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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 28/09/2026

On Sunday night, the hits (as I see them) come out to play. Welcome to another week of my new music playlist for #AT40 friends and others. Big Hits Energy! New music from the Linda Lindas, Ella Langley and another act you might have read something about Friday. open.spotify.com/playlist/0Hg...

open.spotify.com

Big Hits Energy 2026

The playlist that scours the globe for uptempo pop, dance, R&B, and pop/rock. Geared to those who miss fun, melodic Top 40 hits.

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 26/09/2026

Of all the song lyrics that aren't okay now, if they ever were, what else from our #AT40 listening is as bad as "if her daddy's poor/just do what you feel"?

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 26/09/2026

I often wonder about the relationships that inspired the hits. I particularly wonder who prompted David Gates to write "Make It With You." Also, whether that line worked. #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 25/09/2026

For such a phenomenal record, "The Hustle" by Van McCoy is taking only a three notch jump in a mostly undistinguished Dirty 30. Hard to imagine now that it could have ever languished permanently in the realm of "Judy Mae" and other #AT40 trivia.

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 25/09/2026

This would not be our last exposure to Boomer Castleman. He also produced this #AT40 classic. www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqrM...

youtube.com

1977 HITS ARCHIVE: Telephone Man - Meri Wilson (stereo 45)

YouTube video by AnotherProf

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 25/09/2026

"Dyn-o-mite" has a lot of Dave & Ansil Collins' "Double Barrell" in its DNA, and you either like or detest them both. #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 21/09/2026

They took over the format nearly a decade ago, but I have a new(?) name for bands like this-- "fill-ternative."

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 19/09/2026

In 1976, it still happened occasionally that a Canadian artist would cover an album cut and try to have a Cancon radio hit with it. Here's the version of "Say You Love Me" that Canadian radio played (by the future author of "Something to Talk About"). www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf0x...

youtube.com

Say You Love Me

YouTube video by Shirley Eikhard - Topic

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 19/09/2026

"Disco Duck" is something that doesn't exist much in my world: uptempo, propulsive, fun (or meant to be) ... and reprehensible. Ultimately, as contemptuous of disco as Steve Dahl. #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 19/09/2026

"A Little Bit More" is one of the least sexy sex songs ever. But "Muskrat Love" was in the wings. #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 19/09/2026

Just like Gerry Rafferty's "Right Down The Line" and "Home and Dry," two other songs about appreciating a long-running marriage, there is sadness in knowing that John Hall's marriage still broke up after "Still The One." #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 15/09/2026

At the airport and there’s a guy at the gate in a white shirt and slacks who, compared to other travelers, looks like a visitor from the corporate world of a slightly bygone era. I guess he circled back.

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 11/09/2026

In the early '70s, there were a lot of artist salvos against feminism. "Another Day" still comes off to me as "hey, liberated woman, aren't you lonely?" But it hits differently because it's Sir Paul and not Paul Anka. #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 11/09/2026

Brewer & Shipley and Wadsworth Mansion are all going home to "Sweet Mary." Hilarity ensues. #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 11/09/2026

I've just realized that "Loves, Lines, Angles & Rhymes" is basically a rewrite of Dusty Springfield/"The Thomas Crown Affair"'s "Windmills of Your Mind." #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 11/09/2026

Just watched (and can recommend) the documentary, "Peter Asher: Everywhere Man." Puts that overnight success of James Taylor in perspective. #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 11/09/2026

Welcome, all. "Heavy Makes You Happy" answers the trivia question: what do the Staple Singers have in common with the Monkees? Also, written by Bobby Bloom. #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 08/09/2026

Wondering how many of my #AT40 friends or other followers have heard the Song of Summer 2026 (and 20 week Billboard #1).

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 05/09/2026

Anybody notice that the Alice Bowie riff is the “I Love Lucy” theme? #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 04/09/2026

Earlier in 1977, the original version of "Calling Occupants" by a Canadian group called Klaatu was a mid-chart record after a rock writer decided that they must be the Beatles getting back together on the sly. #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 04/09/2026

On the week of November 19, 1977, I didn't hate "You Light Up My Life." I might have still found it kinda moody and interesting, although I'm pretty sure the bloom was off. I hated "The Way I Feel Tonight" by the Bay City Rollers, which I found so hokey it probably deflected from Debby. #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 25/08/2026

When Dolly Parton was starting to have pop hits, she released this one for Country radio only. Perfect late '70s country. (Also, the singalong in "Norma Rae.") RIP Dolly. #AT40 www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0jq...

youtube.com

Dolly Parton - It's All Wrong, But It's All Right (Official Audio)

YouTube video by Dolly Parton

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 15/08/2026

Growing up in DC, the only place to hear “Way Down” on 8/13 was the suburban Northern Virginia stations because small-market southern Top 40 still played Elvis, and back then the South really began at the Potomac. #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 15/08/2026

Jimmy Buffett and Mac McAnally worked together for years. I wonder if they met hearing each other on #AT40?

