Saturdays belong to the '70s and #AT40. Sunday night belongs to #BigHitsEnergy, my playlist of new uptempo hit music especially for peers wanting to keep up with new music. open.spotify.com/playlist/0Hg...

"Sweet Mary" by Wadsworth Mansion seems like a trifle of the times, but that is some hyperkinetic guitar playing and drumming. #AT40

I am always curious for your interpretation of "If I Were Your Woman." Is the narrator an unrequited friend, always my interpretation, or the mistress (a friend's contention)? I always cite "you beg her to love you, but me you don't ask." His answer, "because he doesn't have to." #AT40

Diana Ross recorded, but didn't release, "Stoney End." Now Streisand's version is a notch ahead of her current single, on the way to being a bigger hit. (You don't hear either song much now outside #AT40).

We churned through our teen idols pretty quickly in the '70s, but this might be peak week with all three of the majors represented here (along with another teen act who transcended that pretty quickly). #AT40

I've heard that love means never having to say you're sorry. But I do think we're owed an apology for three versions of the theme from "Love Story" this week. #AT40

I was listening mostly to R&B WOL Washington in 1971. The first version of "My Sweet Lord" I heard was by Billy Preston (on Apple). #AT40

Unless they call an audible by lunchtime to sub in a Neil Sedaka episode (75 or 76), today’s #AT40 will be 1971.

If #AT40 wants a February/March episode with Neil Sedaka, it will be either 1975 ("Laughter in the Rain") or 1976 ("Breaking Up is Hard to Do"). Given his general accessibility, I wonder if SiriusXM has a countdown intro from him.

The DJ heard at the end of the single version of "The Payback" is R&B legend Hank Spann, who I was lucky enough to work with decades later. When you hear it on Adult R&B radio now, it's the album version, but they're both great. #AT40

If "I'm tired of fooling around" and "I didn't mean to say those things" is the wedding proposal, what will forever be like for Al Green? #AT40

Anybody notice that "One Hell of a Woman" opens with the Stones/Satisfaction riff? Maybe Mick Jagger didn't know or care (or so many people had used it by then). But surprised Allen Klein would've let it go. #AT40

Seems kind of unfair to talk about the Drifters to set up the DeFranco Family. #AT40

We've had so much fun with "Wildfire" in the #AT40 thread recently. Now, Michael Martin Murphey has brought it back, with help from a current Country hitmaker, to sadden a whole new generation. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufMm...

This is very deep radio geekery: I am scheduling music for a Country station while listening to a Classic Rock station playing "Losing My Religion." Carrie Underwood's "Just A Dream" comes up on my screen, just as REM is singing "that was just a dream." #MomentsOfMusicSchedulingGrace

I just heard an oldies station tease a "forgotten 45." Usually, that turns out to be something not so unusual. But today, it was "The Circle Is Small" by Gordon Lightfoot, so I have to give it to them. #AT40

Okay, since the "Harry Hippie" thread, I've been on a voyage of discovery. I hadn't heard about Harry Womack. I had always thought it was Bobby Womack looking at those damn kids and marveling at why anybody would *choose* that life. #AT40

Speaking of the Carpenters, it was around this time that the long-forgotten movie "That's The Way of the World" was out, starring Harvey Keitel as an A&R rep who wants to sign Earth, Wind & Fire, but whose boss wants him to sign a corny brother-and-sister act. #AT40 www.youtube.com/watch?v=svtp...

Neil Sedaka's American career went cold for more than a decade. He's probably sorry he didn't think of cursing in a song sooner. ("The kids like that these days.") #AT40

Okay, you know about me and #ThisSoundsLikeThat... every song is like a wine tasting as I detect notes of this and that. Just heard both "Stagger Lee" and "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" in the first 30 seconds of "Gone At Last." Also a little bit of Joni/"Raised On Robbery" shortly after. #AT40

I didn't fully appreciate the Four Seasons in 1975, plus "Who Loves Ya" and Kojak-mania already felt played out and hokey. I feel a lot differently about them now, especially the genius of songwriter/producer/member Bob Gaudio. #AT40

I like "Carolina in the Pines" so much better than "Wildfire," if only because no daughters and horses are in jeopardy. Happens a lot that I dislike an act's big hit and like the (sometimes much) less successful follow-up more. That's what #AT40 is for.

When you hear the KC & the Sunshine Band songs from their hot streak that were relative failures--"I Like To Do It" or "Wrap Your Arms Around To Me"--it's hard to tell why these ones didn't make it. They're of such a piece with the ones that were hits. #AT40

"In The Mood" didn't get a ton of airplay when it was new, but it had to be pulled from one small-town radio station because it made a listener's dog go to the henhouse and attack his chickens. #AT40

Speaking of yacht rock... If anybody wants a second choice besides SiriusXM's channel, this station debuted in Norfolk today. #AT40 www.929thewave.com

On an #AT40 with "Come Sail Away" and "Close Encounters," return with me to those innocent days when people could fantasize about starships without ever completely giving in to conspiracy theory. They kept their foot on the ground and kept reaching for, well, you know...

