Flashback - Casey's Top 40 - January 21, 1989 - 25 Years Ago

[Cerebro]

So it occurred to me earlier that it was, exactly, 25 years ago today that Casey’s Top 40 debuted.

In August 1988, Casey left AT40 when he and ABC were unable to reach an agreement on the renewal of his contract with them. Shadoe Stevens would replace him as the host of that show. In the intervening months, Casey would sign on with Westwood One and develop a new countdown that would, eventually, overtake AT40 in the ratings. The program would run for 9 years before Casey would regain the rights to the AT40 name.

To mark it’s silver anniversary, here’s the inaugural editon of Casey’s “second coming” using data from the R&R Pop chart dated January 13, 1989...


CASEY'S TOP 40 - JANUARY 21, 1989
LW TW WKS Artist - Title
Last Week's Number One: Phil Collins - Two Hearts
--  40 (01) Debbie Gibson - Lost In Your Eyes
--  39 (01) Duran Duran - All She Wants Is
--  38 (01) Rod Stewart - My Heart Can't Tell You No
--  37 (01) Mike and The Mechanics - The Living Years
21 36 (12) Kenny G - Silhouette
28 35 (05) Robbie Nevil - Back On Holiday
24 34 (14) Boy Meets Girl - Waiting For A Star To Fall
34 33 (04) Art Of Noise featuring Tom Jones - Kiss
Request and Dedication: Whitney Houston - One Moment In Time
38 32 (02) The Escape Club - Shake For The Sheik
39 31 (02) Ann Wilson and Robin Zander - Surrender To Me
20 30 (12) The Bangles - In Your Room
23 29 (15) Chicago - Look Away
22 28 (06) Maxi Priest - Wild World
36 27 (02) Edie Brickell and The New Bohemians - What I Am
32 26 (02) The Boys - Dial My Heart
14 25 (14) Anita Baker - Giving You The Best That I Got
31 24 (02) Erasure - A Little Respect
30 23 (03) U2 - Angel Of Harlem
27 22 (04) New Kids On The Block - You Got It (The Right Stuff)
29 21 (03) Sheena Easton - The Lover In Me
18 20 (08) Joan Jett and The Blackhearts - Little Liar
Request and Dedication: Bruce Springsteen - Brilliant Disguise
25 19 (05) Samantha Fox - I Wanna Have Some Fun
26 18 (03) Rick Astley - She Wants To Dance With Me
08 17 (08) Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal
11 16 (09) Boys Club - I Remember Holding You
17 15 (06) Tiffany - All This Time
19 14 (05) Information Society - Walking Away
06 13 (08) Annie Lennox and Al Green - Put A Little Love In Your Heart
16 12 (04) Ton Loc - Wild Thing
02 11 (11) Poison - Every Rose Has It's Thorn
13 10 (06) Steve Winwood - Holding On
12 09 (06) Bon Jovi - Born To Be My Baby
15 08 (04) Paula Abdul - Straight Up
03 07 (10) Bobby Brown - My Prerogative
10 06 (07) Karyn White - The Way You Love Me
09 05 (06) White Lion - When The Children Cry
07 04 (05) Sheriff - When I'm With You
05 03 (07) Def Leppard - Armageddon It
04 02 (09) Taylor Dayne - Don't Rush Me
01 01 (08) Phil Collins - Two Hearts ** 2 weeks @ no. 1 **

DROPPERS:
Cheap Trick - Ghost Town (from 40, 5 weeks on)
Guns ’N Roses - Welcome To The Jungle (from 37, 11 weeks on)
Will To Power - Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley (Free Baby) (from 35, 14 weeks on)
Eddie Money - Walk On Water (from 33, 13 weeks on)

[Whi$tlin' Pete]

I remember hearing this debut on the radio. I happened to be listening to the radio when all of a sudden it came on. I was wondering what chart source Casey was using, hoping it was Radio & Records, which became obvious at number 36 when "Silhouette" fell 15 spots.

I often wonder where the requests and dedications came from. After all, it was the first show, so how could anyone have mailed in their letters?

I'm glad the show caught on! I liked it much better than AT40 with the Shadow, but I still listened to that until the big change in November 1991.

[Hervard]

Jan 22, 2014 1:23:13 GMT -5 Whi$tlin' Pete said:

I remember hearing this debut on the radio. I happened to be listening to the radio when all of a sudden it came on. I was wondering what chart source Casey was using, hoping it was Radio & Records, which became obvious at number 36 when "Silhouette" fell 15 spots.

I often wonder where the requests and dedications came from. After all, it was the first show, so how could anyone have mailed in their letters?

I'm thinking that he was perhaps allowed to take a few of the letters sent in to American Top 40 (as part of his agreement not to start CT40 until his AT40 contract expired) with him to use for CT40 until he got enough letters sent in to his new address. Of course, this would have had to been after he left, since the first R&D was "One Moment In Time", which charted after Shadoe had taken over AT40. Maybe people were still sending letters that read "Dear Casey" even a few months after he left AT40.