced that he would retire from hosting American Top 40 so he could focus on his duties hosting Hot AC and AC versions of

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1914-488: Is now distributed by Premiere Networks (a division of iHeartMedia ). Nearly 500 radio stations in the United States, and several other territories worldwide air American Top 40 , making it one of the most listened-to weekly radio programs in the world. It can also be heard on iHeartRadio , TuneIn , and the official American Top 40 applications on mobile smartphones and tablets as well as on Xbox 360 , Xbox One , PlayStation 4 consoles (via iHeartRadio's console app), and

2001-613: The Who shot J.R.? cliffhanger (recorded by Gary Burbank ) and the Chicago Bears 1985–86 NFC win and the team itself recording a rap tune about going to the Super Bowl, while others were tributes to performers who had just died. For early 1970s programs, some of the "optional extras" were actually extras (i.e., "oldies") that were originally a part of the original program; in this case, Kasem's original commentary and introduction of

2088-558: The AT40 charts. This chart lasted until August 11, 2001, when AT40 returned to the Radio & Records pop chart. The return coincided with another modification in the recurrent rule; songs would be removed below No. 25 after three consecutive weeks without a bullet (an increase in radio plays). This change would be short-lived, as in November 2001, Radio & Records returned to the 20 weeks/below No. 20 rule, which remained in place for

2175-454: The AT40 countdown on 80s on 8 and debuted a revised version of 'The Big 40' countdown now co-hosted by three of the five original MTV VJs: Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman and Alan Hunter ( Martha Quinn was a fourth co-host from 2009 to 2015). Sirius XM "70s on 7" currently runs AT40 each Saturday at 12 pm with encore broadcasts the following Sunday at 9 am and at 12 midnight ( Eastern Time ). Most show dates roughly correspond to

2262-747: The Armed Forces Network . GEICO is the main sponsor for the show. Co-creator Kasem hosted the original American Top 40 from its inauguration on July 4, 1970, until August 6, 1988. Shadoe Stevens took over the program on August 13, 1988, and hosted until January 28, 1995, when the original program came to an end. Three years later, Kasem teamed up with Premiere's predecessor AMFM Radio Networks to relaunch American Top 40 . Kasem, who had spent nine years hosting his own countdown Casey's Top 40 for Westwood One, returned to hosting his creation on March 28, 1998. Seacrest took over American Top 40 on January 10, 2004, following Kasem's retirement from

2349-466: The Billboard Top 40 Mainstream chart. This chart had more mainstream hits but fewer urban, dance and rap songs. AT40 did not always use the official year-end Billboard chart during the 25 years in which the show used Billboard charts. In 1972, 1973 and 1977, as well as 1980–1984 and 1990–1994, AT40 compiled its own year-end chart. These charts were often close to Billboard's, but AT40 would use

2436-556: The National Music Survey and Countdown America , the latter of which was originally hosted by former R&R CHR editor John Leader and later by Clark; Rockin' America Top 30 Countdown with then Z100 Program Director and personality Scott Shannon ; and the Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 , which has run continuously since 1983 with Rick Dees as host. Numerous other shows following the same format, both in

2523-664: The " AT40 Sneek Peek" ). It also stopped using the Hot 100 chart, switching first to the Hot 100 Airplay chart and finally to the Mainstream Top 40 chart. Later still, the countdown would use what was called a "No Nuttin'" gimmick that drew criticism; at various points of the show, a song would start immediately after the jingle for its position on the chart was played and Stevens would not offer any commentary until it concluded. ABC kept American Top 40 in its syndication lineup despite

2610-527: The 1970s and 1980s. In its early years, American Top 40 used the Billboard charts to compile the countdown, touting it as "the only source". The program subsequently switched to being based on Radio and Records airplay data upon its late 1990s return, until R&R was folded into Billboard in 2009. The current source for the American Top 40 charts are unpublished mainstream Top 40 and hot adult contemporary charts compiled by Mediabase (who had been

2697-558: The Century ), Kasem explained that the LDD feature was intended to be part of the show from the beginning. He knew, however, that it was going to take some time before a listener wrote in with a request and let the process proceed organically. Kasem's patience proved correct, as staffer Matt Wilson found such a letter while checking the show's mail in August 1978. The listener asked Kasem to play

