(This is Not an official site, at the moment no official
site exists)
AT20/AT10 History
Both American Top 10 and American Top 20 can trace their history
to "Casey's Countdown" and "Casey's Hot 20"
respectively. Both Casey shows were spin-offs of "Casey's
Top 40", the competitor to AT40 created by Casey Kasem when
he left the original AT40 back in 1988.
As pop (CHR) radio was declining, it was decided that there
had to be another way to get more stations to carry a Casey Kasem
countdown show. Since many stations were turning to the Adult
Contemporary format, a new Casey show was created, "Casey's
Countdown". Casey's Countdown debuted in 1992 and counted
down the top 25 songs on Radio and Records' AC chart. The show
was successful and was a good compliment to the pop CT40.
By 1994, radio had continued to splinter. A new format was
arising, Hot Adult Contemporary aka Adult Top 40. These stations
played 'harder' songs that AC would not play, but these stations
also didn't play the rap and hip-hop found on some CHR stations.
They needed their own countdown show. In April 1994 Radio and
Records debuted its Hot AC chart, and in November 1994 "Casey's
Hot 20" was born. The show counted down the top 20 of the
Hot AC chart. Casey's Countdown continued to use the AC chart
but started only counting down the top 20 vs. the top 25.
Both shows were three hours and played extras, former number
ones, and "Requests and Dedications".
The shows continued until Casey left Westwood One in 1998
to restart AT40 with AMFM Radio Networks. The shows were both
renamed "American Top 20", but the shows essentially
remained the same. The shows still play the extras, and the shows
are now the only ones with "Long Distance Dedications".
Both AT20s used Radio & Records' charts for much of the
period from 1998 to early 2003. However, there was a period in
2000-2001 where the shows used an unpublished Mediabase 24/7
chart. Songs were removed from that chart based on an unknown
recurrent rule, and sometimes songs would seem to be "purged"
from the chart to allow new songs to enter. In early 2003, AT20
AC again switched to an unpublished Mediabase 24/7 chart. This
time some specifics were known about the chart. The chart is
based on audience impressions rather than the number of times
a song is played, and songs played during the syndicated "Delilah"
show are not counted toward the chart. Songs seem to be removed
from this chart at about the same time as they are on Radio and
Records' AC chart.
During the March 20-21, 2004 weekend, American Top 20 AC became
American Top 10 AC. The show now only plays the top 10 of the
unpublished chart each week. In addition to the regular extras
played on the show, there are "themed" extras, known
as the AT10 Spotlight. For example, for the first AT10, the spotlight
was "Band Members Gone Solo". The jingles were changed
as well. In 2005, the show once again used the R&R AC chart.
New features added to AT20 and AT10 in 2004 and 2005 are the
Book of Records and "Whatever Happened to...".
In the fall of 2005, a special edition of AT10 began airing
in New York City. In this special countdown, done only for WLTW,
Casey just counts down the top 10 AC songs. Thus, the show only
lasts one hour in length.
In August of 2006, Radio and Records quit using Mediabase
24/7 data as a source for its charts. Thus, with the airings
of August 19, the shows began using charts that were not published
in a radio trade magazine.
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This page last updated August 9, 2006
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