AT40 Recap - Your Thoughts On Ryan's First Year

[Cerebro]

So since I was stuck indoors all weekend (big snow storm, what can you do?), I took some time to observe that this weekend pretty much marks the first anniversary of Ryan Seacrest's tenure on American Top 40. I thought I might take a look back.

When it was announced in late 2003 that Casey was leaving, it stirred up a lot of controversy in the community. Many felt he did well as a guest host, but we weren't prepared for just how much the show would change upon Ryan's arrival.

The new AT40 began on 1/10/04 and it was completely revamped with new theme music, new jingles, and a new format. The biggest cause for concern was the new chart. Instead of using the well-respected Radio & Records pop chart, the suits at Premiere decide to use a chart tabulated by Mediabase that uses only the playlists of AT40's affiliate radio stations. The biggest detriment to the new chart was that it had no recurrent rule. Thus, a lot of old songs stayed on for way too long and a lot of new songs never got the chance to make the lower end of the chart.

I, like many, thought the chart was pretty erratic at the beginning. I think that it has stabilized quite a bit, and don't mind it as much these days. I think it adds an element of surprise to the show that's been missing for a while. Since the days that we could start getting the R&R chart a week in advance from Mediabase (two weeks in advance of the the countdown shows) you really couldn't be surprised by what Casey played. I always kind of liked the suspense of not knowing what song was going to be played next.

The new show also brought in a load of new features. Which makes sense. I'd rather that Casey's trademark Long Distance Dedication remain exclusive to his shows. Some of the features were hits. Some were misses as we shall soon see.

After a bit of troubleshooting, I think the show has found it's groove. My sole complaint continues to be a lack of recurrent rule (I don't mind the different chart so much any more).

What are your thoughts? What could be improved in the second year?

What follows is a month-by-month recap summarizing some of stand out bits of AT40's first year.

[Cerebro]

January:
[/li][li] The show launches and feedback on these boards is decidedly negative.
[/li][li] The show kicks off recapping last week's top 5 and playing drops of them all.
[/li][li] The new format now gives the show 2 commercial breaks per hour instead of 4.
[/li][li] The new chart causes 7 recurrents to "re-enter" the first chart (including the much loathed "In Da Club"). As a result, subsequent weeks saw lots of "currents" re-entering the chart. We finally caught up to some new music in February.
[/li][li] New features: Focus (A spotlight on one of the artists on the chart. This feature is abandoned by the end of the month, and rightly so. Playing the same song twice during the show just didn't make much sense); Correspondent (This feature seemed to, quietly, disappear by the end of October. I, for one, didn't really care what was going on at some station on the other side of the country that I've never listened to. Although I was amused by the fact that one of the earilest correspondents was Ed McMann (yes, that Ed McMann) of Boston's Kiss 108); Out Of The Box (A song likely to hit the chart in the near future. A not uncommon feature for countdown shows. Rick Dees has the Sure Shot. Shadoe had the Sneak Peek); Instant Request (This feature, thankfully, lasted only a couple of weeks. People "called in" to the show to request songs. This one seemed a bit too "Rick Dees-ish" to me. Besides, how can you possibly "call in" to a pre-recorded show?).
[/li][li] One of the biggest gripes was the, now, lack of historical chart facts and artist trivia. This would be improved in the months to come.

February:
[/li][li] "Yeah!" debuts. As the end of the year approaches, we'll be wanting to rip our ears off if we hear it one more time.
[/li][li] Adam Sandler makes a couple of appearances on the 2/14 show to promote his movie 50 First Dates. Two songs from the movie, "Love Song" and "Hold Me Now", are played as extras.
[/li][li] New feature: Rewind (After several weeks of random extras, this feature formally launches near the end of the month, spotlighting a hit single from a past year).
[/li][li] It's announced that Rick Dees is stepping down from the KIIS morning show to be replaced by Ryan. Many people construe this as Ryan taking over the Weekly Top 40. Not true. Nonetheless, Ryan continues his attempt at taking over the world.

March:
[/li][li] Someone other than OutKast, at long last, has an opportunity to claim #1.
[/li][li] "Slow Jamz" becomes the first of 4 songs to hit the top 10 on AT40, but not on the R&R chart (incidentally, the other 3 are "The First Cut Is The Deepest", "Don't Tell Me", and "Lean Back").
[/li][li] "In Da Club" finally has the decency to fall off the chart. And there was much rejoicing.

