"Hot AC" flashback: T40 Satellite Survey 6/14/85

[musicfanpete]

I just recently aquired a couple of Top 40 Satellite Survey shows from 1985. I just posted this chart from 6/14/85 in the Nostalga thread, but thought I would post it here as well since the CHR charts were Hot AC leaning back then, and for comparison sakes to today's slow moving charts.

This particular chart used for this show was always faster moving than even the American Top 40 chart at that time. But this particular week featured a really wild chart following a very slow week. However, believe it or not there would be an even crazier week about a month later that featured ten debuts and even more crazy moves. But this one is pretty wild in and of itself. Enjoy!

TC LC Artist/Title
01 02 Tears For Fears: Everybody Wants To Rule The World (1 Wk @ #1)
02 05 Bryan Adams: Heaven
03 06 Howard Jones: Things Can Only Get Better
04 09 Madonna: Angel
05 10 Mary Jane Girls: In My House
06 15 Phil Collins: Sussudio
07 12 Katrina & The Waves: Walking On Sunshine
08 14 Prince: Raspberry Beret
09 01 Wham!: Everything She Wants
10 17 Survivor: The Search Is Over
11 19 Duran Duran: A View To A Kill
12 21 The Eurythmics: Would I Lie To You
13 20 Glenn Frey: Smuggler’s Blues
14 18 Limahl: Neverending Story
15 30 Til’ Tuesday: Voices Carry
16 22 Cyndi Lauper: The Goonies R’ Good Enough
17 04 Billy Ocean: Suddenly
18 29 John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band: Tough All Over
19 07 Simple Minds: Don’t You (Forget About Me)
20 32 Paul Young: Everytime You Go Away
21 xx Madonna: Into The Groove
22 03 Harold Faltermeyer: Axel F
23 08 David Lee Roth: Just A Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody
24 36 Kim Carnes: Crazy In The Night
25 xx Bruce Springsteen: Glory Days
26 39 Whitney Houston: You Give Good Love
27 xx Sting: If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free
28 34 Night Ranger: Sentimental Street
29 xx Hall & Oates: Possession Obsession
30 33 Graham Parker & The Shot: Wake Up (Next To You)
31 11 Kool & The Gang: Fresh
32 xx Air Supply: Just As I Am
33 37 The Beach Boys: Getcha Back
34 xx Power Station: Get It On (Bang A Gong)
35 xx Corey Hart: Never Surrender
36 xx Heart: What About Love
37 40 Supertramp: Cannonball
38 16 Julian Lennon: Say You’re Wrong
39 xx Debarge: Who’s Holding Donna Now
40 13 REO Speedwagon: One Lonely Night

[MostInterestingManInTheWorld]

Wow! That's fast moving even by 1985 standards... even then not too many songs dropped more than 15 spots in a week.

[musicfanpete]

Apr 5, 2011 23:07:48 GMT -5 MostInterestingManInTheWorld said:

Wow! That's fast moving even by 1985 standards... even then not too many songs dropped more than 15 spots in a week.

It definitely is. As I recall this chart came after a very slow week when only one song managed a 5 spot gain, and probably not too many huge droppers like this. But this chart during it's two and a half year run tended to have a lot more movement than even your typical American Top 40 chart at the time. Perhaps they had a similar sort of rule that Billboard had in 1982 where songs continued to climb the chart for a week or two even after they lost their bullet, therefore accounting for those sudden, huge drops. Who knows. All of do know for sure was that the show used an in-house chart based on record sales and affiliate station requests.

[musicfanpete]

Here are a couple of more Top 40 Satellite Survey charts that are a bit more "tepid" than the one posted above, though there are still a fair number of big droppers, particularly on the second chart. The first chart is from 8/31/85, and a recording of the entire show that anyone can listen to for free can be found at box.net at the following link:

www.box.net/T40SS

The second chart for the following week was the other show I purchased from 9/7/85. I can PM anyone who wants the link to the person I purchased these from. Enjoy!