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2784-567: The December 17 issue due to popular demand. The chart was originally dropped because it became dominated by pop records. Cashbox was a competitor to Billboard through the 1950s and 1960s, but two factors spelled its decline in the 1970s. Archivist and record historian Joel Whitburn published his first research book based on the Billboard Hot 100 , which made that data the "Bible" for official historic chart positions. In addition,

2871-647: The Looking Ahead Charts on March 1, 2015, covering all genres of music. The Cashbox Top 100 has been expanded to the Top 200. All chart data for the main Cashbox charts is provided by Digital Radio Tracker. Sandy Graham is the owner, editor in chief and CEO of Cashbox Canada , an independent music trade in Toronto , Canada. Shane and Robert Bartosh control the Roots data. Bruce Elrod is the owner and remains

2958-526: The Movies" aired prior to the 2007 Academy Awards , and on February 24, "The Top 40 Acts of the 80s So Far" aired on XM 80s the first week of July 2007. Also, "The Top 40 Songs of the Disco Era (1974–1979)" aired on Sirius XM "70s on 7" the second weekend of July 2011. As of the weekend of February 11, 2023, the 6am and noon Saturday editions were discontinued and replaced by a single 9 am Saturday airing, with

3045-527: The Netherlands and Belgium, "Magic Man" was the first single released from the album, that being in late 1976, and it peaked at number 7 and 10, respectively, in early 1977. It was also successful in Australia, where it peaked at number 6; it reached number 26 in nearby New Zealand. In 2023, Ann Wilson joined Dolly Parton on a cover of "Magic Man" for Parton's album Rockstar . Credits adapted from

3132-520: The Sunday airing moved to noon Eastern time. From October through early November 2006, oldies radio station KQQL in Minneapolis/St. Paul , which is owned by iHeartMedia , ran a series of American Top 40 episodes from the 1970s. Aside from one week, when the station attempted to air a four-hour episode from 1979 in the three-hour time slot (resulting in the show getting cut off at No. 11 and

3219-407: The aforementioned 70s and 80s charts, most radio stations re-air the 1998-2003 Casey Kasem-hosted charts, often with the original commercials intact alongside local commercials. AT40 used the top 40 songs from the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart from the show's inception in 1970 to November 23, 1991. The chart was widely regarded as the industry standard for tracking the popularity of singles, and

3306-520: The all-time record in 2011 at 117 consecutive weeks. American Top 40 also became more interactive, involving online song voting and e-mail. In December 2006, the series' website was revamped, and the online song voting was discontinued in favor of publishing the Hot AC chart. The website also includes a toll-free number where fans can make requests and " shoutouts ", as they would to a local radio station, and by 2009 replayed clips of shoutouts became part of

3393-416: The branding still belonged to him and show co-creator Don Bustany through their joint production company. In order to continue using the name after Kasem's contract with ABC Watermark expired, ABC would pay Kasem and Bustany a licensing fee. If, at any point in the future, AT40 was to be cancelled, ABC would be required to attempt to use the branding in some form within a set period of time; if they did not,

3480-435: The broadcasts at the start of the countdown's second hour; during the spring of 2012, Premiere began making the first hour of these programs "optional," meaning that stations can choose to air all four hours of the four-hour programs, or just the last three.) Starting in 2012, whenever programs from 1970 to 1972 were scheduled to air, Premiere began offering affiliates the option of airing a later 1970s program instead (typically,

3567-592: The chart data supplier for Radio & Records ). Here we go with the Top 40 hits of the nation this week on American Top 40 , the best-selling and most-played songs from the Atlantic to the Pacific , from Canada to Mexico. This is Casey Kasem in Hollywood, and in the next three hours, we'll count down the 40 most popular hits in the United States this week, hot off the record charts of Billboard magazine for

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3654-516: The continued lack of improvement in ratings, but in 1994 the network finally decided to cut its losses. ABC announced that after the July 9, 1994 edition of the program, it would be dropping AT40 from its lineup and replacing it with Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 . The move resulted in AT40 completely disappearing from United States radio, as no network picked it up for distribution domestically. Despite this, AT40 did not end production. Radio Express ,

3741-493: The country almost a full year later and re-entered the RPM Singles Chart on September 11, 1976 for 14 weeks peaking at number 26 on October 30, 1976. In the United States, "Magic Man" received its first release in summer 1976, after the first US single "Crazy on You" had introduced Americans to the group's sound. It became Heart's first top 10 hit, peaking at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 6, 1976. In

