Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40
| Genre | Music chart show |
|---|---|
| Running time | Approx. 4 hours (including commercials) |
| Country | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Hosted by | Bob Kingsley |
| Created by | Bob Kingsley |
| Air dates | since January 1, 2006 |
| Website | Official Website |
Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40 (sometimes abbreviated as CT40) is an American country music radio countdown show hosted by former American Country Countdown host Bob Kingsley. The show is produced by Kingsley's KCCS Productions and distributed by Westwood One. It uses the Mediabase Country Singles chart as its source. The show debuted on January 1, 2006 with 300 affiliates.[1]
History
Prior to the inception of Country Top 40 in 2005, Kingsley was the host of American Country Countdown, a Top 40 country music countdown show based on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. Country Top 40 first aired January 1, 2006 on 300 affiliates, three weeks before Kix Brooks of the country music duo Brooks & Dunn took over as host of American Country Countdown.[2]
Content
Country Top 40 is a four-hour show based on the country singles charts tabulated by Mediabase. At the beginning of each show, Kingsley plays back snippets of the previous week's top 5 hits, ending with the No. 1 song from the previous week. The countdown itself features the top 40 country songs of the week, played in ascending order starting with No. 40 and ending with the No. 1 song. Each segment includes at least two to four songs, with at least one of those songs having a story about the song and/or its recording artist; some songs are also accompanied by interview snippets from the artist. In addition, some of the songs are succeeded by a previous hit from the artist—either a notable song or one that debuted that particular week in the past.
Regular and recurring features of the show include:
- The Listener Request, at the end of the first hour. Similar to the ACC Mailbag of Kingsley-era American Country Countdown shows (which, in turn, was based on the Long Distance Dedication of AT40), listeners are invited to send requests (by e-mail or letter) for songs and provide a story about the song's meaning to them. If a listener's request is played on the program, (s)he receives a gift package (generally, a T-shirt and a copy of that particular show).
- CT40 Vault, heard at the end of the second hour. "A walk down the hall to the vault for a sampling of country music history" by spotlighting clips of songs from past decades, and ending with the playing of a song in its entirety from the last decade (i.e. #1 from this week 48 years ago, 28 years ago, 18 years ago, 8 years ago).
- CT40 Milestone, heard at the end of the third hour. Like "ACC Calendar" from Kingsley-era American Country Countdown programs, "Milestone" spotlights a classic song, birthday of a performer or songwriter, or other innovation in country music history.
- CT40 Flashback, heard semi-regularly during the last hour of the show. A currently popular country music artist introduces the feature, before Kingsley reads trivia from the spotlighted year. A montage of the top 5 hits from the corresponding month are then replayed. (A similar feature was used during the Shadoe Stevens-era of American Top 40.)