Top 40 Satellite Survey - 8/31/85
TC LC Artist/Title
01 02 Huey Lewis & The News: The Power Of Love (1 Wk @ #1)
02 03 John Parr: St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion)
03 04 Aretha Franklin: Freeway Of Love
04 06 Bryan Adams: Summer Of 69
05 07 Tina Turner: We Don’t Need Another Hero
06 08 Phil Collins: Don’t Lose My Number
07 09 Billy Joel: You’re Only Human
08 01 Tears For Fears: Shout
09 12 Prince: Pop Life
10 13 Wham!: Freedom
11 14 Pat Benatar: Invincible
12 04 Corey Hart: Never Surrender
13 20 Kool & The Gang: Cherish
14 21 Dire Straits: Money For Nothing
15 15 Howard Jones: Life In One Day
16 10 Dead Or Alive: You Spin Me Around
17 22 The Pointer Sisters: Dare Me
18 19 Billy Ocean: Mystery Lady
19 23 Motley Crue: Smokin’ In The Boys Room
20 26 Madonna: Dress You Up
21 11 Heart: What About Love
22 24 The Motels: Shame
23 25 REO Speedwagon: Live Every Moment
24 28 Cock Robin: When Your Heart Is Weak
25 35 John Mellancamp: Lonely Ol’ Night
26 30 The Eurythmics: There Must Be An Angel
27 29 Katrina & The Waves: Do You Want Crying
28 32 Godley & Creme: Cry
29 40 A-ha: Take On Me
30 32 Michael McDonald: No Lookin’ Back
31 18 Debarge: Who’s Holding Donna Now
32 34 John Waite: Every Step Of The Way
33 16 Sting: If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free
34 37 UB40 f/Chrissy Hynde: I Got You Babe
35 xx Sting: Fortress Around Your Heart
36 38 Whitney Houston: Saving All My Love For You
37 xx Laura Branigan: Spanish Eddie
38 39 John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band: C-I-T-Y
39 27 Paul Young: Everytime You Go Away
40 xx Loverboy: Lovin’ Every Minute Of It


Top 40 Satellite Survey - 9/7/85
TC LC Artist/Title
01 01 Huey Lewis & The News: The Power Of Love (2 Wks @ #1)
02 02 John Parr: St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion)
03 04 Bryan Adams: Summer Of 69
04 05 Tina Turner: We Don’t Need Another Hero
05 06 Phil Collins: Don’t Lose My Number
06 07 Billy Joel: You’re Only Human
07 09 Prince: Pop Life
08 10 Wham!: Freedom
09 14 Dire Straits: Money For Nothing
10 11 Pat Benatar: Invincible
11 03 Aretha Franklin: Freeway Of Love
12 13 Kool & The Gang: Cherish
13 15 Howard Jones: Life In One Day
14 08 Tears For Fears: Shout
15 20 Madonna: Dress You Up
16 17 The Pointer Sisters: Dare Me
17 19 Motley Crue: Smokin’ In The Boys Room
18 22 The Motels: Shame
19 25 John Mellancamp: Lonely Ol’ Night
20 29 A-ha: Take On Me
21 12 Corey Hart: Never Surrender
22 26 The Eurythmics: There Must Be An Angel
23 24 Cock Robin: When Your Heart Is Weak
24 28 Godley & Creme: Cry
25 27 Katrina & The Waves: Do You Want Crying
26 38 John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band: C-I-T-Y
27 30 Michael McDonald: No Lookin’ Back
28 32 John Waite: Every Step Of The Way
29 xx Ready For The World: Oh Sheila
30 36 Whitney Houston: Saving All My Love For You
31 35 Sting: Fortress Around Your Heart
32 xx Mick Jagger & David Bowie: Dancing In The Street
33 16 Dead Or Alive: You Spin Me Around
34 34 UB40 f/Chrissy Hynde: I Got You Babe
35 37 Laura Branigan: Spanish Eddie
36 xx Night Ranger: Four In The Morning
37 18 Billy Ocean: Mystery Lady
38 xx Hall & Oates f/Ruffin & Kendricks: The Way You Do The Things You Do
39 40 Loverboy: Lovin’ Every Minute Of It
40 21 Heart: What About Love

[musicfanpete]

Here are a few more Top 40 Satellite Survey charts I came across. These are from three consecutive weeks from July of 1986, 25 years ago. The first week I had purchased, but the next two weeks I just stumbled upon tonight from a website that had posted shows that had been previously sold on ebay. These charts were listed in the product description. Some observations below:


Top 40 Satellite Survey - 7/12/86
TC LC Artist/Title
01 04 Genesis: Invisible Touch (1 Wk @ #1)
02 03 El Debarge: Who’s Johnny
03 02 Simply Red: Holding Back The Years
04 06 Peter Gabriel: Sledgehammer
05 08 Janet Jackson: Nasty
06 07 The Fabulous Thunderbirds: Tuff Enuff
07 09 Kenny Loggins: Danger Zone
08 17 Peter Cetera: The Glory Of Love
09 01 Billy Ocean: There’ll Be Sad Songs (Say So Much)
10 12 Rod Stewart: Love Touch
11 14 The Moody Blues: Your Wildest Dreams
12 05 Howard Jones f/Phil Collins: No One Is To Blame
13 16 Van Halen: Dreams
14 18 Bob Seger: Like A Rock
15 19 GTR: When The Heart Rules The Mind
16 24 Pet Shop Boys: Opportunities (Let’s Make Lot’s Of Money)
17 22 Billy Joel: Modern Woman
18 11 Patti LaBelle f/Michael McDonald: On Our Own
19 25 Prince & The Revolution: Mountains
20 10 38 Special: Like No Other Night
21 26 Belinda Carlisle: Mad About You
22 27 The Blow Monkeys: Digging Your Scene
23 32 Jermaine Stewart: We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off
24 13 The Jets: Crush On You
25 33 Madonna: Papa Don’t Preach
26 28 The Bangles: If She Knew What She Wants
27 30 Journey: Suzanne
28 15 Nu Shooz: I Can’t Wait
29 34 The Outfield: All The Love In The World
30 31 The Fixx: Secret Separation
31 37 Steve Winwood: Higher Love
32 20 Madonna: Live To Tell
33 xx Jeffrey Osbourne: You Should Be Mine
34 38 Robert Palmer: Hyperactive
35 xx Andy Taylor: Take It Easy
36 21 Heart: Nothin’ At All
37 xx Gavin Christopher: One Step Closer
38 23 George Michael: A Different Corner
39 xx Wham!: The Edge Of Heaven
40 xx Device: Hanging On A Heart Attack



Top 40 Satellite Survey: 7/19/86
TC LC Artist/Title
01 04 Peter Gabriel: Sledgehammer (1 Wk @ #1)
02 07 Kenny Loggins: Danger Zone
03 01 Genesis: Invisible Touch
04 05 Janet Jackson: Nasty
05 08 Peter Cetera: The Glory Of Love
06 10 Rod Stewart: Love Touch
07 03 Simply Red: Holding Back The Years
08 11 The Moody Blues: Your Wildest Dreams
09 02 El Debarge: Who’s Johnny
10 17 Billy Joel: Modern Woman
11 16 Pet Shop Boys: Opportunities (Let’s Make Lot’s Of Money)
12 25 Madonna: Papa Don’t Preach
13 13 Van Halen: Dreams
14 21 Belinda Carlisle: Mad About You
15 15 GTR: When The Heart Rules The Mind
16 06 The Fabulous Thunderbirds: Tuff Enuff
17 22 The Blow Monkeys: Digging Your Scene
18 09 Billy Ocean: There’ll Be Sad Songs (Say So Much)
19 23 Jermaine Stewart: We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off
20 12 Howard Jones f/Phil Collins: No One Is To Blame
21 31 Steve Winwood: Higher Love
22 14 Bob Seger: Like A Rock
23 27 Journey: Suzanne
24 18 Patti LaBelle f/Michael McDonald: On Our Own
25 30 The Fixx: Secret Separation
26 29 The Outfield: All The Love In The World
27 24 The Jets: Crush On You
28 33 Jeffrey Osbourne: You Should Be Mine
29 35 Andy Taylor: Take It Easy
30 39 Wham!: The Edge Of Heaven
31 19 Prince & The Revolution: Mountains
32 34 Robert Palmer: Hyperactive
33 37 Gavin Christopher: One Step Closer
34 xx Michael McDonald: Sweet Freedom
35 20 38 Special: Like No Other Night
36 xx Bananarama: Venus
37 40 Device: Hanging On A Heart Attack
38 26 The Bangles: If She Knew What She Wants
39 xx Mike & The Mechanics: Taken In
40 xx John Cougar Mellancamp: Rumbleseat



