Mike Riccio
Mike Riccio
It is the wee small hours of Friday morning, December 27, 1968 and Chuck Leonard
is subbing for Charlie Greer on all-night show - brought to you by Dennison, the
men’s clothier, Route 22, Union, New Jersey, “where money talks and nobody
walks.”
The engineer activates the tape cart and underneath the musical intro to “Love
Child,” by Diana Ross and the Supremes, Dan Ingram is heard: “WABC Super-hit of
the year, number . . .”
Chuck Leonard: . . . “77. Aretha, the right-rocking, Franklin. You better stand
up and Think, baby.”
Musicradio77.com Survey Guy Mike Riccio stated in an e-mail interview that he
started the Top 77 of All Time in 1998 to try and replicate the Top 100 Songs of
the Year that WABC aired during the Christmas to New Year’s week from 1964
through 1981.
He wrote, “I wanted to remember and bring back the time when the end of the year
was a magical one for WABC listeners (and for many listeners of other Top 40
stations), when the Top 100 of the year would be featured for the entire holiday
week between Christmas and New Year's Day,” wrote Riccio. “And from the feedback
I've gotten, that has certainly been achieved.”
The Top 77 is now in its 26th year – eight years longer than the Top
100 Songs.
Pre-digitization, listeners would mail a self-addressed stamped envelope to get
a copy of the Top 77. In some years it would feature photos of the WABC
All-Americans. Now, Riccio sends a copy via e-mail to each voter in the Top 77.
Voting for 2023 began on October 24 at OldiesBoard.com, MusicRadio77.com,
RewoundRadio.com partly through the assistance of long-time Top 77 technical
director Frank Thomas.
Riccio wrote, “What's unique about the voting process is that it allows for
voters to vote for as few as one song or as many as ten. Also, another unique
part of the Top 77 is that it allows for voters to include literally any song
that was ever officially released to the public from a professional source. (In
other words, we won't include your niece or nephew singing "Happy Birthday to
Grandpa" on You Tube. But pretty much everything else is fair game.)”
“I wanted to see what a completely fairly-compiled ‘Top Favorites’ list would
look like,” wrote Riccio, who for many years has been a real estate broker, but
once had the top mid-day ratings in a Long Island market at WBLI in Suffolk
County. Riccio stated that, “This is
likely one of the only true 100% accurate "All-Time Favorites" lists you'll
find. Every song is counted, with points accumulated based on how many people
voted for each song and how high on their list each voter placed the song.”
He added, “Voters can pick songs from any year, any decade, any era. They can
also choose songs from any music genre. So, it's very common for the final
results to include everything from top 40 to hard rock to R&B to classic soul to
big band to classical, and on and on.”
That is similar to the range of the Top 100 Songs of the Year.
In 1968, for example, you had entries
from Blue Cheer. . . Jeannie C.
Riley . . . The Ohio Express. . . Richard Harris . . . The Beatles. . . Herb
Alpert. . . The Vogues. . . Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell.
As usual, in 2022 The Beatles led the way with 77 songs that received votes.
Their “Hey Jude” has been number one each year, except one, when “Rag Doll” from
the Four Seasons occupied the top position. Interestingly “Hey Jude,” in 1968,
is the only Beatles song to ever place first on the WABC Top 100 Songs of the
Year. Surprisingly, in 1964 when the
Beatles made their iconic television appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show, “Hello
Dolly” by Louis Armstrong topped the Top 100 Songs list that year, just ahead of
The Fab Four’s “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and “She Loves You.”
In the balloting for the Top 77 in 2022, Elvis Presley ranked second in the
number of songs selected with 59. Then came the Beach Boys, 31; the Rolling
Stones in fourth at 29; the Four Seasons, 22; Diana Ross & the Supremes at 21;
Elton John, 20; the Bee Gees and the Carpenters, tied for eighth with 18 each;
Fleetwood Mac, 16; and Chicago, Frank Sinatra and The Monkees tied for 11th
place with 14 songs each.
Riccio, who with the other Survey Guys helped assemble a list of each of the
WABC weekly surveys for Musicradio77.com some years ago, wrote that events can
boost an artist or a song.
“For example, if a song is featured on a TV commercial, or in a viral video, or on social media, then it's highly likely that THAT song will get many votes on the Top 77,” he stated “If a particular artist becomes newsworthy or is in the middle of a strong concert tour, it's likely that the act's songs will perform better on the Top 77. If the act or song is part of a current movie or streaming show, it's likely that THAT will influence voting.”
Riccio indicated that last year there were 2,999 songs
that received votes. The most popular decade was the 1960s with 1,218 songs,
with the 1970s ranking second with 1,006 songs.
He wrote that Rewound Radio will air the hits from the Top 77 from Tuesday,
December 26 through Monday, January 1, 2024.
Riccio stated that he and Musicradio77.com web master Allan Sniffen will co-host
a top 77 show and air personality Jon Wolfert, whose contact with WABC dates to
the 1960s, will host a special edition of his weekend show.
It could seem like 1968 again.
The Dan Ingram voice-over: “WABC Super-hit of the Year, number . . .”
Chuck Leonard: “79. Dionne Good-Singing Warwick. Oh, Do You Know The Way To San
Jose . . . Woo, woo, woo.”
Vote In The 2023 Top 77...
HERE!