Ten Pound Hammer
9x Platinum Member
Banned
I watched it all on my radio
Joined: August 2006
Posts: 9,595
|
Post by Ten Pound Hammer on Dec 21, 2014 0:49:56 GMT -5
So we all know the big countdown shows: Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40, American Country Countdown, CMT Country Countdown USA, and Crook & Chase Country Countdown. Defunct ones that I know of include Foxworthy Countdown and something called Weekly Country Music Countdown, hosted by Chris Charles, although I can barely find any info on it.
Now, the $64,000 question: Were there ever any other country countdown shows in existence?
|
|
dajross6
Platinum Member
Joined: June 2009
Posts: 1,132
|
Post by dajross6 on Dec 21, 2014 3:09:38 GMT -5
About ten years ago my local station played some NASCAR country countdown that was the top 20 or 30, which could be one that you mentioned. It was basically the countdown and talking to drivers and stuff like that. It really wasn't that good so I can't imagine it's still around. I remember the good old days when Bob would do the Billboard Top 40, Crook and Chase did the R&R top 40 and CCUSA did the top 30 from R&R. Bob's show was by far the best though.
|
|
Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2014 7:51:38 GMT -5
Lonestar's song "The Countdown".Now gimme my $64000 :)
Edit: Speaking of countdowns, Bob Kingsley played Josh Turner's "Lay Low" at #38 instead of #37(its normal chart position) and meanwhile played Garth Brooks "Mom" at #37 instead of #38. Nothing too serious or anything it seems like he does this a lot though
|
|
sabre14
Diamond Member
Vince Gill & the Muppets make everything better
Joined: October 2013
Posts: 26,916
|
Post by sabre14 on Dec 21, 2014 15:01:13 GMT -5
I remember a top 10 countdown that was on Friday nights on some mysterious station somewhere in the 95-100.0 range on the dial. It was on the same station that aired that weekly hour show that highlighted the brand new songs that had just been released to radio that week.
In regard to the Nascar countdown; I don't remember any Nacsar top 30 show but I do vividly remember Thunder Road that WYRK used to air on Sunday mornings from 7-9 a.m.. Basically a show that aired Nascar news, interview clips from drivers and played current charting country songs. They would save the last song of the show each week to a brand new single that had just been sent to radio. I remember hearing "Boondocks" by Little Big Town that way and thinking, "Wow, I think these guys have finally found their first hit".
"Angels" by Randy Travis was another one they saved til the end of the show once. The host Steve Mitchell said how the song was one of the best he's ever heard and I completely agreed after he played it.
|
|
onebuffalo
Diamond Member
#LiteralLegender
I am One Buffalo.
Joined: June 2009
Posts: 26,595
|
Post by onebuffalo on Dec 21, 2014 15:08:26 GMT -5
I remember a top 10 countdown that was on Friday nights on some mysterious station somewhere in the 95-100.0 range on the dial. It was on the same station that aired that weekly hour show that highlighted the brand new songs that had just been released to radio that week. In regard to the Nascar countdown; I don't remember any Nacsar top 30 show but I do vividly remember Thunder Road that WYRK used to air on Sunday mornings from 7-9 a.m.. Basically a show that aired Nascar news, interview clips from drivers and played current charting country songs. They would save the last song of the show each week to a brand new single that had just been sent to radio. I remember hearing "Boondocks" by Little Big Town that way and thinking, "Wow, I think these guys have finally found their first hit". "Angels" by Randy Travis was another one they saved til the end of the show once. The host Steve Mitchell said how the song was one of the best he's ever heard and I completely agreed after he played it. Might that be WPIG 95.7 out of Olean?