3828-426: The current week in real time. A random episode is also featured on J.J.Walker's show on "70s on 7" Thursdays at 9 pm ET. The mix of AT40 episodes being run on XM include the year-end countdowns, which are typically run in two parts: the first half (#100-#51) in one time slot, and then the second half (#50-#1) in the following time slot. The AT40 specials are also part of XM's rotation; for instance, " AT40 Goes to

3915-403: The general top-40 category and in various specific radio formats , have aired over the course of AT40's history as well. In addition to Dees' show, Mario Lopez , Carson Daly , and (in overseas via World Chart Show ) Mike Savage, all host competing countdown shows targeted at the pop top 40 market. From December 2000 to December 2002, many radio stations aired reruns of 1980–88 episodes under

4002-406: The inaugural show the evening of July 3, 1970. Billboard reported prior to the release of the show that it had been sold to stations in 10 radio markets. Kasem was reportedly inspired by Make Believe Ballroom , a radio show that was nationally syndicated in the 1940s and popularized the concept of a disc jockey playing current popular recorded music on the air. The chart data broadcast for

4089-620: The industry after this, with accusations of chart fixing. No official findings of the Newton incident were ever revealed. Cashbox would subsequently print its final consecutive chart of this era in November 1996. In 2003, the former Cashbox Magazine became involved in a murder trial after police in Nashville, Tennessee, made an arrest in a 1989 cold case . Kevin Hughes was a small-town boy from southeastern Illinois who spent his childhood focused on music and creating his own country music charts. As

4176-425: The liner notes of Dreamboat Annie . Additional musicians Cash Box Cashbox , also known as Cash Box , is an American music industry trade magazine , originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as Cashbox Magazine , an online magazine with weekly charts and occasional special print issues. In addition to

4263-437: The man and his former girlfriend about the LDD. Most shows featured two long distance dedications, usually with one during each half of the show. (Sometimes, a song currently in the countdown was requested as a LDD; in such cases, Kasem would typically read the dedication first, and sometimes not even announce the song's chart status until after the song was played.) This feature endured on AT40 into Shadoe Stevens' run as host of

4350-413: The merger of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio, these AT40 shows began airing on both services on November 15, 2008. On the 70s on 7, it replaced the 'Satellite Survey', a Top 30 countdown of 1970s hits, produced by Sirius and hosted by Dave Hoeffel. On the 80s on 8, it replaced 'The Big 40' countdown produced by Sirius and hosted by Nina Blackwood . As of October 11, 2009, Sirius XM replaced

4437-411: The music industry, the magazine covered the amusement arcade industry, including jukebox machines and arcade games . Cashbox was one of several magazines that published record charts in the United States. Its most prominent competitors were Billboard and Record World (known as Music Vendor prior to April 1964). Unlike Billboard , Cashbox combined all currently available recordings of

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4524-466: The network would lose the opportunity to continue licensing the brand and control of it would revert back to Kasem and Bustany. Bustany, however, decided to resign from the countdown shortly after Shadoe Stevens took over as the host. He would have no further involvement in production afterward. The agreement remained in force, though, and ABC eventually would be forced to return the branding rights in 1997 without making any sort of attempt to use them after

4611-518: The online-only Cashbox Magazine in 2006, with the consent and cooperation of the family of Albert, the late president and publisher of the original edition. Cashbox has occasionally issued special print editions. As of April 2015 , Cashbox Magazine has added the following music charts: Roots Music, Bluegrass Singles, Bluegrass Gospel Singles, Beach Music Top 40, Roadhouse Blues and Boogie Top 40, Country Christian Top 100 Singles and Southern Gospel Singles. The online magazine also relaunched

4698-522: The original AT40 concluded in 1995; this resulted in Kasem acquiring sole control of the brand. Meanwhile, Kasem's contract at Westwood One was due for renewal and the relationship between the two sides was becoming contentious. After Kasem's initial contract expired in 1993, Westwood One renewed it for four more years. Kasem had launched an adult contemporary countdown in 1992 as a companion to Casey's Top 40 called Casey's Countdown , and in 1994 he added