April:
[/li][li] New features: Double-Play (Where two songs by the same artist (one currently on the chart, one that isn't) are played back-to-back); 40 Second Focus (Yes, still spotlighting an artist. Just not playing the same song twice (in fact, not playing a second song at all). Much better).

May:
[/li][li] The show now begins by playing last week's #1 song, in it's entirety. People are concerned that two plays will give Usher an unfair advantage. Who can blame them?
[/li][li] New feature: Movie Extra (Ryan starts playing extras that are from movie soundtracks after talking about what's new in theatres that weekend (his Box Office Report). This feature disappears by mid-November).
[/li][li] Ryan quoted from the 5/1 show: "We just make things up as we go" (and the whole audience just smiles and nods).

June:
[/li][li] On the 6/19 chart, Usher and OutKast both have 3 songs on the chart. Something you don't see very often, but something that isn't unexpected with the "recurrentless" chart format.

June was a slow month, so I'll mention some other things here at the halfway mark:

[/li][li] At some point during the year the credits at the end of the show were nixed. These days, the only names mentioned (and rightly so) are creators Casey Kasem and Don Bustany.
[/li][li] As the year progressed, the web site (www.at40.com) proved to be incredibly unreliable. It seemed that 9 out of 10 times, they where incapable of posting the correct chart. And these errors, unfortunately, translated over to the artist and chart archives. Not that it bothered many, as the web site is 90% crap (the other 10% is "Ryan is such a hottie" e-mail from teenage girls).

July:
[/li][li] Is there something missing from the chart? If you guessed "My Happy Ending" you'd be right. The complaints come rolling in in response to this glaring oversight.
[/li][li] The new chart format is responsible for new chart records. 3 Doors Down set a new longevity record as "Here Without You" completes it's chart run at 50 weeks, shattering the 43 week record previously set by Blues Traveler's "Run-Around" in 1996.
[/li][li] Everything Ryan touches doesn't turn to gold. It's announced that his TV show, On Air will be cancelled due to atrocious ratings. Fortunately, the man's got 387 other jobs to fall back on.

August:
[/li][li] Still no sign of "My Happy Ending" by the beginning of the month. People continue to complain. And, boy, do they complain.
[/li][li] Ryan takes a 2 week vacation. The weekend of 8/14 sees Hilary and Haylie Duff as guest hosts.
[/li][li] Kelly Clarkson fills in on 8/21 and presents two oddities: (1) after 14 weeks off the chart, "Away From The Sun" re-enters for a week, and (2) "My Happy Ending" finally puts in an appearance all the way up at #13. It's not acknowledged as a debut. It's failure to appear on the chart before can only be accepted as a glitch in the system (play mistakenly broken up between two song titles, "My Happy Ending" and "So Much For My Happy Ending" (?)). I don't really buy it, but, hey, at least the complaining ends. Kelly also notes that MHE was the subject of a lot of e-mail in the past few weeks (gee, wonder why?).

September:
[/li][li] More impressive chart factoids because old songs won't die. Usher lands 4 songs on the chart, simultaneously. This feat hasn't been done since the '60s (Sonny Bono did it last).
[/li][li] On the 9/18 chart, Ryan mentioned the top 5 this week in 1985 (to tie in to Bowling For Soup's song, "1985"). This almost seemed to be channeling the ghost of Shadoe's Flashback feature. I wish Ryan would do this sort of thing more often.

October:
[/li][li] "Just Lose It" debuts at #18 - the highest of the year (cause "My Happy Ending" doesn't count...).
[/li][li] An impressive month for big chart action; "Over And Over" makes the year's biggest move (in fact, the decade's biggest move), climbing up 20 spots in it's second week on.

