AT10 - March 20, 2004

[Hervard]

Yup, you read it right.  The rumors of American Top 20 chopping down their show is true.  While the fact that they cut out the bottom ten songs totally sucks, the songs that they put in place of those songs is rather interesting.  For one thing, the "AT10 Archive" songs aren't necessarily from this time of year (you'll see what I mean below), and they've added a spotlight feature.  This week is artists from successful bands that have also had successful solo careers.  Also, not all the "other" songs are everyday A/C songs.

Here is this week's show:

LC TC SONG/ARTIST
01 01 First Cut Is The Deepest/Sheryl Crow
03 02 You Raise Me Up/Josh Groban
02 03 Forever And For Always/Shania Twain
05 04 White Flag/Dido
04 05 Unwell/Matchbox Twenty
06 06 Calling All Angels/Train
07 07 Drift Away/Uncle Kracker f/Dobie Gray
08 08 100 Years/Five For Fighting
09 09 Dance With My Father/Luther Vandross
10 10 Ain't No Mountain High Enough/Michael McDonald

(I believe they're still using the same Mediabase chart they've been using since February 8 of last year.  Since the reason they did that has pretty much been eliminated by cutting out songs 11-20, they might as well go back to the R&R A/C chart, IMO)

AT10 Extras:
I Second That Emotion/The Miracles
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me/Elton John
Rescue Me/Fontella Bass

Long Distance Dedications:
I'm Already There/Lonestar
I Can Only Imagine/MercyMe
When I Look To The Sky/Train

AT10 Archives:
1975: Sister Goldenhair/America
1978: Stayin' Alive/The Bee Gees
1978: Baker Street/Gerry Rafferty
1984: Dancing In The Dark/Bruce Springsteen
1987: I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)
1988: Kokomo/The Beach Boys
1989: If I Could Turn Back Time/Cher
1991: When A Man Loves A Woman/Michael Bolton
1999: Mambo No. 5/Lou Bega

AT10 Spotlight: Artists from successful rock groups who've had successful solo careers as well
Edge Of Seventeen/Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac
Maybe I'm Amazed by Paul McCartney of the Beatles and Wings
You Can't Hurry Love/Phil Collins of Genesis
Roll With It/Steve Winwood of the Spencer Davis Group
My Sweet Lord by George Harrison of the Beatles

See, at least they played songs that you hear every single hour on A/C stations.  They could have easily picked "Groovy Kind Of Love" or "You'll Be In My Heart" for the Phil Collins song, but they picked a song that by now is considered an oldie (actually, it's been an oldie for quite some time, since the Supremes did it in the sixties).  However, they did NOT have to loop the song so that it was virtually played twice (the last chorus was followed by the line "How many heartaches must I stand...").  They did the same thing with "Kokomo - after what should have been the last chorus, they went to that one line after the first chorus (something about mounds of rotten steak, I think).  But they had to lengthen a few songs since there are now only 30 songs played in the countdown instead of 31 like it used to be (20 countdown songs and eleven others). 
Also, "Sister Goldenhair" was from May, but they played it this week.  At first, I thought that maybe they were playing it because it came out about this time in 1975, but when they started playing songs that were popular in the fall, like "When A Man Loves A Woman" and the aforementioned "Kokomo", I figured out that they had deviated from playing songs that were popular this time of the year.  That's sort of cool.  And I love the spotlight feature.  I wonder what it's going to be next week.
In short, the new version of Casey's A/C countdown is not just like listening to three hours of your typical A/C station's regular programming, as I (and others, I'm sure) had feared.  Sure, it would have been better if they had just left the damn show as it was, but it could be worse.

[Arson]

I was quite shocked when I turned the radio on this morning. :( I was desperately hoping that the AT10 rumour would not become a reality.

I did like the AT20 Spotlight feature, though. I agree this is a good idea.

I did not appreciate the looping of songs. The show could afford to add one more song... it has enough commercial breaks as is.

[jimmy74747]

That actually sounds like a decent show. What would be great would be to add another hour. Countdown the Top 20 and do these features.

[Hervard]

jimmy74747 said:

That actually sounds like a decent show.  What would be great would be to add another hour.  Countdown the Top 20 and do these features.

Unfortunately, that would defeat the whole purpose of them changing the show.

[Hervard]

Arson said:

I was quite shocked when I turned the radio on this morning.    :(  I was desperately hoping that the AT10 rumour would not become a reality.

I did like the AT20 Spotlight feature, though. 

Not to nitpick, but don't you mean the AT10 Spotlight? ;)

[chebingeo]

Wasn't the point of shrinking the chart so it doesn't get as redundant? Mission Accomplished since 4 songs changed positions.

