"Top 40" Radio in 1963

Every once in awhile, I find myself returning to the obsessions of my past. (No, this post has nothing to do with baseball.)

From 6th grade through junior high (i.e., 9th grade), I became a fanatic of Top 40 radio. I faced a bit of an obstacle in that the town where I lived then (Warren, Pennsylvania, the “home of 15,000 friendly people” as a welcoming billboard once proclaimed) had only one radio station, WNAE. Back in the early-to-mid 1960s, it programming focused extensively on local news and issues. For examples, the latest obituaries were read three or four times a day. Popular music received very limited airplay: Club 1310 for about an hour in the late afternoon and a 2-hour “Hi-Time” program featuring high-school disc jockeys on Saturday morning.

As a result, I found myself tuning my transistor radio to other options: ""clear-channel" radio stations from big cities in the East and Midwest.

WBZ in Boston (“Juicie Brucie” Bradley)
WABC in New York (“Cousin” Bruce Morrow, still doin’ it)
KDKA in Pittsburgh
WKBW in Buffalo (Joey Reynolds and Dan Neaverth)
CKLW in Detroit/Windsor. (Best mix of music ever found on AM radio.)
WLS and WCFL in Chicago. (Anyone remember Chickenman? Heseverywhereheseverywhere!)

Due to Warren’s “nestled” location, the channels weren’t always so clear. The signal would fade out, the music retreating slowly into silence. Approaching thunderstorms added crashing cymbals of noise to the reception, and some days there was an inexplicable humming or staticky noise in the background, as though aliens were attempting to harmonize with the Beach Boys or the Four Seasons.

For nearly a year, I used my paper-route earnings to buy a copy of Billboard each week. The newsstand price was 50 cents, if I recall, compared to 30 cents (cheap) for Mad magazine. (There you have it! These two titles sports biographies comprised the bulk of my reading at this time. No Onion John. No Across Five Aprils. No Island of the Blue Dolphins. How did I ever become a librarian? Although, in my defense, I read all three books during a binge of juvenile and YA fiction reading about 10 years ago. Just catchin' up, I guess.)

Almost from the start, I developed a ritual for reading Billboard. I immediately opened to the “Hot 100”, the most popular singles based on radio play and number of copies purchased. I always found plenty to quibble over, as my tastes often conflicted with the mainstream. I also made a habit of listening to “countdown” shows – Cousin Brucie’s was always on Tuesday evenings – to detect regional differences.

Anyway, the whole point of this exercise is to share a Top 100 list for all of 1963 that I prepared a few years ago. I just wanted to set the records straight! (Full disclosure: I edited the original list, a reflection of the changes that take place in how we respond to music. The two lists I ended up with, however, aren't all that different.)

In my estimation, the year 1963 in popular music can best be described as the calm before the storm. Elvis still made lots of records but he no longer ruled the airwaves. “Girl groups – the Chiffons, the Crystals, the Cookies – remained popular, but the Shirelles, who with “Tonight’s the Night” in late 1960 jump-started this trend, were already on the wane. In early 1964, the Beatles, and the rest of the British invasion groups (Dave Clark Five, Rolling Stones, Kinks, Animals, Yardbirds) would instantly transform the sound of top 40 radio, and even, hyperbolically speaking, the world.

