Ryan Seacrest AT40 poll

[dth1971]

This is a poll I made: Do you hate Ryan Seacrest's AT40 all because he still uses no recurrent rule and still snubs out songs like "Cry For You" and "Just Stand Up"?

[friday]

Not really. He's not the best guy for the job, for sure, and some of the things he does during segments between songs can get annoying (e.g. canned laughter during jokes do NOT make them funny). But he's servicable enough as a host. The show isn't what it was during its heyday, and frankly, it never will be regardless of who hosts it. They wanted to put more gossip and celebrity interviews on there, and that never would've worked with Casey Kasem because it doesn't fit with his laconic style of hosting. I can see why people don't like it, but you have to understand why they did that. That's just the audience they want to cater to, and it appears to have worked so far. But as long as they're counting down from 40 to 1, I'll take it any day of the week.

And I don't get your argument that "he" doesn't use recurrent rules. It's not like he's the one making all the decisions regarding the show, I don't think. Sounds like your complaints are more toward the producers than Seacrest (unless, of course, he is one of the producers).

[620 Soul Train]

Sept 22, 2008 23:18:08 GMT -5 friday said:

Not really. He's not the best guy for the job, for sure, and some of the things he does during segments between songs can get annoying (e.g. canned laughter during jokes do NOT make them funny). But he's servicable enough as a host. The show isn't what it was during its heyday, and frankly, it never will be regardless of who hosts it. They wanted to put more gossip and celebrity interviews on there, and that never would've worked with Casey Kasem because it doesn't fit with his laconic style of hosting. I can see why people don't like it, but you have to understand why they did that. That's just the audience they want to cater to, and it appears to have worked so far. But as long as they're counting down from 40 to 1, I'll take it any day of the week.

And I don't get your argument that "he" doesn't use recurrent rules. It's not like he's the one making all the decisions regarding the show, I don't think. Sounds like your complaints are more toward the producers than Seacrest (unless, of course, he is one of the producers).

I voted "hate" for the wrong reason, I must confess this. The entire show is appalling and it isn't even Ryan's fault. You know I used to look forward to AT40 with fresh and hot new debuts and rapid chart movement. I just do not get why we need to contimue to promote older songs that are over 6 months in age. The producers absolutely need to seriously reconsider using that RC rule so that fresh and new music is being promoted. IMO this may increase the devoloping artists and tracks awareness.

[tico]

I'll admit to voting in a biased when because I grew up on AT40 when Casey Kasem and, later, Shadoe Stevens hosted it. I've listened to bits of AT40 with Seacrest (no station plays it here; I hear when I travel to other places) and it just isn't very interesting to me.

[caseyfan]

Ryan has the potential to be a worthy successor to Casey as AT40 host, but there is too much celebrity gossip and silliness. Shadoe Stevens, who hosted AT40 from 1988 to 1995, acted that way and it did nothing for AT40. Such behavior is best left to Rick Dees. The key to AT40 success has always been "counting down the hits" and Ryan should stick to that and limit himself to talking about the songs on the chart. While I would always welcome the return of Casey, I know that's not going to happen. I remember, however, when Ryan subbed for Casey in 2003, he did a very good job and he should have conducted AT40 in the same manner after he replaced Casey in Jan 2004.

Another problem is the chart that is used. When AT40 abandoned the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991, there were several fans who were outraged and accused AT40 of making up its own chart. (If you are interested in learning more about this, I would strongly recommend Rob Durkee's "American Top 40: Countdown of the Century"). I don't think that returning to the Billboard Hot 100 would be necessary but AT40 should select a chart and stick to it. There's too much playing around with the chart. The charts are a measurement of how well songs are doing as compared to other songs and the success of AT40 has depended a great deal on its use of the chart that reflects the state of popular music. Unlike the situation in the early 1990s when Top 40 (CHR) was undergoing a decline as far as radio was concerned, there are many stations that are dedicated to CHR today and Mediabase 24/7 has a chart reflecting the music played by those stations that would be best used by AT40.

[radiotime]

With all the people screaming hater for every reason that fits their own...why would we hate Ryan?

[johnm1120]

Yes for all of the above.

[patstop40]

Let's just face the truth. Ryan Seacrest took the greatest countdown show of all time and completly destroyed it he honestly made AT40 a joke. Casey Kasem and Don Bustany created a great show that was based on the artists on the chart and music. All of the hard work Casey did was ruined by Seacrest, who I believe wants a four hour E entertainment show. This is not what AT40 is about. Why did CK leave to begin with, I remember when he left AT40 in 04, he said that he wanted to reach more of an audiance. But now for some reason radiostations are droping Casey for Ryan ???Seriously, get rid of Ryan bring Casey back and just use the mediabase 24 7 pop chart. Only then will AT40 BE A GOOD SHOW AGAIN! :)

[friday]

Dec 13, 2008 23:03:20 GMT -5 patstop40 said:

Ryan Seacrest Premiere Radio took the greatest countdown show of all time and completly destroyed it he they honestly made AT40 a joke.

Fixed.

[unicorns]

I don't like him. He's got nothing on Casey and Shadoe.

[Marv]

He took the gold standard of all countdown shows and turned it into a four-hour version of 'Entertainment Tonight'.

Furthermore, he frequently fails to mention the title and artist of the songs he has just played, or is about to play; that has always been the #1 pet peeve of listeners, and he's the worst there ever was at doing so.