|
|
Ten Pound Hammer
9x Platinum Member
Banned
I watched it all on my radio
Joined: August 2006
Posts: 9,595
|
Post by Ten Pound Hammer on Dec 21, 2014 15:21:35 GMT -5
The local station 104.7 WKJC does a "Top 5 at 5" every Friday of the five most requested songs of the week. Because somehow it takes a half hour to play five songs. (One song, commercial break, one song, commercial break…) They're usually pretty close to whatever's in the actual Billboard Top 5, but I remember one week, "November" by Emerson Drive was at #5. That song came from an odd era when they broke from they're "we won't play it until it's Top 30" mantra to play a few very low charting songs. I know in this era, they played "I Meant To" by Brad Cotter, "It's Hard to Kiss the Lips…" by the Notorious Cherry Bombs, "Ain't Drinking Anymore" by Kevin Fowler, "Beer Man" and "Dixie Rose Deluxe's…" by Trent Willmon, "I Love NASCAR" by Cledus T. Judd, and "Crooked Little Heart" by Tift Merritt (!) a few times each. They also used to do a "Top 104 of the Year" in January, and I remember that the very lowest songs would always be something I'd never heard before. I remember that in the 2002 countdown, "Gettin' Back to You" by Daisy Dern was somewhere near the bottom, and "The One" by Gary Allan was #1.
The only NASCAR show I know of is Zmax Racing Country, which WATZ plays every Saturday, but it's not a countdown.
|
|
sabre14
Diamond Member
Vince Gill & the Muppets make everything better
Joined: October 2013
Posts: 26,916
|
Post by sabre14 on Dec 21, 2014 15:29:15 GMT -5
I remember a top 10 countdown that was on Friday nights on some mysterious station somewhere in the 95-100.0 range on the dial. It was on the same station that aired that weekly hour show that highlighted the brand new songs that had just been released to radio that week. In regard to the Nascar countdown; I don't remember any Nacsar top 30 show but I do vividly remember Thunder Road that WYRK used to air on Sunday mornings from 7-9 a.m.. Basically a show that aired Nascar news, interview clips from drivers and played current charting country songs. They would save the last song of the show each week to a brand new single that had just been sent to radio. I remember hearing "Boondocks" by Little Big Town that way and thinking, "Wow, I think these guys have finally found their first hit". "Angels" by Randy Travis was another one they saved til the end of the show once. The host Steve Mitchell said how the song was one of the best he's ever heard and I completely agreed after he played it. Might that be WPIG 95.7 out of Olean? I think you're right. :)
|
|
onebuffalo
Diamond Member
#LiteralLegender
I am One Buffalo.
Joined: June 2009
Posts: 26,595
|
Post by onebuffalo on Dec 21, 2014 15:31:13 GMT -5
Might that be WPIG 95.7 out of Olean? I think you're right. :) You can get an Olean station at your house? They're much closer to Pennsylvania than Buffalo. I can hear WBEE at my parent's house from time to time and the station is from Rochester.
|
|
Ten Pound Hammer
9x Platinum Member
Banned
I watched it all on my radio
Joined: August 2006
Posts: 9,595
|
Post by Ten Pound Hammer on Dec 21, 2014 15:34:03 GMT -5
Radio conditions here are weird. I can usually pick up both Saginaw (WKCQ) and Mt. Pleasant (WCEN) along with WKJC and WATZ, and sometimes the weak signal of the classics station WBMI in West Branch. But sometimes if I go only a few miles south, everything goes screwy and I can't pick up anything clearly, not even WKJC! (Or if I can, then it's at a time when they're doing the noon news/farm report, a church service, or something else that guarantees I won't be hearing country for at least the next couple hours).
|
|
sabre14
Diamond Member
Vince Gill & the Muppets make everything better
Joined: October 2013
Posts: 26,916
|
Post by sabre14 on Dec 21, 2014 15:40:13 GMT -5
You can get an Olean station at your house? They're much closer to Pennsylvania than Buffalo. I can hear WBEE at my parent's house from time to time and the station is from Rochester. It was really sketchy coming through the speakers though. I remember not being able to get it inside my house but it was passable in my Dad's car. I would actually go out to my Dad's car in the driveway sometimes and sit there for an hour just to listen to that new songs show.
|
|
ericNY2002
Platinum Member
Joined: October 2003
Posts: 1,363
|
Post by ericNY2002 on Dec 26, 2014 21:46:15 GMT -5
I remember listening to a NASCAR themed country countdown show as well. It was years ago, and I am sure its defunct by now. I just can't remember the name of it. As for other countdown shows. Bobby Bones does a weekly top 30 show (probably mostly on iheart radio stations) and there is a countdown show called Powered By Fitz (I think its only on Entercom stations). WBEE plays it on Sunday Nights 6-9pm.