Top 40 Satellite Survey: 7/26/86
TC LC Artist/Title
01 01 Peter Gabriel: Sledgehammer (2 Wks @ #1)
02 02 Kenny Loggins: Danger Zone
03 04 Janet Jackson: Nasty
04 05 Peter Cetera: The Glory Of Love
05 06 Rod Stewart: Love Touch
06 12 Madonna: Papa Don’t Preach
07 03 Genesis: Invisible Touch
08 10 Billy Joel: Modern Woman
09 11 Pet Shop Boys: Opportunities (Let’s Make Lot’s Of Money)
10 14 Belinda Carlisle: Mad About You
11 09 El Debarge: Who’s Johnny
12 07 Simply Red: Holding Back The Years
13 17 The Blow Monkeys: Digging Your Scene
14 19 Jermaine Stewart: We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off
15 08 The Moody Blues: Your Wildest Dreams
16 21 Steve Winwood: Higher Love
17 23 Journey: Suzanne
18 13 Van Halen: Dreams
19 25 The Fixx: Secret Separation
20 18 Billy Ocean: There’ll Be Sad Songs (Say So Much)
21 26 The Outfield: All The Love In The World
22 30 Wham!: The Edge Of Heaven
23 15 GTR: When The Heart Rules The Mind
24 20 Howard Jones f/Phil Collins: No One Is To Blame
25 16 The Fabulous Thunderbirds: Tuff Enuff
26 28 Jeffrey Osbourne: You Should Be Mine
27 29 Andy Taylor: Take It Easy
28 34 Michael McDonald: Sweet Freedom
29 32 Robert Palmer: Hyperactive
30 33 Gavin Christopher: One Step Closer
31 36 Bananarama: Venus
32 37 Device: Hanging On A Heart Attack
33 xx Lionel Richie: Dancing On The Ceiling
34 22 Bob Seger: Like A Rock
35 xx Berlin: Take My Breath Away
36 39 Mike & The Mechanics: Taken In
37 xx Miami Sound Machine: Words Get In The Way
38 40 John Cougar Mellancamp: Rumbleseat
39 24 Patti LaBelle f/Michael McDonald: On Our Own
40 27 The Jets: Crush On You


I must say it looks like the chart had slowed considerably by the latter half of 1986, especially compared to that goofy chart from June of 1985 that I had originally posted. You have songs that practically stalled out on the way down as evidenced by El Debarge, Billy Ocean and The Jets during those latter two weeks, something that almost never happened during the show's first two years into early 1986.

They must have tweaked the chart a bit to make the movement a bit more in line with AT40 and/or Radio and Records which supplied Rick Dees at the time with his charts. The 1984 to early 1986 charts seemed more reminiscent of the 1982 Billboard charts were songs were kept moving up the chart for a week or two after losing their bullet, thereby allowing songs to plummet the following week.

This is also around the time that some other "cosmetic" changes were made for the show. First there were some new jingles intermixed with the old jingles. Second there was less use of Melvin the computer who announced the chart positions (though apparently Ryan Seacrest has Melvin's "cousin" announcing chart positions on his show! ). And third and most important, Dan Ingram sounded more scripted in his presentation. While he would still dole out the occasional off the cuff double entandre joke, he seemed to provide a lot more background information about the song and artists he played on his countdown. This was probably a last ditch effort to increase his ratings, which obviously did not work as his show was cancelled only 5 months later without a best of 1986 show on top of that. But it was definitely fun while it lasted!

[Marv]

The term 'since the CHR/Pop charts were hot AC-leaning' makes no sense, since Hot AC was non-existent back then, and given the undisputed fact that top 40 radio played everything back then, there was no reason for Hot AC to exist; Billboard's first Hot AC chart was still NINE years away (1994).

If you check out the 'American Top 40 The 70s and 80s thread' under the AC section, and check out the variety of the music from those days on Casey's AT 40 countdowns, you'll notice why the eighties were a spectacular decade for top 40 radio before the wheels came off at the end of the decade, and why lots of baby-boomers including myself still enjoy listening to those countdowns from the 1970s and 1980s every single weekend on stations encompassing numerous formats, inluding Classic Hits/Oldies, AC, Hot AC, and Adult Hits, aka the 'JACK-FM' format.

Songwriters and musicianship ruled, voice-tracking was only used in moderation and primarily in small markets (although it's been around for forty-plus years), marketing budgets were robust, and the results for the format were flat-out spectacular.

When top 40 radio incomprehensibly started shooting itself in the foot numerous times in market after market by loading up on rap music in the late eighties after what happened in LA in 1987 (KPWR went from non-existent to #1 in less than nine months as the expense of KIIS), that boneheaded move chased the essential 'soccer moms' and millions of other free-spending adult listeners from the format, the size of the reporting panel collapsed in unprecedented fashion over the course of the ensuing decade.

Hot AC didn't take off until the early nineties (at the expense of the top 40 format, I might add) thanks to format titans such as KYSR, KFMB & KHMX among many others, and onetime CHR/Pop powerhouses which segued from top 40 to Hot AC (starting with WZPL) MAINTAINED their double-digit ratings.

As millions of listeners bailed from top 40 radio, primarily due to the rampant vulgarity and offensive rap music which permeated top 40 radio, that led to disastrous results for the format from which it never recovered, leaving the door wide open for Hot AC to take off and replace top 40 as the nation's pre-eminent 'mass-appeal format', a title it easily retains to this day.