4785-405: The original program. Because the rights to Shadoe Stevens-era episodes were held by Cumulus Media, no programs from August 13, 1988, to 1995 have been re-aired as part of this or any similar block. Newly produced extra segments hosted by voiceover talent Larry Morgan are available for use at stations' discretion. Prior to Kasem leaving Premiere Radio, these segments were hosted by his son Mike; when

4872-612: The others. In November 1991, American Top 40 switched to the Hot 100 Airplay chart (then known as the Top 40 Radio Monitor). These songs generally scored much higher radio airplay, and some were not even released as singles (such as "Steel Bars" by Michael Bolton ). During this time, a few songs made very high debuts, including two that almost debuted in the No. 1 spot: "I'll Be There" by Mariah Carey , which entered at No. 4, and "Erotica" by Madonna , which entered at No. 2. In January 1993, American Top 40 switched charts again, this time to

4959-481: The premiere of Casey Kasem's 'American Top 40: The 80s . On August 4, 2006, XM Satellite Radio began replays of the original 1970s and 1980s AT40 shows with Kasem that were digitally remastered from the original vinyl LPs and open-reel master tapes by Shannon Lynn of Charis Music Group. The event began with a weekend long marathon of original shows, with AT40 then being added as a regular show on two of XM's Decades channels, " The 70s on 7 " and " The 80s on 8 ". With

5046-497: The premiere show actually included the top 40 songs from the week ending July 11, 1970. The first show featured the last time both Elvis Presley and the Beatles had songs simultaneously in the Top 10. It was originally distributed by Watermark Inc. , and was first presented in mono until February 24, 1973, when the first stereo vinyl copies were distributed. In early 1982, Watermark was purchased by ABC Radio and AT40 became

5133-416: The record. In 2011, Taio Cruz set AT40 's all time longevity record with his song " Dynamite ". This hit remained on the chart for 72 weeks, from July 2010 to November 2011. The record has since been broken by Rema & Selena Gomez ‘s song “ Calm Down ”, which remained on the chart for 75 weeks, from November 2022 to April 2024. On the Hot AC version of AT40, " Use Somebody " by Kings of Leon set

5220-514: The registered agent for Cashbox , which is now operated from Ridgeway, South Carolina . The current owners of Cashbox met with Wilds & Associates co-founder and CEO Randall Wilds in 2018 to discuss business relations. Wilds acquired interest in Cashbox Magazine and a partnership was formed. As a result, Wilds & Associates became the publisher for Cashbox. While the digital/online edition remains intact, Cashbox returned to

5307-469: The second single from the yet-to-be released Dreamboat Annie , the first single having been the folksy "How Deep It Goes". "Magic Man" spent 9 weeks on the RPM Singles Chart peaking at number 62 on August 16, 1975. The success of "Magic Man" prompted the release of the album and, in March 1976, a third single, " Crazy on You ". After "Crazy on You" had a chart run, "Magic Man" gained popularity in new areas of

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5394-521: The series first began, these segments were hosted by one of Kasem's former guest hosts, Ed McMann . These extra segments are also heard on the 80s show. KQQL was the first to sign on, airing programs beginning on December 30, 2006. Typically, the "optional extras" were songs that had yet to enter the top 40 of the Hot 100. However, some songs never reached the top 40 but had since become popular at classic hits/oldies/classic rock stations or certain novelty songs that were popularized by certain media events like

5481-400: The series. Currently, American Top 40 with Seacrest airs in two formats, with one distributed to Contemporary Hit Radio (Top 40) stations and the other to Hot Adult Contemporary stations. However, there is no distinction made between the two shows on air. There are also two classic editions of the original American Top 40 distributed every weekend, featuring past Kasem-hosted shows from

5568-627: The show rebranded their logo for the 50th anniversary. It features lines similar to those on the edges of vinyl records. It was changed again in September 2021; the same month, Premiere announced the show had been renewed through 2025 with Seacrest as host. As of 2020 , American Top 40 is produced by Easton Allyn and Jennifer Sawalha, and engineered by James Rash. American Top 40 has faced numerous competitors since its debut in 1970. These include The Weekly Top 30 with Mark Elliott (1979–1982); several Dick Clark-hosted shows starting in 1981 with

