REELRADIO: 30th Anniversary Casey Kasem's AT40 Top 100 Hits of 1975

SPECIAL PRESENTATION FOR NEW YEAR'S WEEKEND, DECEMBER 31 2005 - JANUARY 2 2006

Illustration of Casey Kasem and Many Microphones
Pete Battistini
and REELRADIO Present:
Casey Kasem's
American Top 40
Top 100 Hits
of 1975
THIS FEATURE RUNS
SIX HOURS AND 45 MINUTES.
IT IS PRESENTED AS A REEL-TIME STREAM.

Thanks to Pete Battistini for making this Streaming Special available to REELRADIO, and thanks for listening!

[DESCRIPTION BY CONTRIBUTOR PETE BATTISTINI]
American Top 40 Hat Logo During the 70s, when preparing for the year-end show, AT40's staff fluctuated between using Billboard magazine's list and creating their own list based on the Billboard charts.
For example, in 1972 and 1973, Ben Marichal, the show's statistician, tabulated AT40's year-end countdown chart. In 1974, 1975 and 1976, they accessed Billboard's tabulation. And in 1977, it was back to compiling their own. I believe the primary reason for this was based on Watermark's production schedule and whether Billboard could advance the list to them in time.
Apparently Billboard's listing of the Top 100 of 1975, which was based on charts from November 1974 to November 1975, was available. And it may surprise a few individuals how far in advance this particular show was tracked. It took two recording sessions to complete it -- Saturday, November 15 and Saturday, November 22, 1975.
Finally, chart enthusiasts have noted that at least one song was awkwardly placed in this countdown. Grand Funk's "Some Kind of Wonderful" ranks extremely high here at #6, well above more than 20 records that peaked at #1. With a less than memorable Top 40 chart life, Grand Funk's record climbed to only #3 for one week on the Hot 100.

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