|
|
sabre14
Diamond Member
Vince Gill & the Muppets make everything better
Joined: October 2013
Posts: 26,916
|
Post by sabre14 on Dec 28, 2014 18:58:20 GMT -5
The discussion in the CT 40 Year End Chart thread got me thinking of other "edits" in countdown shows. I vividly remember Lon's Country Countdown USA cutting "Big Time" by Big & Rich off by almost a minute, with the entire bridge and last chorus being removed. Yet I never heard an edit of "You'll Be There" which was charting at the same time...
I also remember Kix's countdown speeding up or cutting off the ending of "Home Sweet Home" by The Farm. As soon as they said "Those were the best days of my life", the guitar riffs towards the very end would follow and the song would abruptly end.
"A Feelin Like That" was also cut down in length with the entire second verse missing sometimes on Bob's countdown.
|
|
|
Post by josephmorgan on Dec 29, 2014 17:01:59 GMT -5
A show I like listening to every week is called "25 Years Of Hits." It's more known as a count-up show which features mostly the #1 songs in country from, starting this week, 1990 to last year. A couple of weeks ago, I even heard the country version of "Black Velvet" by Robin Lee.
|
|
Ten Pound Hammer
9x Platinum Member
Banned
I watched it all on my radio
Joined: August 2006
Posts: 9,595
|
Post by Ten Pound Hammer on Dec 29, 2014 18:25:18 GMT -5
^ Some station around here did 25 Years of Hits once, but I don't know if they still do.
|
|
sabre14
Diamond Member
Vince Gill & the Muppets make everything better
Joined: October 2013
Posts: 26,916
|
Post by sabre14 on Jan 3, 2015 14:55:57 GMT -5
I actually miss Country Countdown USA with Lon Helton. WYRK switched Lon's countdown to Sunday evenings in January of 2007, while Kingsley's was added to Sunday mornings. Then in 2008 they scrapped Lon's for Kix's in the evenings. I've bashed on Kix's awful countdown show enough (it is practically unlistenable with playing 74 countdown extras every single show, with every extra being at most 6 months old), but Lon's is the one I grew up with. I remember one show where he was off, probably in 2002 or 2003, and Tracy Byrd and Andy Griggs sat in to host. It was very funny if I remember and was a nice change of pace from the dull sounding Lon, who never had a great radio voice and really any kind of interesting presence to justify hosting a nationally syndicated countdown show. When I was little I always found his "Hottest song of the week" confusing since it was always high in the countdown. Then I realized it just meant the greatest point gainer inside the top 5. Then after playing the "Hottest song" he would make some awful pun. The worst was when Sugarland's "Something More" was the weeks hottest song for like 3 weeks in a row and Lon had to come up with some new, stupid pun each time. I believe the first was "But will Sugarland get something more when we hit #1?", then the next week it was "But will Sugarland be wishing for something more when we hit #1?".
|
|
onebuffalo
Diamond Member
#LiteralLegender
I am One Buffalo.
Joined: June 2009
Posts: 26,595
|
Post by onebuffalo on Jan 3, 2015 15:04:27 GMT -5
Remember, Bob Kingsley hosting the American Country Countdown was the gold standard of countdown shows. I will echo sabre14 and say the A.C.C. with Kix Brooks is unbearable.
|
|
sabre14
Diamond Member
Vince Gill & the Muppets make everything better
Joined: October 2013
Posts: 26,916
|
Post by sabre14 on Mar 8, 2015 20:26:02 GMT -5
Okay, I'm currently driving passenger seat with someone and Kix's cruddy countdown is on. I've heard not one but two slip ups already. He first referred to Canaan Smith as Steven Smith after he played "Love You Like That. Then later, after he played "Bottoms Up" (one of the 48 non-countdown songs I've heard so far), he said there's Brantley's latest #1 from 2013.
