… the countdown doesn’t stop until we reach Number One …
[Description by Pete Battistini]
To the best of my knowledge, WCFL began carrying Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 on June 24, 1972. I am uncertain why the station decided to broadcast it late Saturday night (Sunday morning) from 1-4 a.m., but that turned out to be Casey’s debut shift in Chicago.
A few months later AT40’s time slot was moved one hour, to 2-5 a.m. Even though it was the middle of the night, I religiously recorded every program beginning the following week until WCFL dropped the show after airing the Top 80 of the year, on December 30, 1972. Casey was out, Wolfman Jack was in.
My normal routine for recording AT40 included stopping the tape for commercials and news. But, for this sampling on WCFL, which was recorded at 3 3/4 ips on a Sears 7″ reel deck, I was sound asleep. Thank goodness for reel tapes with 3600 feet!
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