[Hervard]

Actually, what they meant by "so (the show) doesn't get as redundant" is that so they basically won't play the same 20 songs week after week.  Well, actually not 20, but lately, there has been an average of roughly one debut each week, and very rarely is one of the droppers a song that's been on forever, such as "Tiny Dancer" by Tim McGraw being on the chart for only two weeks before dropping out, as well as Celine's "Stand By Your Side" being on for a single week.  Only once a month, if that, does a song that's been on the charts for more than half a year finally drop out of the chart, so basically, with ten less current songs, that opens up more room for more "extras", which include LDD's, AT10 Archives, and the Spotlight songs, as well as the AT10 Extras, which have been around pretty much since Casey's Adult Contemporary show started out back in 1992 (at least they were there when I first got to listen to the show exactly ten years ago). 
In other words, they have indeed succeeded in not being redundant, since only ten songs from last week were repeated instead of the usual 18-20.  And I assume that they'll refrain from playing the same "extra" songs that they played the week before, or maybe even two weeks before.  Ever notice how they seem to play as AT20 Extras tired old songs like "As I Lay Me Down" by Sophie B Hawkins every chance they get?  Hopefully, they won't do that as much.  There were several songs that were played this past weekend that I've never heard on Casey's AC show, such as "Rescue Me" by Fontella Bass and "I Second That Emotion" by the Miracles - and those were two of the AT10 Extras!  And you know what, the other Extra song was something you don't hear on AC radio every time you turn on the radio, "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" by Elton John.  They play the live version by George Michael featuring Elton (which, strangely enough, was the last song played on WLIT before the broadcast), but the old Elton John version isn't played as often.  So all three extras were oldies that were popular before 1975!  I don't believe that has ever happened.  Usually, they play as Countdown Extras songs that we'll be hearing on the station's regular programming if we keep tuned in for a few hours anyway. Another unusual song I heard was "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Paul McCartney - that is, the original studio version from 1971. I believe on one or two occasions, they played the live version from 1977 as a AT20 Archive song, but I don't ever remember them playing the original one.
I do admit that all the AT10 Archive songs were typical A/C hits, but something tells me that most of them were not from this time of year for a reason.  Maybe because, back when they were from the same time of year, diehard countdown fans knew by heart which song they'd be playing as soon as Casey mentioned the year.
I'm not sure whether or not they'll continue to have three LDDs each week, but maybe even if they do have two, it won't be so bad, as they're usually songs like "Hero", "Truly Madly Deeply", and "Because You Loved Me".  Even "I'm Already There" is starting to become a popular request for a dedication and I have a feeling that this won't be the only time someone asks Casey to play "I Can Only Imagine".  It was great to hear "When I Look To The Sky" by Train, which was a Hot AC-only hit.  I got to hear it for the first time and, though not as good as "Drops Of Jupiter", it wasn't bad.
Anyway, playing 20 extras and only ten countdown songs is what they meant by not being redundant and, as I said earlier, I really think they've been successful, especially if this week's show was a sign of things to come.

[Whi$tlin' Pete]

To omit redundancy, it would be all right with me if they just played songs 20-11 or better yet 21-30 and not even count down the top 10. Who really cares if Shania Twain rebounds to number 1 for the 6th time, or if Uncle Kracker is still in the top 5, or if matchbox twenty is going to set the all time longevity record for remaining in the top 10.

They must be trying to mimick Dick Clark's U.S. Music Survey by having a spotlite artist or theme. I liked Dick Clark's flashbacks. He'd normally mention the songs debuting for that particular week like 3,6,9, and 12 years ago. I remember him playing "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World" by Prince (yes Prince, since my keyboard doesn't have that goofy symbol) and Dick Clark mentioned that it was on its way to number 25 one year ago. Kind of neat, since it never even hit the U.S. Music Survey top 20, but they chose that song rather than a big top 10 hit that everyone remembers well enough anyway.

As far as LDD instead of playing Hero by either Mariah or Enrique, how about playing David Crosby and Phil Collins version from 1993? I will puke if I hear "Because You LOATHED Me" again. On the + side, it's good to hear some 70's music.

[lacrosseboy]

To be perfectly honest, I really enjoyed the new AT10 show a lot. AT20 would be so slow-moving, and I think that now AT10 is more of a variety show, with the top 10 songs added.

Does anyone remember when Leeza Gibbon's used to do the "Top 25 Countdown"?

[Hervard]

Whistlin' said:

They must be trying to mimick  Dick Clark's U.S. Music Survey by having a spotlite artist or theme. I liked Dick Clark's flashbacks. He'd normally mention the  songs debuting for that particular week like 3,6,9, and 12 years ago. I remember him playing "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World" by Prince (yes Prince, since my keyboard doesn't have that goofy symbol) and Dick Clark mentioned that it was on its way to number 25 one year ago. Kind of neat, since it never even hit the U.S. Music Survey top 20, but they chose that song rather than a big top 10 hit that everyone remembers well enough anyway.

Yeah, I remember back on the 8/19/95 edition of the Dick Clark show, he played "You Better Wait" by Steve Perry for the song from one year ago. Seeing that the song only peaked at number 30, I was wondering why he played it instead of something else. I decided that, since it had hit the top ten on the CHR/Pop chart, that many people were familiar with it. The same went for when he played "Black Or White" by Michael Jackson, which only got as high as number 28 on the AC chart, but was a big number one that everyone had heard many times before.

It would also be neat if, during the AT10 Archive feature, Casey would mention the songs debuting in the feature year and play one of those, but I guess, since that's Clark's schtick, they might become at odds. But I guess that the AT10 show is cool enough.

Also, yeah the idea of hearing "Hero" by Crosby & Collins would be cool, but I guess not enough people are familiar with that song. Then again, if they're trying not to be redundant, they need to play a few obscure hits that not everyone remembers.