AT10 - December 4, 2004

[Hervard]

Another pretty cool show, with a good selection of songs. Some were repeated from the first show, others from the second and I believe there may have been one or two repeated from show #1, but I'll let you all do the comparisons.
Meanwhile, here's the list:

Hour 1:
Jingle Bell Rock/Bobby Helms
The First Noel/Karla Bonoff
Joy To The World/The Supremes
Winter Wonderland/The Eurythmics
Happy Holidays/Andy Williams
Christmas Time/The Backstreet Boys
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town/The Beach Boys
I'll Be Home For Christmas/Bing Crosby
Snoopy's Christmas/The Royal Guardsmen
Happy X-Mas (War Is Over)/John Lennon & Yoko Ono
Do They Know It's Christmas/Band Aid
Carol Of The Bells/David Foster
Little Drummer Boy/Harry Simeone Chorale
All I Want For Christmas Is You/Mariah Carey
Sleigh Ride/Johnny Mathis
What A Wonderful World/Kenny G f/Louis Armstrong (Dedication)

Hour 2:
Where Are You Christmas/Faith Hill
Same Old Lang Syne/Dan Fogelberg
We Need A Little Christmas/Percy Faith
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas/Kenny Loggins
Rudolph The Red-Nose Reindeer/Gene Autry
This Christmas/Gloria Estefan
My Grown-Up Christmas List/Amy Grant
Silver And Gold/Vanessa Williams
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!/Harry Connick, jr.
The Night Before Christmas/Carly Simon
A Holly Jolly Christmas/Burl Ives
The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year/Donny Osmond

Hour 2:
Christmas All Over The World/Sheena Easton
Please Come Home For Christmas/The Eagles
Merry Christmas Baby/Bruce Springsteen
The Christmas Shoes/Newsong
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year/'N Sync
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/Manheim Steamroller
Santa Baby/Madonna
Do You Hear What I Hear/Linda Eder
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
The Gift/Jim Brickman
It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas/Johnny Mathis
We Wish You A Merry Christmas/Peter Paul & Mary

As always, I cried when they played "The Christmas Shoes". It's such a moving song. I also had a few tears in my eyes at the end of "Same Old Lang Syne". You really can't help but feel for the guy when he has to say goodbye to his old high school sweetheart and feels the way he did when they last went their separate ways. I wonder if the snow turning into rain symbolizes tears falling from his eyes as he's heading back home.
This might be the last Christmas show in the format they've been using for the past few weeks, since next week, he's starting the Top 60 Christmas songs of all time (in other words, random songs sort of like the last three weeks, only with numbers attached to them). What I think will happen is that next week, he'll start counting down from 60 to 31, then the week after, he'll conclude it with the Top 30.
The question is, what will he do on Christmas weekend? It's sort of in limbo for that week, since Saturday is Christmas and some stations run the show on Sundays, when Christmas is over with and they return to regular programming.
The possible scenarios are as follows:

- They could do another Christmas show in the non-countdown format.

- They might play the Christmas Top 30 that they have been running since 2001 (although I doubt it, since that wouldn't be logical after they've done a Top 60 Christmas songs of all-time countdown)

- A brand new Top 30 Christmas songs countdown.

- They might air a regular weekly show.

- They might run the year-end Top 30 and start the regular shows on New Year's weekend.

- They might do a full Top 60 of the year (although that's wishful thinking, because the first half of the show would consist chiefly of songs that never made the Top Ten, and we can't have that, now can we?

- They might do the Top 30 of the year on Christmas weekend and, on New Year's Weekend, the Top 30 of the decade so far (since they did a countdown like that (for the HAC show, anyway) back in the mid-90s).

- The Top 30 of the decade so far on Christmas weekend and the Top 30 of the year on New Year's weekend.

- Regular weekly shows on Christmas and New Year's weekends.

I think I've covered about every possibility, even the most ridiculous and unlikely ones. I guess we'll see which one happens when the time comes. A full Top 60 of the year would be the one I'd like the best, but I don't think that's gonna happen.

[Arson]

I hope they don't decide to reuse these Christmas shows year after year from now on.

I would like to hear the yearend Top 60 as well... I agree that it is very unlikely. People would probably turn off the radio if they ever heard two unfamiliar songs in a row. I guess all of the songs that made the top 30 of the year would have hit the top 10 sometime during the year.

[Hervard]

And the songs that didn't (since there were a few non-Top Tens on the Top 30 of 2003) shouldn't be a problem. Casey would just say that they "bubbled under" the Top Ten, like he did on the 2001 countdown, the last time there was a Top 60. The songs that were first aired on AT20 on that countdown were "Fallin'" by Alicia Keys and "Escape" by Enrique Iglesias.

Actually, now that I think about it, maybe they won't do a Top 30. Maybe it'll just be a Top 20, with a Spotlight feature on number one AC hits of years past (since they did that for Year End #1s on the Pop charts earlier this year). But I sure hope it's at least a Top 30.

A Top 60 would be nice too. I sure wouldn't switch off my radio if I heard unfamiliar songs. I'd enjoy hearing them. The problem is, AC radio has molded their audiences into being so used to the same old songs being played over and over again that they don't like it when new songs are played. Luckily, a few small market stations aren't afraid of playing newer songs. But large markets - forget it, the audiences all want to hear "Hero", "Because You Loved Me" and "Truly Madly Deeply".

[Hot AC Archiver]

Here's what the top 10 would've looked like if a regular AT10 aired this week:

1. Heaven - Los Lonely Boys
** 10 weeks at #1 **
2. In My Daughter's Eyes - Martina McBride
3. You'll Think of Me - Keith Urban
4. Breakaway - Kelly Clarkson
5. This Love - Maroon 5
6. Don't Let Him Steal Your Heart Away - Phil Collins (biggest mover, up 4 notches)
7. She Will Be Loved - Maroon 5
8. 100 Years - Five for Fighting
9. Answer in the Sky - Elton John (Debut)
10. Love's Divine - Seal

Falling off: This One's for the Girls

[chebingeo]

ulij20 said:

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year/'N Sync

That should be Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays

[Hervard]

Sorry about that. I guess I didn't hear the title exactly because I was still blowing my nose after hearing "The Christmas Shoes".

[johnnywest]

Just out of curiosity, are you all keeping track of the Christmas shows in your weekly AT10 notebooks?

[Hervard]

I don't really have an AT10 notebook. Every week, I write down on a piece of notebook paper every song in order of being played. I still have them, but as soon as I make final copies, I plan to get rid of them.

When the show was still AT20, I wrote down the Top 20 songs and below, I wrote down the extras, LDD's and Archive songs in the order they were played. But, again, it wasn't in a notebook, just on paper.

[johnnywest]

ulij20 said:

I don't really have an AT10 notebook.  Every week, I write down on a piece of notebook paper every song in order of being played.  I still have them, but as soon as I make final copies, I plan to get rid of them.

When the show was still AT20, I wrote down the Top 20 songs and below, I wrote down the extras, LDD's and Archive songs in the order they were played.  But, again, it wasn't in a notebook, just on paper.

Interesting. I've got notebooks that date back to 1989. Some of the shows I've logged over the years include:

Casey's Top 40/American Top 40
American Top 40 With Shadoe Stevens
Rick Dees Weekly Top 40
American Top 20