Top 40 Radio Retrospective is
ON THE AIR!
And now..Ladies and Gentlemen...webcasting from the top of the Universe...It's Top 40 Radio Retrospective! I love surfing the 'net for the many tribute and aircheck sites dedicated to Classic Top 40 radio in general or to specific stations. I decided to launch this Squidoo lens to catalog those sites and to add one more passionate voice to the chronicling of the history and sound of Top 40 Radio of the Sixties and Seventies. It'll be a work in progress. Please keep checking back.
Leave a comment (below) and tell me what your favorite Classic Top 40 website is and each week I'll tabulate the results and it'll influence the link list. And remember, keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars!
California Dreaming: Top 40 Radio in the Golden State
Vote for Your Favorite California Top 40 Station!
Top-40 radio had distinctly different sounds in the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest and West. Today, we dial in California radio stations - the ones that gave us Casey Kasem, Gary Owens, Bob Eubanks, Wink Martindale, Robert W. Morgan, Bobby Ocean, the Real Don Steele and on and on! Here's the poll:
Loading poll. Please Wait...
Jay Thomas Wins In A Landslide!
Friday's Quick Poll Results
We asked you to vote on Friday for your favorite all-time major market morning man. We also contacted the "people" for Rick Dees, Imus, and Jay Thomas to let them know about the poll. Jay Thomas' team at his Sirius satellite show featured the poll as the main item on the show's website at www.jaythomasshow.com. Thanks to Jay and Jay's team for the plug and congrats on Jay's landslide victory. He garnered 96.3% of the vote!The Quick Poll returns Monday morning when you'll have an opportunity to vote for your favorite California Top 40 station.
If you have a suggestion for a poll you'd like to see, click the e-mail link on the upper right of this page, or scroll down to comment module and leave a note there. We're the Squidoo Lens you're building with your suggestions -- Top 40 Radio Retrospective. Thanks for visiting!
And now, on to the countdown...
The Top Twenty
(Soon to be the Top 30...then the Top 40...then...)
This week's top twenty links to the people, the sounds, and the stations of classic Top 40 radio. And the hits just keep on comin'!
- #1 - ReelRadio's REEL Top 40 Repository
- The granddaddy of all the Classic Top 40 websites. For $12 a year, you get access to tons of airchecks from all over the universe.
- #2 - MusicRadio 77 WABC
- The Most Listened To Station in the Nation!
- #3 - KHJ Boss Angeles!
- BossRadioForever.com presents the definitive history of 1965 Los Angeles rock and roll radio station 93/KHJ, the flagship of Bill Drake's boss radio format.
- #4 - Jeff Roteman's WLS Website
- There are two great websites that pay tribute to Chicago's AM89 WLS. This one is from Jeff Roteman.
- #5 - Scott Childers' WLS Tribute Site
- Just as fun as the first one!
- #6 - CKLW Windsor-Detroit
- A legendary Top 40 radio station! Canadian stations start with C, U.S. stations east of the Mississippi start with W (with the notable exception of KDKA Pittsburg), U.S. stations west of the Mississippi start with K, and stations in Mexico start with X.
- #7 - 79 WAKY Louisville
- Not every great Top 40 station was in the big city. WAKY Louisville was one of the best ever! Check 'em out.
- #8 - RadioTimeline.com
- A good site with airchecks from a variety of Top 40 stations and links to tribute sites. Includes a "where are they now" list of disc jockeys.
- #9 - Northeast Airchecks
- This site from radio veteran Rick Kelly features airchecks from Top 40 (and other format) radio in the northeast. Cary Pall on 99X in 1975, Sandy Beach on WKBW, Larry Lujack on WCFL (not a northeast station, but who cares?), the Greaseman!
- #10 - Radio 15 WKBW Buffalo
- 50,000 watts of Rock 'n' Roll! WKBW was the home of radio legends like Joey Reynolds, Sandy Beach, Jackson Armstrong, and others.
- #11 - Robert W. Morgan - "You've been Morganized!"