5655-460: The show's international distributor, kept the program alive for the overseas markets that had not dropped the series after ABC's cancellation. On the weekend of January 28, 1995, the final episode of the original AT40 was broadcast. Two years later, in 1997, two separate and coincidental series of events would lead not only to the revival of American Top 40 , but would also see the return of Kasem to host it. When Kasem left ABC Radio in 1988,

5742-403: The show, American Top 20. He also announced that the new host of AT40 would be Ryan Seacrest , an afternoon DJ host from KYSR who was rapidly gaining stardom from his hosting of the successful music reality TV show. American Idol . Kasem's last show as host of AT40 aired on the weekend of January 3/4, 2004. His final No. 1 was Outkast 's " Hey Ya! ", which hit the top of the chart on

5829-424: The show, from 1988 to 1995, and also followed Kasem on his Westwood One shows, first as "Request and Dedication", and then back to LDD when he returned to AT40 in 1998. Long Distance Dedications were dropped after Ryan Seacrest became host in 2004, but they continued as part of Kasem's adult contemporary countdowns. In 1988, Kasem left the show over contract concerns with ABC and signed with Westwood One to host

5916-664: The show. Online song voting was later reinstated, with results of votes on American Top 40 's website factored into the chart rankings. AT40 was also expanded to social media through Twitter and Facebook where listeners from around the world will request a song to be included in the AT40 Extra segment, as well as their own mobile application which is available for free download on the Apple AppStore for iOS devices and on Google Play for Android devices. In March 2010, Premiere Radio Networks announced that "American Top 5,"

6003-409: The song " Desiree " by Neil Diamond , which he dedicated to his girlfriend of the same name who was moving to West Germany to live with her family on an Army base. The request was fulfilled on the weekend of August 26, 1978; when that show was rebroadcast the weekend of August 25–26, 2007, Kasem recorded two optional segments (played at the discretion of the station) in which he did phone interviews with

6090-459: The song were kept intact, in lieu of Morgan's voiceover. In March 2008, XM Satellite Radio rebranded the XM broadcasts with the "Casey Kasem's American Top 40" name and logo used for terrestrial broadcasts, although XM still aired the commercial-free broadcasts, while Premiere Radio carried edited and recut broadcasts with commercials. While Premiere Radio does not officially re-air programs other than

6177-425: The syndicated radio series American Top 40 with Casey Kasem used Billboard chart statistics, cementing Billboard as the dominant chart data for current and historic reference. Magazine publisher George Albert compiled Cashbox chart data for a reference book more than a decade later, and Dick Clark used Cashbox information for a time on his National Music Survey , beginning in 1981. However, by that time,

6264-519: The title American Top 40 Flashback . The show was syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks . In its early weeks the shows were the original four-hour format of an American Top 40 episode, but after the first month and a half the show was reduced to three hours. Although the national syndication of American Top 40 Flashback ceased in December 2002, radio station WMMX in Dayton, Ohio , continued to carry American Top 40 Flashback on Saturday mornings until

6351-462: The top 10 not being heard), this test run was largely successful. Because of the success, Premiere Radio Networks decided to launch "Casey Kasem's American Top 40 : The 1970s" into national syndication featuring the three-hour shows from 1970 to 1978, and the last three hours of shows originally aired from October 1978 through December 1979. (One original four-hour program, first aired in October 1978,

6438-414: The top 50; these removals, if they occurred in the top 40, would be reflected on the appropriate week's program. In 1999, the rule was modified to further restrict long chart runs: songs falling below #20 with at least 20 weeks in the top 50 would now be removed. On October 21, 2000, American Top 40 began using an unpublished chart on a weekly basis for the first time in its history. The chart seemed to be

6525-419: The trend was set. Perhaps the final straw for Cashbox came on December 12, 1992, when the Top 100 chart reported the number one song as " The Letter " by Wayne Newton . The song did not even make the bottom of any Billboard chart, nor was it reported to be in the top ten by local radio charts or sales reports. This called the magazine's integrity into question. Cashbox lost considerable credibility within

6612-406: The two largest media markets (New York and Los Angeles) had dropped the program several years earlier. Another sticking point between the two sides, other than Kasem's salary demands, was that Westwood One was not willing to let Kasem change the name of Casey's Top 40 to American Top 40 . The sides eventually put aside their differences, with Westwood One deciding that losing Kasem to a competitor

