AMERICAN TOP 40 CELEBRATION American Top 40 with Casey Kasem is THE GRANDFATHER OF RADIO COUNTDOWNS!!! It started on July 4th 1970, and the original series ended in early 1995. Now, it's been revitalized once again (in march of this year!), WITH Casey Kasem (he left in 1988, with Shadoe Stevens taking the hosting duties until 1995!)...and on a new syndicator...AMFM Radio Networks. I myself remember getting the program LP's (records) from a station here in Nova Scotia back in the 80's...the guy would mail them to me when they were finished them (they only played them twice!!), so you could say I was a fan...even have a autographed photo somewhere!! Anyways, this site is a fantastic and thorough tribute to the this great radio countdown, which has been around for so many years!
CANADIAN MUSIC ENCYBERPEDIA Canadian Music...it has a love/hate relationship in Canada...we tend to largely ignore it still, unless our artists make it big in the US or worldwide..and indeed some have..Celine Dion, Shania Twain, Bryan Adams, all have their humble beginnings in their "Home and Native Land" until they achieved superstardom, but until they reach that, canadians are rather "Ho Hum" about our homegrown material. It's to the point that regulations in radio are in place that force (OH..they love this!!) canadian radio programmers to play 30% canadian ( 35% starting Jan 1st 1999 ), yet in reality, a lot of the material is far from being that bad..in fact it can be quite decent, which makes you think that radio is just pissed that they have to do it. This site goes over the well-known, and not so well-known of the canadian music scene over the past 40 yrs, and while it is not really that indepth, it IS something we can refer to, as very little is out there chronicling the canadian music scene..in fact the recordings themselves are rather hard to find..especially of those lesser known groups..so to have something like this to refer to is quite useful...check it out...especially my name in the acknowledgements...near the very bottom of the page...I'm surprised it was actually there...I just e-mail a little info....go figure!!!!
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RADIO AND RECORDS
ONLINEThe industry trade publication! mainly a good music chart source
because it's based on radio airplay, so it's watching the trends of numerous
formats of music throughout the U.S., and to some extent, Canada! also, great
links to radio stations on the net!
BILLBOARD
ONLINEWell, I suppose it's the MAIN music bible in the radio and retail
biz, hell...it's been around for a 104 years! they've been a chartin before anybody,
so they have some credibility, the main difference between charts in Billboard
and Radio and Records is Billboard also bases their charts now on retail
sales which are very accurate due to a computer inventory system for record
stores called SoundScan! whichever you prefer, you have a choice!
RECORD
RESEARCHANY serious music collector of pop, country, and god knows
what else, know who Joel Whitburn is! he's the guy who started putting
compilation books together of Billboard charts years ago, and there are used
by collectors, and people in the music industry alike....I have a few myself,
though they are a bit old. the books are expensive, but they are worth it!
the site is neat too..with trivia contests and such!
BOB RIVERS TWISTED TUNES Is probably THE BEST parody tunes producer around, certainly would give Weird Al a run for his money! Bob has been producing parody material for over 15 years...first for the American Comedy Network, then the ABC Radio Network, and more recently worked for the TM Century Comedy Network and now has a record contract with Atlantic Records..so a lot of his "Vault" Material is now on CD..at least in North America! He's well known for his christmas parody material, with titles like "Wreck the Malls" "Walkin Around in Women's Underwear" and "The Most Fattening Time of the Year(with Richard Simmons) Great Material!! I recommend to buy the CD's!! When I can afford it, I actually do..I mean me, paying full price for a CD, is a big deal...but I don't mind with these!!!! I know what i'm gettin...GREAT PARODY STUFF!, and what the best part is as far as i'm concerned...he DOESN'T SING his own songs....he gets soundalikes..which can make all the difference in the world!!!! Weird Al....go choke... OK? heh heh!!!!
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