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 14/08/2026

It's funny to hear Casey trying to help reposition Three Dog Night as an album act. Five decades later they are *only* remembered for the hit singles that came from those albums, and the fact that the album might have been released first is entirely irrelevant. #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 07/08/2026

We never have a natural cause to discuss it, but wondering what the #AT40 group thinks of "Mickey" by Toni Basil. I loved it right away, in part because it was such a '70s record at heart. But not everybody did.

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 18/07/2026

It has only been a year since “Rock x (The Boat + Your Baby)” and already disco is an influence on five of the top 10 on #AT40 to varying degrees—Wings, Eagles, Frankie, Van McCoy and The Bee Gees.

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 17/07/2026

Long as the #AT40 gang is here, this classic (and some others) could use some extra likes and interactions to the original post.

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 17/07/2026

I think the first listen to "Dance to the Music" was mind-blowing to a lot of people. Rock writer Dave Marsh remembers a buddy handing him his radio in the lunch line and saying "you've gotta hear this." #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 17/07/2026

Until "Touch Me in the Morning," the post-Diana Ross Supremes were winning the battle of the singles, song-for-song. Love "Floy Joy," and it's not even close to my favorite. #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 17/07/2026

Dick Clark did a pretty good job telling the Janis Joplin story, but he sounds more wrong than any of the other #AT40 guest hosts, because he's got such an established persona and it's *not* Casey.

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 17/07/2026

I've drifted away from sports over the years, but in spring '72, most of my radio listening was baseball games (usually from distant markets at night because the Senators had just left DC). There's definitely a higher percentage of songs I didn't know at the time on this #AT40.

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 10/07/2026

I hung out in a record store in Washington, D.C. When "New Kid in Town" was a week or so old, someone came in asking for the song about "great expectations" and the staff couldn't figure it out. #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 10/07/2026

At age 80, Thelma Houston recently played a Hollywood club date commemorating the 50th anniversary of "Don't Leave Me This Way." Also, she has a new single (and an EP coming)! #AT40 #DirkWilbury open.spotify.com/album/7aHvUO...

open.spotify.com

Love Is the Power - Single by Thelma Houston | Spotify

Thelma Houston · single · 2026 · 1 songs

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 10/07/2026

Because it was so clearly inspired by "Bohemian Rhapsody," I believed Queen was actually revealing in "Somebody to Love" that the singer was in an actual prison cell. #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 10/07/2026

Casey cut out the intro to Boston's "Long Time." But if he hadn't, "Foreplay" would have actually come "After the Lovin'" #AT40 #DirkWilbury

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 04/07/2026

Sending my #AT40 friends off to their cookouts with not just the usual new music playlist, but a link to all of them--one of which will be right for the afternoon/evening. open.spotify.com/user/marsnee...

open.spotify.com

RossOnRadio

User · RossOnRadio

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 04/07/2026

I always complain that there are no vestiges of localism left at radio. So I must disclose that "Fickle 93" is playing Rochester, NY's own Chuck Mangione's "Cannonball Run Theme" on a #YachtRock weekend. #AT40 fickle933.com

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 26/06/2026

"Best of My Love" was not a song that a middle schooler could relate to. I came to recognize it as the Eagles' finest, most incisive lyric, but when you're not in the mood for it, it's a slog. #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 26/06/2026

"You're No Good" as a breakthrough single for Linda Ronstadt is hardly male pandering. That might have been Casey's most patronizing intro of all. #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 26/06/2026

Today, there would be no third single from a not-yet-successful Doobie Brothers album. The only shot for "Black Water" would be when somebody used it two years later on TikTok. #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 21/06/2026

A lot has happened in today's hit music recently. Here's my weekly recap of the best of now for #AT40 and other friends. open.spotify.com/playlist/0Hg...

open.spotify.com

Big Hits Energy 2026

Playlist · RossOnRadio · 50 items · 605 saves

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 20/06/2026

He waited years for stardom. When it came time for a follow-up, he made a dirty song about making out with a boat. #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 19/06/2026

Among R&B fans, "One Less Bell to Answer" was the biggest and most enduring of the Fifth Dimension hits. "Because it's so bluesy," somebody told me. #AT40

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Ross On Radio @rossonradio.com · 19/06/2026

"Heaven Help Us All" was corny to me for years, especially knowing that it came from the same pen as "I've Never Been To Me." But it's devastating now. #AT40

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