6699-538: The week ending July 11, 1970. In this hour at No. 32 in the countdown, a song that's been a hit 4 different times in 19 years ! And we're just one tune away from the singer with the $ 10,000 gold hubcaps on his car ! Now, on with the countdown! American Top 40 began on the Independence Day weekend in 1970, on seven radio stations, the first being KDEO in El Cajon, California (now KECR ), which broadcast

6786-408: The weekend of December 13, 2003. On January 10, 2004, American Idol host Ryan Seacrest took over the hosting duties of American Top 40 from Kasem, although Kasem would continue to host American Top 20 and American Top 10 until his retirement in July 2009. With the host change, AT40 underwent a makeover, using a new theme song and introducing several new features. The show also began using

6873-505: Was a chart that was based on what Cash Box called a "quantitative analysis" of playlist reports. The March 14, 1981, issue of the magazine stated that across the country there were 102 country radio station stations which were used. The magazine would receive reports from the stations. It wasn't only based on radio station reports. Sales data was used as well. These could come from retailers, rack jobbers and one-stops. American Top 40 American Top 40 (abbreviated to AT40 )

6960-676: Was also transmitted on Manx Radio . Kasem told the New York Times in 1990 "I accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative. That is the timeless thing." During Kasem's run as host, the AT40 show had a number of popular and distinguishing features, some of which Kasem had done for some time at stations like KRLA in Los Angeles: In a 2007 Valentine's Day special edition of American Top 10 (and explained earlier in Rob Durkee's book American Top 40: The Countdown of

7047-405: Was edited into a three-hour program for re-airing in 2007, and the four-hour "Disco Hits" special from July 1979 with the first hour optional was aired in 2008, but until the fall of 2010, no other program from the last 15 months of the 1970s was included in the " AT40 : The 70s" package. Starting in late 2010, Premiere began airing three-hour versions of four-hour AT40s from 1978 to 1979, beginning

7134-653: Was finalized shortly after Kasem's abrupt departure from Westwood One in which Chancellor would become owners of the AT40 franchise and Kasem would return as host. Westwood One filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Kasem. The revival of AT40 premiered the weekend of March 28, 1998, one week after Westwood One finally cancelled the three countdowns Kasem was hosting for them after four weeks without him. Chancellor also brought Kasem's AC countdowns to their network, with both now being branded as American Top 20 (see Spin-off programming below). Masters sold Chancellor/AMFM to Clear Channel Communications (the predecessor of what

7221-451: Was not given as much promotion as he initially had been getting when he joined up with Westwood One in 1989, especially now that he was hosting three weekly programs for the network instead of one. Westwood One, meanwhile, did not feel that Casey's Top 40 was producing as much advertising revenue as it had been when Kasem's contract was up for renewal four years earlier; the program did not have as many affiliates by 1997 as it had in 1993, and

7308-528: Was not worth their trouble and Kasem signed on for one more year in December 1997. However, after the February 21, 1998, edition of his weekend countdowns, Kasem disappeared from the airwaves without notice and, unbeknownst to Westwood One, with no intention of returning to work. Chancellor Media, the media company founded by Roy Masters , and Kasem began negotiations to relaunch AT40 for its newly launched syndication service called AMFM Radio Networks. A deal

7395-457: Was once named Cashbox ' s "Male Vocalist of the Year" without having sold a single record. Hughes was reportedly killed for not going along with the chart-fixing scheme. D'Antonio, a Cashbox employee associated with Dixon, was convicted of first degree murder in 2003 and died in prison in 2014. Dixon had already died a few years prior to D'Antonio's arrest. Cash Box was reinvented as

7482-403: Was similar to Billboard ' s methodology prior to August 1958, when Billboard debuted its " Hot 100 ", which attempted to combine all measures of popularity into one all-encompassing chart. In addition, Cashbox published chart data for specific genres, such as country music and R&B music. In 1960, Cashbox discontinued its R&B chart after the March 5 issue; it was reinstated in

7569-472: Was thus a natural choice to be used. Kasem would frequently announce during the show that Billboard was the only source for the countdown. While using these charts worked well for the first half of the 1970s, as music changed during the decade and disco became popular on the charts, some rock stations began to drop the show because of complaints from program directors that AT40 was playing too many songs not normally heard on their stations. This gradually became

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