November:
[/li][li] We're all shocked on the weekend of 11/6. There are 7 debuts on the chart as 7 recurrents are removed. Has AT40 actually started instituting a recurrent rule? Turns out, it's not the case. They're opting for the "periodic purge" instead. It's quite refreshing to hear so many newer songs on the chart once again. And relieving to know that "Yeah!" won't have a shot at breaking the longevity record. I wish AT40 would do this sort of thing more often. Like, say, every week.
[/li][li] It looks like the AT40 franchise will grow. With Rick Dees leaving Premiere at the end of the year, his Hot A/C show is to be replaced by a Seacrest hosted Hot A/C version of AT40 (and competing with Casey's AT20 (?)). By the way, anyone actually heard this show yet?

December:
[/li][li] Ryan does his first year-end chart. The responses on the boards seem positive (at least he doesn't skip half the songs like Rick Dees does). Obviously, there are recurrents on the year-end chart (that damned "In Da Club"). Of note is the fact the "Bright Lights" makes the year-end cut. This was one of the currents that got garroted from the weekly chart to make room for all the recurrents when Ryan first took over, so he never actually played that one until now.

January '05
[/li][li] The format gets tweaked again. AT40 now has 3 commercial breaks per hour as well as top-of-the-hour extras.

[Edf85]

I liked the 2 breaks per hour rather than 4 breaks. It was just too much stopping and I wish all radio countdown/specials only had 2 breaks.

[Arson]

Thanks for the interesting recap, Cerebro.

I have only heard AT40 consistently since the fall, since that was when my local station began airing the show.

What I like so far:

• Straight-forwardness of countdown - without the long drawn-out comedy routines or contest info as on Rick Dees' WT40.
  
• Song selections for the Rewind/Double Play - at least they don't just automatically go for the most overplayed recurrents/golds.
  
• No Skipped Songs - as on Rick Dees
  
• No Long Distance Dedications - The only thing I didn't like about Casey Kasem's AT40 were the LDDs

What I don't mind:

• Ryan Seacrest's announcer voice - Casey Kasem is still the best (by far), but Ryan Seacrest at least sounds more natural than Casey's previous guest hosts

What I don't like:

• Lack of recurrent rule - the recurrents make the chart rather boring to listen to. The chart doesn't sound as fresh when every new debut is a song you've been hearing for weeks. Even though I did know what song was coming with Casey Kasem, I still got a kick out of hearing him announce it.
  
• Lack of chart trivia - I still would like more tidbits on chart movements, longevity, # of various acts on the chart, comparisons to past records, etc. There's too much inane information on celebrities.
  
• Lack of song clips - the one thing I do like about Rick Dees' WT40 is his use of song clips. It's interesting to hear bits and pieces of songs from years past and their relation to current hits
  
• Hearing Last Week's #1 - As if I'm not already hearing Nelly and Tim McGraw over and over every day.
  
• Ryan Seacrest's quips - I don't find any of his side comments too funny. I find Rick Dees much more humourous.

Although I appreciate the removal of stale recurrents in the November purge, I don't like how it was without rhyme or reason. Who knows when the next purge will occur, and what is the criteria for removal of a song? The whole "we do what we feel like" attitude reminds me of how erratic and unpredictable AT20 was when they switched away from R&R a few years back.

[Michael1973]

Cerebro said:

On the 9/18 chart, Ryan mentioned the top 5 this week in 1985 (to tie in to Bowling For Soup's song, "1985").  This almost seemed to be channeling the ghost of Shadoe's Flashback feature.  I wish Ryan would do this sort of thing more often.

What chart did he use for this? I strongly suspect that the reason Ryan so rarely makes chart statistic references is because of the different charts used on the show through the years, and the fact that the old Billboard chart info is no longer allowed to be used.

[kellydicted]

I like Ryan as the host..He's not as annoying on radio as he is on TV

[Cerebro]

Michael1973 said:

What chart did he use for this?  I strongly suspect that the reason Ryan so rarely makes chart statistic references is because of the different charts used on the show through the years, and the fact that the old Billboard chart info is no longer allowed to be used.

From what I could tell, using chartboy's site, he used the R&R chart.

[Libra]

Am I the only one who isn't bothered by the lack of a recurrent rule?

[mst3k]

MikeK102 said:

Am I the only one who isn't bothered by the lack of a recurrent rule?

I'm not so much bothered by it, except that if they're so determined to keep recurrents on, then the purge that they did in November wasn't necessary. Either you have a rule, or you don't.

[johnm1120]

I honestly would rather have that mystery recurrent rule from 2001 over hearing the same songs over a year after they debuted.