- A tribute site to legendary Top 40 deejay Robert W. Morgan. Morgan worked at L.A. radio stations KHJ, KMPC, Chicago's WIND, he even turned up once on WNBC New York.
- #12 - 440 Satisfaction: Where Are They Now?
- Wondering whatever happened to your favorite Top 40 disc jockey? 440 Satisfaction is a "Where Are They Now?" site that you can search by name, city, or station call letters.
- #13 - Rock Radio Scrapbook
- From Canada and focused on the great Canadian Top 40 stations, but lots of sound from U.S. radio stations, too.
- #14 - Detroit Radio Flashbacks
- A Motor City radio retrospective of the 60s and beyond!
- #15 - Ron Riley Recalls the Great Days of AM Rock Radio
- Don't miss this one! Legendary deejay and programmer Ron Riley has a great website full of Top 40 radio goodies!
- #16 - KYUU San Francisco
- A tribute to Top 40 FM KYUU from former KYUU jock Jeff Daniels. Great stuff about the people...great sounds from Jeff and others.
- #17 - THE Jingles from PAMS
- The Top 20 list wouldn't be complete without this website for PAMS, the leader in jingle creation through the sixties and seventies. The jingle juggernaut was eventually taken over by Jam Productions, who host the PAMS site.
- #18 - Tom Kent's TKO Radio Network
- Tom is one of the great Top 40 jocks of all time and he's still burnin' up the airwaves coast-to-coast. Visit his website to find out how you can tune in.
- #19 - Big WAYS / 95Q
- Ric Patterson pays tribute to legendary Charlotte, NC radio combo WAYS/WROQ -- one time home to great morning jocks Jay Thomas and, later, Robert W. Murphy. Visit Ric's umbrella website, www.thatwasradio.com, for tons of great stuff on a variety of Carolina radio stations.
- #20 - California Airchecks
- Don't be fooled by the title. California Airchecks features current and classic airchecks from all over the country...and the world! No streaming or downloadable audio, though -- it's pay and snail mail. They've been part of the radio landscape for a long time so they make the list -- but I wish they'd go downloadable.
- Hitbound: LARadio.com
- In keeping with today's California radio poll, our first new add this week is LARadio.com. If you've ever wondered what happened to your favorite L.A. deejay, this is the site for you!
- Hitbound: Super WCFL
- This site pays tribute to Chicago's "other" great Top 40 radio station, WCFL.
- Hitbound: The Wolfman Jack Online Museum
- The Wolfman was an American original. Retrace his career in radio, television, and movies at this site.
- Hitbound: The American Top 40 Website
- If you loved Top 40 radio in the seventies, then you had to be a fan of Casey Kasem's American Top 40! Journalist Rob Durkee pays tribute to AT40 with his AT40 Fun & Games Site. Enjoy the trip down memory lane.
- Hitbound: That Was Radio
- Ric Patterson, creator and webmaster of the Big WAYS/95Q website chronicles the history of Charlotte, North Carolina-area radio. If you grew up in the Carolinas, you'll love this site.
- Hitbound: 68 WRKO Boston
- Sounds...Big 30 playlists...personality features...from Boston's legendary 68/WRKO.
- Extra: "Boss" Cool Stuff
- Bill Earl and friends with a blog about California "Boss" radio. "Boss" radio was a style of Top-40 radio developed by legendary radio programmer Bill Drake. High energy...tight formatics...it was BOSS!
Do you know of websites devoted to classic Top 40 radio that haven't made the hit list yet? Please write and let us know by clicking on the contact link on the upper write or scrolling down and leaving a comment. And please take a minute to rate the Top 40 Radio Retrospective website and tell your friends about us. We want to go to #1, too!
