countdown was: "As If"

[Laurence Horn]

>On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 15:00:32 -0400, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>wrote:
>
>>Right, that's the one I was noting below, along with the lack of any
>>entry or documentation for the pop music "countdown".  Does anyone
>>have a date for that?  As I mentioned, I remember the music
>>countdowns themselves from the mid-1950s (top 40 of the week, top 400
>>of the year, even one for the decade--probably on 12/12/59), but I
>>can't remember when the word itself was introduced.
>
>Surprisingly, I can't find any examples predating the British Invasion--
>the earliest "countdowns" I've come across are from 1965.  WCFL in Chicago
>had a "British Countdown" on the Jim Stagg show that year (featuring a
>real live British DJ, Paul Michael), and KYW/WKYC in Cleveland had a
>similarly titled feature on the Jerry G. show.  You can hear an aircheck
>for the latter on this site:
>
>http://www.reelradio.com/bt/index.html#jgkyw65
>
>The Reel Radio site and several others have many airchecks from Top 40
>shows, so an earlier "countdown" can likely be found in one of the audio
>archives.
>
I can't remember the call letters of the station I listened to in New
York, but the DJ was "Peter Tripp, the curly-headed kid from the
third row".  Not quite as popular as Murray the K over that period,
but I was faithful to Peter.  Actually, I should be able to google
the info...

Yup, here's his obit at Reel Radio,
http://www.reelradio.com/gifts/wmgmtripp.html:

Peter Tripp, who wowed radio audiences with his mid-1950s Top-40
countdown record shows on WHB in Kansas City, and later at New York
City's WMGM, died January 31, 2000, at Northridge California
Hospital, following an apparent stroke suffered at his home in West
Hills, California. Tripp was 73 years old.

Tripp became one of the nation's best known Top-40 countdown radio
personalities beginning in 1954 at Todd Storz' WHB in Kansas City,
and at Loew's Theatres' WMGM in New York City from 1955 through 1960
with his "Your Hits Of The Week" program.

Billing himself as "The curly-headed kid in the third row", Tripp is
best remembered for the WMGM promotion where he remained awake for
201 hours during a sleep deprivation stunt benefitting the March Of
Dimes.

======
WMGM it was, and the 1955 date certainly does fit my "mid-1950's"
memory above.  And he was the curly-headed kid *in*, not *from* the
third row, but not bad on my part, considering I usually can't recall
whether I sent out a recommendation letter a month ago or not.  So
the only question is whether he called it a countdown, which I recall
him doing, but wouldn't swear to it on a stack of old 45s.  Of course
I'm not claiming he coined the term or invented the concept, just
that that's where I remember it from.

Larry