|
|
dajross6
Platinum Member
Joined: June 2009
Posts: 1,132
|
Post by dajross6 on Mar 9, 2015 10:07:27 GMT -5
I hate Kix's show as well, but I'm pretty certain he only reads the script that's written for him. It really does seem like when Kingsley dropped the Billboard chart, everything fell apart for radio shows. Even on his show, the numbers and chart references don't make sense so I'm not sure where I even sit with these shows except not listening to them.
|
|
sabre14
Diamond Member
Vince Gill & the Muppets make everything better
Joined: October 2013
Posts: 26,916
|
Post by sabre14 on Mar 9, 2015 14:02:00 GMT -5
I hate Kix's show as well, but I'm pretty certain he only reads the script that's written for him. It really does seem like when Kingsley dropped the Billboard chart, everything fell apart for radio shows. Even on his show, the numbers and chart references don't make sense so I'm not sure where I even sit with these shows except not listening to them.
I'm sure its written too, and I know that going in, but even with a script he still screwed names and years up. It's not just his show (he played Kip Moore's "Somethin' 'Bout A Truck" just for the heck of it), but his voice is so painful to listen to. It takes him forever just to spit out two sentences.
I haven't looked on Bob's website in forever so I can't say what its like now, but I remember in 2007 and 2008, there were typos every week. Like "Men Buy The Drinks (Girls Call The Shots)" being next to Big & Rich's name.
|
|
Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2015 14:43:43 GMT -5
Yeah, I don't mean to be mean, but Kix doesn't sound all that smart. When he's on the radio, he REALLY lays on the accent...and couple that with the fact that he talks soooo sllllooooowwwww It's just painful to listen to. sabre14, I was driving across Iowa yesterday and there was really only one country station I could get on the radio for a part of my drive, so I was forced to listen to Kix's countdown. I was listening to the exact parts that you described, where Kix randomly played "Bottoms Up" and "Somethin' 'Bout A Truck".
|
|
|
Post by josephmorgan on Mar 9, 2015 17:09:34 GMT -5
Actually, dajross6, ACC still used the Billboard chart after Kingsley's departure. It wasn't until August of 2009 that they switched to Mediabase.
Suzanne Alexander guest-hosted ACC a couple of weeks ago. She has a nice voice for radio, and I can see her taking over the show if Kix does decide to retire from the show, whenever that is.
|
|
Ten Pound Hammer
9x Platinum Member
Banned
I watched it all on my radio
Joined: August 2006
Posts: 9,595
|
Post by Ten Pound Hammer on Mar 11, 2015 3:27:32 GMT -5
Kingsley still slips up now and then.
Most egregious errors: Two in two weeks. First, playing a sped-up version of "Eight Second Ride". (I e-mailed the show and an editor told me that this was because someone encoded the song incorrectly. He said that he deleted the sped-up version from their files and re-encoded it properly so that it wasn't sped up anymore.) The next week, Bob announced that "Can't Shake You" was at #18 but played "If I Didn't Have You" instead… only to play the latter again, correctly, at #12.
Most recent error: saying that Brett James wrote "That's How Country Boys Roll" instead of Brett Jones.
Most bafflingly persistent error: crediting Joe Nichols' "Believers" as a Phil Vassar-Craig Wiseman song nearly every week it was on (as did Jeffrey Steele on one episode where he filled in for Bob). I still have no idea how he made that mistake so often, especially given that Phil has had almost no cuts for other artists since… well, since becoming an artist himself.
====
Another pattern dating back to the last year or so of ACC: Some songs always seemed to get abridged. I remember that in the end of the ACC era, he almost always cut down parts of "It's a Heartache", "Good Ride Cowboy", and "Used to the Pain" (usually the repeated choruses). "Good Ride Cowboy" was the most egregious, since you could hear the splice where it'd abruptly go from Garth solo to the crowd singing along with him. Even worse, on one of his first CT40 shows, he read a listener request for "Good Ride Cowboy" (the VERY WEEK AFTER the song fell off the charts!) and played the abridged version. That and a single instance of the reggae-rap-less "Stuck Like Glue" were the only times I ever heard him cut down a listener request. (The latter was also the only time I ever heard him omit the reggae-rap.)