Books on Top 40 Radio History at Amazon
The Hits Just Keep on Coming: The History of Top 40 Radio
Amazon Price: $17.05 (as of 01/01/2010) 
The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (Billboard Book of Top Forty Hits) 8th Edition
Amazon Price: $18.45 (as of 01/01/2010)
Aircheck: The Story of Top 40 Radio in San Diego
Amazon Price: $20.00 (as of 01/01/2010)
Gordon McLendon: The Maverick of Radio (Contributions to the Study of Mass Media and Communications)
Amazon Price: $126.95 (as of 01/01/2010)
Rockin' Down the Dial: The Detroit Sound of Radio (From Jack the Bellboy to the Big 8)
Amazon Price: $18.96 (as of 01/01/2010)
More Books on Top 40 Radio History at Amazon
Dream-house: The history of a major West Coast radio station and Southern California's 50 years of "Radio Eleven-Ten"!
Amazon Price: (as of 01/01/2010)
The Cash Cage
Amazon Price: $13.95 (as of 01/01/2010)
Rocking America: How the All-Hit Radio Stations Took Over, An Insider's Story
Amazon Price: (as of 01/01/2010)
The Showman of the Pacific - 50 Years of Radio and Rock Stars
Amazon Price: $34.95 (as of 01/01/2010)
WCFL, Chicago's Voice of Labor, 1926-78 (History of Communication)
Amazon Price: (as of 01/01/2010)
"Listener" Feedback
We're the Squidoo Lens You're Building!
What's your favorite classic Top 40 website? Radio station? Deejay? Let us know and we'll add it to the list. Top 40 Radio Retrospective is the Squidoo Lens that you can help build with your feedback. Thanks for visiting! - Bruce
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- junkster junkster Aug 3, 2009 @ 12:52 pm
- To those of you who talked you father into ordering the J2 performance pakage on the '58 Olds or Poncho, i furgit which it was...or to those who left your '67 SSS396 in the garage Saturday nite....what's that you SOLD it 30yrs ago..../
In the AfterMath of AM radio those radiant waves continue to penetrait generations beyond.
That being as it is, I would hereby like to submit to the list of lendgary AM Top 40 Stations one KXOK the big 630, emitting from the exotic grounds of Radio Park, St louis Missouri. Google up KXOK- the tribute site awaits with very informative aspects of the Storz owned station.
As the The Golden Decade of pop, '58 thru '68 [ok add 5yrs to either end] preveiled, St Louis' KXOK dominated the domain of puberity-sticken transistorites as well as their parents. It was the kind of station whose energy level jilted VU meters on both sides of the mic during the mid 60's. At one time having the honor of being one of the five top five stations in the US. 2b cnt'd
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- Clutterbugs Clutterbugs Sep 23, 2007 @ 12:01 pm
- How cool is this! I am a huge music buff - I even incorporated it into my squidoo lens. You'll have to check it out sometime - Organize YHB. I love your lens! ***** for you!!
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- mamone mamone Jul 23, 2007 @ 3:16 pm
- There's a great website about Washington, DC's legendary top 40 station WPGC. It has airchecks, playlists and more. Here's the link: http://www.amandfmmorningside.com/splash.html
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- giddygabby giddygabby Mar 25, 2007 @ 4:15 pm
- Wolfman Jack. That gravelly voice. Sometimes I could tune him in, late at night in a state far from CA, on my brother's six-transistor portable radio. We called 'em that back then. Portable radio. Would love to see you on the Boomers Rock! group.
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- KCStargazer KCStargazer Dec 21, 2006 @ 2:06 pm
- Congrats Bruce, fellow "Kaleidescope" Group Member, and welcome to the LOTD Club!
Great job- you deserve it!
Happy Holidays
KCStargazer
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If This Were TV, You Could See Me
Video about Radio from YouTube
Check out this 1983 TV spot for Imus in the Morning on 66 WNBC in New York. They were still playing music in 1983, all the more A/C than true Top 40.
Wolfman Jack! Righteous!!
Hey, that Thin Lizzy makes me dizzy! A 70s-vintage spot for Clearasil.
by brucecole
My name is Bruce Cole. I work on the air as utility/swing at WRIT (Milwaukee's 95.7) and WQBW (97.3 The Brew) in Milwaukee. I spent the first 13 years...
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