American Top 40 With Casey Kasem Debuted 50 Years Ago Today — This Was Its Countdown

[SamAdams76]

Fifty years ago today, the first episode of the syndicated radio institution American Top 40 aired. The first station to air it was KDEO, in El Cajon, CA, who presented it on the evening of July 3rd, 1970. It broadcast through six other stations on July 4th and its reach would grow exponentially throughout the years, airing on 1,000 different stations at its peak. Casey Kasem, its iconic longtime host, would count down the most popular songs on the Billboard charts every week.

“Here we go with the top 40 hits of the nation this week on American Top 40 — the best-selling and most-played songs from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Canada to Mexico” is how he introduced his first show. “This is Casey Kasem in Hollywood, and in the next three hours, we’ll count down the 40 most popular hits in the United States this week, hot off the record charts of Billboard magazine…”

The first song ever played on the show was Marvin Gaye’s “End Of Our Road,” in the #40 slot. The show’s first #1 song was Three Dog Night’s “Mama Told Me (Not To Come),” which we reviewed in our The Number Ones column (naturally). Other artists that would get airtime that first week included the Beatles, Elvis Presley, the Jackson Five, the Temptations, and the Carpenters. Crosby Stills Nash And Young’s “Ohio,” which had come out a couple months earlier, came in at #30.

Kasem hosted the show continuously until 1988; it was taken over by Shadoe Stevens until 1995. It then went off the air for a short period, but was revived in 1998 with Kasem as host. (Kasem spent the interim hosting his own Casey’s Top 40.) Ryan Seacrest took the show over in 2004, and it still airs every week.

Check out the first-ever American Top 40 countdown below.

40 Marvin Gaye – “End Of Our Road”
39 Mark Lindsey – “Silver Bird”
38 Eric Burden – “Spill The Wine”
37 Crabby Appleton – “Go Back”
36 B.J. Thomas – “I Just Can’t Help Believing”
35 Aretha Franklin – “Spirit In The Dark”
34 John Phillips – “Mississippi”
33 Flaming Ember – “Westbound #9″
32 Four Tops – “It’s All In The Game”
31 Fifth Dimension – “Save The Country”
30 Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young – “Ohio”
29 Ray Stevens – “Everything Is Beautiful”
28 The Impressions – “Check Out Your Mind”
27 Moody Blues – “Question”
26 Stevie Wonder – “Signed, Sealed, Delivered”
25 Wilson Pickett – “Sugar, Sugar”
24 Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young – “Teach Your Children”
23 The Poppy Family – “Which Way You Goin’ Billy”
(Oldie: Bill Cosby – “Little Ole Man”)
22 The Moments – “Love On A Two Way Street”
21 Mountain – “Mississippi Queen”
20 Bread – “Make It With You”
19 Pacific Gas & Electric – “Are You Ready”
18 Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band – “Love Land”
17 Alive And Kicking – “Tighter & Tighter”
16 White Plains – “My Baby Loves Lovin'”
15 Miguel Rios – “A Song Of Joy”
(Oldie: Louis Armstrong – “Hello Dolly”)
14 Brotherhood Of Man – “United We Stand”
13 Rare Earth – “Get Ready”
12 The Five Stairsteps – “O-o-oh Child”
11 The Pipkins – “Gimme Dat Ding”
10 Vanity Fair – “Hitchin’ A Ride”
(Oldie: Blood, Sweat & Tears – “Spinning Wheel”)
09 Elvis Presley – “The Wonder Of You”
08 The Beatles – “The Long And Winding Road”
07 The Carpenters – “Close To You”
06 Melanie – “Lay Down (Candles In The Wind)”
05 Freda Payne – “Band Of Gold”
04 Blues Image – “Ride Captain Ride”
03 The Temptations – “Ball Of Confusion”
02 The Jackson Five – “The Love You Save”
(Oldie: The Rolling Stones – “Satisfaction”
01 Three Dog Night – “Mama Told Me (Not To Come)”

[married21]

.? What about El Cajon CA? My hometown.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Brings back memories. I used to listen to Casey and the top 40 countdown.