While we're between Barry Manilow hits on #AT40 until "Can't Smile Without You" charts, I wanted to make sure everybody including @radiofreetom.bsky.social knows that there's a new Manilow song and it's on the Adult Contemporary charts (not hard to do these days). www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOgg...

"Lovely Day" again confirms Bill Withers as one of our most empathetic songwriters. We could use him now. #AT40

"Easy To Love" is Leo Sayer after having listened to Boz Scaggs. Then again, "Easy To Love" is two years before Boz Scaggs, "Jojo," so there must have been mutual appreciation. #AT40 #YachtRock

It competes with "Isn't It Time" and a few others, but "Thunder Island" is another contender for the ultimate #AT40 record. Fun, uptempo, still sounds like a hit, and disappeared surprisingly quickly.

Y'know, if you listen to the lyrics of "Midnight at the Oasis," Maria Muldaur's mom probably didn't approve of those either. #AT40

Throughout Abba's streak, the UK (and the world) was usually a single ahead of us, not just "Name of the Game." Since the import shops near me would never order anything as mainstream as Abba, pre-internet, I knew those songs just as names on a Billboard Hits of the World page for two months. #AT40

There was, in my town, a supermarket that played classic R&B, sometimes deep. I was delighted when they played "Maybe Tomorrow." Even more so when three women came around the corner singing along to it, too. #AT40

Almost like Elton John, the Big Is Back. For #AT40 friends and anybody else interested in current, uptempo music. open.spotify.com/playlist/0Hg...

Hearing "Who's In The Strawberry Patch With Sally" so soon after the holiday, it's hard not to hear "Mele Kalikimaka." #AT40

From "Let Your Hair Down" to "Boogie Oogie Oogie" to "Get Down On It," we used to have a lot of R&B hits specifically exhorting the crowd to loosen up and dance. With clubs and concerts back in business for a while now, it would be fun if those came back. #AT40

Patty Loveless/I Try to Think About Elvis to Colin Raye/I Think About You. Classic Country #MomentsOfMusicSchedulingGrace

If we were hearing the real Jan. 1, 1980 #AT40 countdown, we'd be hearing the debut of the epoch dividing "Rapper's Delight" at #37, mostly because of sales since pop radio doesn't know what to do with it.

Just noticed that the guitarist on the decidedly unswampy "The Way We Were" is throwing in some country-funk riffs from "Rainy Night In Georgia." #AT40 #ThisSoundsLikeThat

For #AT40 friends and others keeping up with new music, these are the songs that were not just big hits in 2025 but trend-defining.

Ruin two bands by combining them: Sweet Ratt

Looking for a break from holiday music? My Big Hits Energy playlist didn't take six weeks off. It's refreshed and ready for 2025 for #AT40 friends and others. open.spotify.com/playlist/0Hg...

Hey, I don't even try to avoid "Last Christmas." (I work with holiday radio and would have been done by Dec. 1, anyway.) But in the last 12 hours, I have heard two *different* versions of "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer." Not Whamageddon but #Grandmageddon. #AT40

Here's a great lesser-known Chris Rea song I found as an oldie on European radio in the late '90s, proving that he rolled deep. You'd be hard pressed to pinpoint exactly when this is from if you didn't know because it's an interesting mix of elements. #AT40 www.youtube.com/watch?v=SInT...

Chris Rea's "Fool (If You Think It's Over)" is one of the defining songs of the #AT40 thread. In Canada and the UK, he's all over the radio now because of "Driving Home For Christmas. I'm glad he had a great second act there, even if the US is spottier on his '80s hits. RIP.

I am so happy to see @kylieminogue.music-social.com's "X-M-A-S" as the UK's Christmas No. 1 this week, taking it back from older titles (not that "Last Christmas" wasn't deserving) and previous years that were mostly novelties/oddities. If it could only happen here. #AT40

"Take a Chance on Me" into "Take On Me." The radio music plotting software puts two Nordic songs of similar intent next to each other, creating #MomentsOfMusicSchedulingGrace.

When Casey Kasem called Michael Jackson "one of the most successful lead singers in the history of popular music," they had just hit their second anniversary as a hitmaking act. #AT40

My personal "greatest single of all time" changes several times a week, but it always changes when I hear "Respect Yourself" again. #AT40

Always listening for great new music. Here's the latest installment of my hits/should be hits playlist--Big Hits Energy! Shares welcomed/appreciated. #AT40 open.spotify.com/playlist/0Hg...