[Hervard]

Yeah, either that or the one they used for the AC chart, which was basically a semi-yearly chart purge. And who knows, that might still happen. We'll have to see if they do something similar in early May and if they do, that'll be an indication that it might be something that they do twice a year (once in early May and again in early November). Of course, they didn't purge the chart in early May of last year, so maybe it's a once a year thing. Still, that's better than nothing.

[Michael1973]

MikeK102 said:

Am I the only one who isn't bothered by the lack of a recurrent rule?

I'll tell you why I prefer a recurrent rule, and it has more to do with radio stations in general than the way the charts are ranked.

AT40 was always about playing the most popular current music.  These days, the length of time a song is considered "current" is almost twice as long as it was in the early days of the show.  That fact alone causes people to get very tired of songs.  Without a recurrent rule, these already burnt out songs are allowed to stick around even longer, prohibiting some songs that truly are current from ever charting.

In my personal opinion, it doesn't matter that a song is still getting enough airplay to be in the top 40.  If the song debuted in March and it's now January, that song is not "current" and should not be in the top 40 anymore.

[Arson]

I can see the value of the top 40 pop chart without a recurrent rule. I always find it interesting to see the weekly chart without a recurrent rule in place. But for me, as a listener, it's just plain boring to hear the same old songs week after week.

Hot said:

Yeah, either that or the one they used for the AC chart, which was basically a semi-yearly chart purge. And who knows, that might still happen. We'll have to see if they do something similar in early May and if they do, that'll be an indication that it might be something that they do twice a year (once in early May and again in early November). Of course, they didn't purge the chart in early May of last year, so maybe it's a once a year thing. Still, that's better than nothing.

Also, as long as they purge all songs that fit a certain criteria, and not purge some and leave others.

[Hervard]

It seems to me that, back in November, they purged all songs that were recurrent on R&R and had been below number 21 on the AT40 chart the previous week (which explains why Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You" was still on even though it had been a recurrent on R&R for several weeks)

But yeah, when they did this purge on AT20 AC, it was screwed up, especially in 2001. When they first brought on the new chart, seven songs that had been on for 40 weeks or more were removed from the chart (although I have no idea why they took out "The One" by the Backstreet Boys, seeing as that hadn't been out for very long, but whatever). In April, 2001, they removed six songs during two different weekends (three for each weekend). Yet, "Taking You Home" by Don Henley, which had been on the chart for longer than most of them, still stuck around. It was said that this was a conspiracy involving a condo for Casey, but I don't really believe that. It was most likely just an oversight, due to the staff at Premiere not doing any proofreading (which is probably why several songs mysteriously disappeared from the chart for a week only to re-enter at a high position the next week)

[Jeffster]

Well, as I said at this time last year, I like Ryan Seacrest. My problem with the current AT40 is the same problem that every generation has. I've outgrown the music. I can't relate to the thug-rap and pop-punk and interchangeable female singers that sing off-key that dominates the "CHR" charts these days. Sure, there is the occasional diamond in the rough (I'm thrilled at the success of Switchfoot in the mainstream), but by and large, the music is just unlistenable to me. I think it's unquestionable that top 40 radio died awhile back, there is never going to be the kind of variety there was in the 70's, 80's and early 90's. Radio has changed too dramatically, and with the corporate conglomerate domination of radio, it's not likely to ever change back.

When I was a kid, top 40 radio still played songs that could appeal to adults, now the CHR stations seem squarely aimed at teenagers or adults who act like teenagers, and are not at all interested in having a wider audience, because it's no longer about having a good radio station and developing an indentity in the community, it's about streamlined, cookie-cutter cost-cutting, and making the most money for the company nationally without regard to the local market's heritage or people.

Good thing many of us have plenty of old countdown shows from the glory days of top 40 radio when it was still a mass-appeal format.

[billme]

Seacrest, even after months of hosting AT40, still manages to say some of the most ill-guided statements I ever heard.  That is, for a national countdown.  He's best suited for TV production & morning DJ duties.

I picked to listen the first hour of 10-9-04 for examples.  There a lot available!!

*"Who’s had a good hangover?”