With KIIS & WHTZ leading the way alongside lots of other stations, the 1980's marked a huge surge in the popularity of the format after it muddled through the seventies, before the collapse began at the end of the eighties and dozens of stations vacated the format in droves.

The eighties remain the last great decade for the top 40 format for millions of kids, teenage and adult listeners who grew up with it, thanks to bigger than life radio stations such as KIIS, WHTZ, WNCI, KKLQ, WFLZ and many others, with spectacular ratings powered by legends-to-be jocks including Rick Dees & Scott Shannon.

1985 remains one of the format's very best years ever; the variety of music was breathtaking, and the format ruled the airwaves back then until country radio exploded in the early nineties, and assumed its position as the most listened to format in the country in 1992, and still ranks first among all music-formats and second overall, behind News-Talk, according to Arbitron.

Oh, for the good old days of top 40 radio (sigh!).....

[atlantaboy]

^CHR in 1985 did cater to adults though (I think that's what MFP means by "Hot-AC leaning") - because of the number of baby-boomers in their 30s back then, it made sense for CHR to target a slightly older demographic

[musicfanpete]

Jul 24, 2011 11:33:20 GMT -5 atlantaboy said:

^CHR in 1985 did cater to adults though (I think that's what MFP means by "Hot-AC leaning") - because of the number of baby-boomers in their 30s back then, it made sense for CHR to target a slightly older demographic

That is what I meant. Marv, CHR did play the a wide variety of music in the 1980's, but it had an adult lean to it that would have appealed to a wide audience even by today's standards. And although as you said there was no such thing as a Hot AC format back then, if there was the format probably would have sounded similar to what most CHR's were playing anyway, perhaps minus the Motley Crue and Run DMC. And there were already some CHR stations that leaned Hot AC back then including Q101 in Chicago before their modern rock days, which is ironic now considering the station just dumped their modern rock format and are stunting with a Hot AC format before their news/talk format kicks in in a week or two.

So basically the seeds were already being planted for the Hot AC format even back in the 80's, and there was not a huge amount of music that was offensive towards adults. If anything it was the antics of some of the artists back then that were more offensive than the music itself.

[raydio]

Great thread....thanks!

[Marv]

MusicfanPete--You're one of the best posters on this board, so I hope I didn't sound too harsh. Hot AC as a format wasn't really necessary as a format until top 40 stations started loading up on rap music in the late eighties after many CHR/Rhythmic stations soared from nonexistent to #1 in less than a year (early 1987); KPWR/LA went from nowhere to #1 in nine months, knocking off Rick Dees & KIIS-FM in the process.

If top 40 radio sounded as good today as it did throughout most of the eighties, it would be a lot more tolerable to baby-boomers like me who grew up listening to folks like Casey Kasem when he came to KRLA/Pasadena in 1963; CHR/Pop stations don't get the 35-44 or 35-54 numbers these days that KIIS, Z100 (both of them), WNCI, WFLZ, KDWB and tons of other format godzillas did back then.

[musicfanpete]

Jul 27, 2011 21:37:34 GMT -5 raydio said:

Great thread....thanks!

No problem! I enjoyed the show as well during it's run, so I enjoyed looking back on it.

[musicfanpete]

Aug 2, 2011 20:02:40 GMT -5 Marv said:

MusicfanPete--You're one of the best posters on this board, so I hope I didn't sound too harsh. Hot AC as a format wasn't really necessary as a format until top 40 stations started loading up on rap music in the late eighties after many CHR/Rhythmic stations soared from nonexistent to #1 in less than a year (early 1987); KPWR/LA went from nowhere to #1 in nine months, knocking off Rick Dees & KIIS-FM in the process.

If top 40 radio sounded as good today as it did throughout most of the eighties, it would be a lot more tolerable to baby-boomers like me who grew up listening to folks like Casey Kasem when he came to KRLA/Pasadena in 1963; CHR/Pop stations don't get the 35-44 or 35-54 numbers these days that KIIS, Z100 (both of them), WNCI, WFLZ, KDWB and tons of other format godzillas did back then.

Marv, I really do think we agree on this, but I think you missunderstood my previous posts. All I said was that Top 40 radio back in the 80's sounds very similar to the type and balance of music on Hot AC radio today. I never said we needed a Hot AC format back then, though a few stations like Chicago's Q101 during it's AC days back in the 80's was one of the first stations to lean Hot AC before that format even came about in the early 90's. I was just commenting on how Top 40 radio back then appealed to a much wider audience than the format does these days.

Hope that clarifies what I said earlier. :)