Other songs that always seemed to get cut include "Gettin' You Home" (second verse), "Takin' Off This Pain" (second verse), "Smile" (bridge), and "Back That Thing Up" (second verse). Need I remind you that the last of these is 2:36 without any cuts?
His stupidest use of an edit was when he played back an interview with Carrie Underwood where she said that it took her a long time to figure out how to hit the high note in "All-American Girl" ("Honey, you oughta knooooooooww")... followed by a version that HAD THAT VERSE CUT OUT.
|
|
sabre14
Diamond Member
Vince Gill & the Muppets make everything better
Joined: October 2013
Posts: 26,916
|
Post by sabre14 on Mar 11, 2015 13:55:58 GMT -5
I've brought this up before but I never heard the full version of "Big Time" by Big & Rich once on Lon's top 30 countdown - the bridge and chorus was always cut out. It's 3:56 in length, which is a tad long, but there were others he left fully intact like "You'll Be There" at over 4 minutes (though I love that song, so I'm not complaining).
|
|
ericNY2002
Platinum Member
Joined: October 2003
Posts: 1,363
|
Post by ericNY2002 on Mar 12, 2015 10:41:12 GMT -5
I actually miss Country Countdown USA with Lon Helton. WYRK switched Lon's countdown to Sunday evenings in January of 2007, while Kingsley's was added to Sunday mornings. Then in 2008 they scrapped Lon's for Kix's in the evenings. I've bashed on Kix's awful countdown show enough (it is practically unlistenable with playing 74 countdown extras every single show, with every extra being at most 6 months old), but Lon's is the one I grew up with. I remember one show where he was off, probably in 2002 or 2003, and Tracy Byrd and Andy Griggs sat in to host. It was very funny if I remember and was a nice change of pace from the dull sounding Lon, who never had a great radio voice and really any kind of interesting presence to justify hosting a nationally syndicated countdown show. When I was little I always found his "Hottest song of the week" confusing since it was always high in the countdown. Then I realized it just meant the greatest point gainer inside the top 5. Then after playing the "Hottest song" he would make some awful pun. The worst was when Sugarland's "Something More" was the weeks hottest song for like 3 weeks in a row and Lon had to come up with some new, stupid pun each time. I believe the first was "But will Sugarland get something more when we hit #1?", then the next week it was "But will Sugarland be wishing for something more when we hit #1?". WBEE recently started airing Country Countdown USA on Saturday Mornings 7 to 10 am, if you can get the station from where you live. However chart wise the show is a week behind CT40 and ACC.
|
|
sabre14
Diamond Member
Vince Gill & the Muppets make everything better
Joined: October 2013
Posts: 26,916
|
Post by sabre14 on Mar 12, 2015 11:32:16 GMT -5
I actually miss Country Countdown USA with Lon Helton. WYRK switched Lon's countdown to Sunday evenings in January of 2007, while Kingsley's was added to Sunday mornings. Then in 2008 they scrapped Lon's for Kix's in the evenings. I've bashed on Kix's awful countdown show enough (it is practically unlistenable with playing 74 countdown extras every single show, with every extra being at most 6 months old), but Lon's is the one I grew up with. I remember one show where he was off, probably in 2002 or 2003, and Tracy Byrd and Andy Griggs sat in to host. It was very funny if I remember and was a nice change of pace from the dull sounding Lon, who never had a great radio voice and really any kind of interesting presence to justify hosting a nationally syndicated countdown show. When I was little I always found his "Hottest song of the week" confusing since it was always high in the countdown. Then I realized it just meant the greatest point gainer inside the top 5. Then after playing the "Hottest song" he would make some awful pun. The worst was when Sugarland's "Something More" was the weeks hottest song for like 3 weeks in a row and Lon had to come up with some new, stupid pun each time. I believe the first was "But will Sugarland get something more when we hit #1?", then the next week it was "But will Sugarland be wishing for something more when we hit #1?". WBEE recently started airing Country Countdown USA on Saturday Mornings 7 to 10 am, if you can get the station from where you live. However chart wise the show is a week behind CT40 and ACC.