I had an email correspondence at one time with someone who wrote a book about Casey and the top 40. And he asked me about the radio stations I heard American Top 40 on. I had moved around the country, and was able to recall:

WPGC AM/FM in Washington, DC
WCAO in Baltimore
WCUM in Cumberland, Maryland
WKLP in Keyser, West Virginia
WBBM-FM in Chicago
WLS in Chicago
KFMB in San Diego

I think he was trying to compile a listing of all stations which had ever carried the Top 40 countdown.

[V K Lee]

LOL! Men and their gadgets. DH still possesses
his first transistor radio to this day.
Along with several others offered by EBay.

“Do you like good music
That sweet soul music
Just as long as it’s swingin’
Oh yeah, oh yeah”
SWEET SOUL MUSIC - Arthur Conley

Early 1970’s in my mid 20’s, music tastes changing to some
degree.

Casey, RIP
Thanks for the memories.

[DeplorableGirl]

So that’s the excuse you’re gonna go with?! Sheesh.
Of course kidding; enjoying a little wine today! :)

[Revel]

He was the Master at what he did. You can find entire shows of the countdowns played on youtube.

[lapsus calami]

 

 

If you recall he would share all sorts of anecdotes, stories, trivia about the bands and individual performers during the course of the show. There was staff scouring media for anything they could use as filler. Imagine what a job that was before the age of the internet and search engines.

 

 

[FalloutShelterGirl]

Yep! I listened religiously on the beloved little radio my folks got me for Christmas, single ear bud in my ear so i didn’t disturb mom. She didn’t like that rock ‘n’ roll music that was going to corrupt me. Ah...the 70s.

[dfwgator]

His show was the way I “downloaded” music in 1983, lol.

LOL, that and the "Dr. Demento Show"

[WASCWatch]

I watched a Netflix documentary on David Foster. He was also an asshole, self-admitted at that.

Never realized just how many great musicians for whom he produced.

[Verginius Rufus]

I was living in San Diego in July 1970 but don’t remember ever hearing of KDEO. The two stations I listened to were KGB and KCBQ.

[ripnbang]

Found this Top 40 list on You Tube. Listened to the entire show. It was great, a blast from the past. Thanks for posting.

[minnesota_bound]

Listen to the old Dick Clark countdown show on weekends.

Dick Clark Rock Roll & Remember - Saturday 8am-Noon
http://www.superhits935.com/pages/index.cfm?id=493

[stonehouse01]

“...F the Beatles...”

I second that. “Imagine” is the atheist anthem that sums up the communist “revolution” our nation is suffering under in real time.

[nicollo]

Thanks for posting this! My wife and I both had the Pocket Radio! She remembers more static than music coming from it, but I remembering thinking how cool it was.

[nicollo]

Brotherhood Of Man – “United We Stand”

We could use a re-boot of this one, for sure!

Look for the same over the next couple of years, as 1970 was peak hippie and protest and the nation desperately wanted to take a breath and just be normal -- and longed for some type of revival. This was the time of Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar.

Btw, my favorite on that list at the time was Three Dog Night. Loved that band! My wife made me play "Get Ready" three times, while I listed to "Mama Told me" and "Spill the Wine" over and over.

[dfwgator]

For me, we lived in Monterey and listened on KMBY, it was the greatest place in the world for a kid to be at the time.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Loved Three Dog Night. Remember the band, ‘Lobo’? Some good songs there, too. :)

[Alas Babylon!]

I always thought he treated Scooby like dirt. Making him go ahead before him in some creepy haunted mansion. He was a coward! And a cheap skate, hardly ever passing out Scooby snacks.

[Alas Babylon!]

Imagine was not by the Beatles. John Lennon did that on his own. And he also was an asshole who let his yellow paramour break up the band.

[Dr. Sivana]

And a cheap skate, hardly ever passing out Scooby snacks.

I never watched that cartoon, though I am familiar with the characters. If Scooby got all the Scooby snacks he wanted, he'd be a fat great dane. You don't want that. He never looked underfed.