*“I celebrated with her, her 17th birthday and gave her a package of rated-R DVDs, so for the first time ever, she’s old enough to watch Pulp Fiction, Wall Street & “Eat-the-moma-dom-me-um?, even though, I think it was not rated I put it in the package.  Happy birthday again, Hilary Duff.”

Then, just plan silly stuff:

*“Can they stay on top this week?  Patience people.  Patience.”

*“On a mission to play an Usher song every 12 minutes, I think, this week on American Top 40.”

He's not funny yet tries so hard to use the Dees' approach.  This I really don't understand, what is the producer thinking and please edit the interviews.  We spend two mintues with him & Vanessa, then sums up the interview with one statement of the information in the interview.

RS “What’s Up’s Vanessa?”
VC “Not much it’s raining.  How are you?
RS “Well, I’m fine.  It’s not (raining).”
VC (laughter)
RS “Cuz I’m in Southern California”
VC (laughter)
RS “It never does”
VC “I know.  It’s like I don’t understand why or how, But.”
RS “Are you North of me?”
VC “I am East.  I’m in New York right now.”
RS “Oh, you are in New York right now.  Well, I haven’t talked to you in a long time."
VC “I know.  I missed you.”
RS “How much has changed?  You are now a, um, what are you, 20.  Can I guess how old you are?”
VC “I’m 24.”
RS “That’s what I was going to guess.”
VC “Really? Yeah.”
RS “24”
VC “You called her”
RS “You have no crow’s feet yet.  Right? 
VC (laughter) “no crow’s feet”
RS “No wrinkling”
VC “No!”
RS “But you have a new song on the countdown, which is the reason I wanted to touch based with you and say, congratulations.  Welcome back to American Top 40.”
VC “Thank you so much.  It’s so nice to be back.  I know, it’s been kinda like a cave for the past year or so, so it’s nice to come out of it.”
RS “Yeah, do.  What you have been doing in this cave?”
VC “I-I was recording Harmonium in San Francisco & L.A.”
RS “mmm, hum”
VC  “Um, obliviously it took a little longer than I thought.  But, you know, we just, it’s kinda like, you bleed for your records and that’s what I have been doing.”
RS “And did, Stephan co-write this.  Stephan Jenkins.”
VC “Stephan, co-wrote “White Houses”.  Yeah.
RS “He did.”
VC “And a couple, two other songs on the album.  Um, And I hired him to produce the record.”
RS “Hold on, I have to understand something.  Are you still together?”
VC “Yes”
RS “You are together.” Ok, so.
VC “Yes”
RS “Okay, you actually hired your boyfriend.”
VC “I did.”
RS “That’s an interesting thing.”
VC “It really was.”
RS “How do you negotiate the rate when you.  When you, hire your boyfriend, how do you negotiate the rate?”
VC “Uh, you gotta be, ah, get where that like that pro-hat, you know like, become deal with it professionally.  It’s typical.”
RS “so, I was going to say that must have been s-s-somehwat trying on the relationship because it is, it is something you you it’s something you never really done before let alone with your boyfriend.”
VC “that is correct. We worked it out.”
RS “Good.”
VC “We survived.”
RS ‘Well, the good news is you are still together and I gotta on the countdown, White Houses, we’re gonna play it right now on American Top 40.  Vanessa it is at number 36 this week.
VC “Yey!”
RS “Okay, good luck, see ya soon.”
VC ‘Thanks, Ryan”
RS “Bye”
VC “Bye”

After the song, he explains that Jenkins is the lead singer of Third Eye Blind and he produced Carlton's album. Not exactly a straight-forward interview.

Honestly, he could be a good host with more editing and less talking about himself, which always finds a way to accomplish, look at the Hilary Duff statement.

[95-7 Ben FM]

My only gripe with the new AT40 is that Ryan doesn't announce all the songs before playing them.


Song #40 ends
Voice Over: American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest. Number #39
Song #39 plays
Ryan: That was (artist) with (title). Now on to song #38, (title) by (artist)

Does anyone else find this annoying?

[richie]

benq104957 said:

My only gripe with the new AT40 is that Ryan doesn't announce all the songs before playing them.


Song #40 ends
Voice Over: American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest. Number #39
Song #39 plays
Ryan: That was (artist) with (title). Now on to song #38, (title) by (artist)

Does anyone else find this annoying?