Oh good. Country Countdown USA is the one I grew up with - Bob's countdown I do enjoy but its on Sunday mornings and I rarely catch most of it. Lon's voice is so blaze but it does bring back some memories and anything beats Kix's sort of countdown show.
|
|
Ten Pound Hammer
9x Platinum Member
Banned
I watched it all on my radio
Joined: August 2006
Posts: 9,595
|
Post by Ten Pound Hammer on Mar 13, 2015 1:16:38 GMT -5
Here's an ACC from 10/24/87. Interesting listen. Lots of good songs on here. Surprising that there aren't any listener requests:
|
|
onebuffalo
Diamond Member
#LiteralLegender
I am One Buffalo.
Joined: June 2009
Posts: 26,595
|
Post by onebuffalo on Mar 13, 2015 14:46:55 GMT -5
^Bob Kingsley did not do listener requests during this time (I believe). Anyway, here is the top ten chart for that week:
BILLBOARD TOP TEN FOR WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 24, 1987: 1. Shine, Shine, Shine-Eddy Raven-RCA 2. Right From The Start-Earl Thomas Conley-RCA 3. Love Me Like You Used To-Tanya Tucker-Capitol 4. Am I Blue-George Strait-MCA 5. Maybe Your Baby's Got The Blues-the Judds-RCA 6. I Won't Need You Anymore Always & Forever-Randy Travis-Warner Bros. 7. Crazy From The Heart-Bellamy Brothers-MCA 8. Tar Top-Alabama-RCA 9. Lynda-Steve Wariner-MCA 10. Somebody Lied-Ricky Van Shelton-Columbia
A couple of notes: 1. I have every song in that top ten. 2. Shelton's tune finished at #2 behind Travis' Forever And Ever, Amen on the year-end list at the A.C.C.. The following year, Shelton was tops with I'll Leave This World Loving You while Travis placed second with I Told You So.
|
|
sabre14
Diamond Member
Vince Gill & the Muppets make everything better
Joined: October 2013
Posts: 26,916
|
Post by sabre14 on Apr 7, 2015 15:14:05 GMT -5
Listening to Trace Adkins on Y2Kountry's Throwback 30, I've grown to enjoy his voice on the radio, and while not super interesting (better than Lon Helton), he manages to handle himself very well. Too bad we can't swap him in for Kix on ACC. BTW: The week of April 11th, 2005 will be the next show, starting this Sunday. My favorite year.
|
|
Ten Pound Hammer
9x Platinum Member
Banned
I watched it all on my radio
Joined: August 2006
Posts: 9,595
|
Post by Ten Pound Hammer on Apr 7, 2015 20:55:15 GMT -5
^Bob Kingsley did not do listener requests during this time (I believe). Anyway, here is the top ten chart for that week: BILLBOARD TOP TEN FOR WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 24, 1987: 1. Shine, Shine, Shine-Eddy Raven-RCA 2. Right From The Start-Earl Thomas Conley-RCA 3. Love Me Like You Used To-Tanya Tucker-Capitol 4. Am I Blue-George Strait-MCA 5. Maybe Your Baby's Got The Blues-the Judds-RCA 6. I Won't Need You Anymore Always & Forever-Randy Travis-Warner Bros. 7. Crazy From The Heart-Bellamy Brothers-MCA 8. Tar Top-Alabama-RCA 9. Lynda-Steve Wariner-MCA 10. Somebody Lied-Ricky Van Shelton-Columbia Listening to that Top 10 made me realize: 1. "I Won't Need You Anymore" is a heavily watered down rewrite of "Forever and Ever, Amen" 1b. For crying out loud, classics shows -- Randy had a LOT of hits after "I Told You So", so freaking play them! 2. "Tar Top" is nothing but egotistical posturing This countdown exposed me to "Susannah" by Tom Wopat, which I love, and "Bonnie Jean" by David Lynn Jones, which I had heard only a couple weeks prior.
|
|
Todd
New Member
Joined: February 2007
Posts: 360
|
Post by Todd on Apr 8, 2015 13:46:49 GMT -5
While not a radio countdown, there was a tv show that counted down the top 10 videos of the week, back in the mid-90's. It was called Billy Bob's Country Countdown, and it was hosted by Michael Twitty.
|
|