Yes, and
the whole show is pretty annoying, except for the music. It really pales in comparison to Rick Dees show, which I miss a lot.

[thebigham]

Casey will always be the best in my book. I first remember listening to him in 1982!

Thanks for this informative look back at Ryan''s first year!

Chris

[Radical347]

MikeK102 said:

Am I the only one who isn't bothered by the lack of a recurrent rule?

No... when I found out that there was no recurrrent rule, I started making real attempts to listen to it. Finally, an accurate countdown show, for the first time in like what... 8 years?

[Hervard]

Corporate said:

No... when I found out that there was no recurrrent rule, I started making real attempts to listen to it.  Finally, an accurate countdown show, for the first time in like what... 8 years?

About that. Back in the summer of 1996 is when R&R implemented a recurrent rule. One in writing anyway; the charts had some weird rule back in 1994, which is why some songs (most notably "Come To My Window" by Melissa Etheridge) suddenly disappeared from way up inside the chart.

[top30countdown]

Cerebro - Very nicely written. Thank you.

One "feature" which has not been mentioned yet was Little Allie, an 8-year old girl who would make prank phone calls. I doubt that she was coming up with everything to say on her own - either she had someone telling her what to say, or she had questions and comments written up in advance, or the whole thing was staged (i.e. not even a real prank phone call.) It had nothing to do with music whatsoever, and it seemed like something more suited to Rick Dees. It didn't last very long.

[Peach]

top30countdown said:

Cerebro - Very nicely written.  Thank you.

One "feature" which has not been mentioned yet was Little Allie, an 8-year old girl who would make prank phone calls.  I doubt that she was coming up with everything to say on her own - either she had someone telling her what to say, or she had questions and comments written up in advance, or the whole thing was staged (i.e. not even a real prank phone call.)  It had nothing to do with music whatsoever, and it seemed like something more suited to Rick Dees.  It didn't last very long.

Actually, that was from his morning show on KIISFM. He would take some of her phone calls and randomly stick them onto AT40. Even though he does not play them on the countdown anymore, they still continue to be a daily feature on KIISFM.

[johnnywest]

ulij20 said:

About that.  Back in the summer of 1996 is when R&R implemented a recurrent rule.  One in writing anyway; the charts had some weird rule back in 1994, which is why some songs (most notably "Come To My Window" by Melissa Etheridge) suddenly disappeared from way up inside the chart.

I'll have to go back and review my charts regarding "Come To My Window." The victim of an unwritten recurrent rule seemed to be Ace of Base with "The Sign." It was pulled off from somewhere in the 20s after moving back up the week before.

As soon as I heard about Billboard's recurrent rule in '91, I dreaded the day it would happen in R&R. Now I just wish it was a weekly thing on AT40.

[johnnywest]

A new feature that started in January was the optional segment. So that means 4 extra songs per show, at least Clear Channel stations that broadcast the show.

[friday]

johnnywest said:

A new feature that started in January was the optional segment. So that means 4 extra songs per show, at least Clear Channel stations that broadcast the show.

Yeah, how does this work? Does Ryan tape bits leading into each song, or do the stations that want to play them just go cold into the songs?

[Rob64]

Cerebro said:

So since I was stuck indoors all weekend (big snow storm, what can you do)

go snowboarding

[95-7 Ben FM]

Cerebro,

I really enjoyed this recap page. Will you do another AT40 recap for 2005?

The only one I can think of is

August 2005-Out of the Box renamed to Breakout, and two of them are featured on each show.

[Cerebro]

benq104957 said:

Cerebro,

I really enjoyed this recap page. Will you do another AT40 recap for 2005?

The only one I can think of is

August 2005-Out of the Box renamed to Breakout, and two of them are featured on each show.

Thanks for the praise. No plans to do another recap, though. It was, pretty much, a one shot deal.

[Hervard]

Yeah, I agree. No major changes in the countdown over the past year. No chart purge, no songs got their chart runs delayed due to being erroneously listed as two different titles, and pretty much the same story as last year.

Heh, I was reading this post just now and saw top30countdown's post about little Allie. I had almost forgotten about that little brat. She sure was a smartmouth, wasn't she? I'm glad they didn't keep her around!