1. One Fine Day (The Chiffons)
2. Up on the Roof (The Drifters)
3. Wait Till My Bobby Gets Home (Darlene Love)
4. Come and Get These Memories (Martha & the Vandellas)
5. Pride and Joy (Marvin Gaye)
6. It’s All Right (The Impressions)
7. On Broadway (The Drifters)
8. He’s Sure the Boy I Love (The Crystals with Darlene Love)
9. In Dreams (Roy Orbison)
10. That’s How Heartaches are Made (Baby Washington)
11. Hitch Hike (Marvin Gaye)
12. Cry Baby (Garnet Mimms & the Enchanters)
13. Don’t Say Nothin’ Bad About My Baby (The Cookies)
14. Blue Bayou (Roy Orbison)
15. What’s Easy for Two (Mary Wells)
16. What a Guy (The Raindrops)
17. Quicksand (Martha & the Vandellas)
18. Then He Kissed Me (The Crystals)
19. Pipeline (The Chantays)
20. Just One Look (Doris Troy)
21. Ruby Baby (Dion)
22. Not Too Young to Get Married (Bobb B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans, vocal by Darlene Love)
23. Sally Go Round the Roses (The Jaynetts)
24. Be My Baby (The Ronettes)
25. Heat Wave (Martha & The Vandellas)
26. Foolish Little Girl (The Shirelles)
27. Hello Stranger (Barbara Lewis)
28. Hey Girl (Freddie Scott)
29. Can I Get a Witness (Marvin Gaye)
30. Sweet Dreams of You (Patsy Cline)
31. The Lonely Surfer (Jack Nitzsche)
32. A Love So Fine (The Chiffons)
33. Da Doo Ron Ron (The Crystals)
34. Baby Workout (Jackie Wilson)
35. The Monkey Time (Major Lance)
36. Six Days on the Road (Dave Dudley)
37. Pushover (Etta James)
38. The Love of My Man (Theola Kilgore)
39. These Arms of Mine (Otis Redding)
40. When the Lovelight Starts Shining (The Supremes)
41. The Kind of Boy You Can’t Forget (The Raindrops)
42. Today I Met the Boy I'm Gonna Marry (Darlene Love)
43. Another Saturday Night (Sam Cooke)
44. You Lost the Sweetest Boy (Mary Wells)
45. Chains (The Cookies)
46. Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash)
47. Half Heaven Half Heartache (Gene Pitney)
48. Maria Elena (Los Indios Tabajaras)
49. It’s My Party (Lesley Gore)
50. My Boyfriend’s Back (The Angels)
51. Falling (Roy Orbison)
52. Hey Little Girl (Major Lance)
53. Losing You (Brenda Lee)
54. He’s So Fine (The Chiffons)
55. Easier Said Than Done (The Essex)
56. Our Day Will Come (Ruby & the Romantics)
57. I Can’t Stay Mad at You (Skeeter Davis)
58. You Don’t Have to be a Baby to Cry (The Caravelles)
59. Detroit City (Bobby Bare)
60. Donna the Prima Donna (Dion DiMucci)
61. Leaving on Your Mind (Patsy Cline)
62. Mean Woman Blues (Roy Orbison)
63. Bossa Nova Baby (Elvis Presley)
64. Mickey’s Monkey (The Miracles)
65. Walk Right In (The Rooftop Singers)
66. Little Town Flirt (Del Shannon)
67. Walk Like A Man (The Four Seasons)
68. Mecca (Gene Pitney)
69. More (Kai Winding)
70. Tips of my Fingers (Roy Clark)
71. Wives and Lovers (Jack Jones)
72. Till Then (The Classics)
73. If You Wanna Be Happy (Jimmy Soul)
74. Every Day I Have to Cry (Steve Alaimo)
75. Down at Papa Joe’s (The Dixiebelles)
76. Mockingbird (Inez Foxx)
77. Your Old Stand By (Mary Wells)
78. You Really Got a Hold on Me (The Miracles)
79. Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa (Gene Pitney)
80. Shake a Tail Feather (Five Du Tones)
81. Since I Fell for You (Lenny Welch)
82. Memphis (Lonnie Mack)
83. Watermelon Man (Mongo Santamaria)
84. The Nitty Gritty (Shirley Ellis)
85. Talk to Me (Sunny & the Sunglows)
86. She's a Fool (Lesley Gore)
87. Don’t Make Me Over (Dionne Warwick)
88. True Love Never Runs Smooth (Gene Pitney)
89. Follow the Boys (Connie Francis)
90. Don't Think Twice It's All Right (Peter, Paul & Mary)
91. Have You Heard (The Dupress)
92. South Street (The Orlons)
93. From a Jack to a King (Ned Miller)
94. Louie Louie (The Kingsmen)
95. Wonderful Summer (Robin Ward)
96. I Wonder What’s She Doing Tonight (Barry & the Tamerlanes)
97. Surfer Joe (The Surfaris)
98. So Much in Love (The Tymes)
99. You're the Devil in Disguise (Elvis Presley)
100. Killer Joe (Rocky Fellers)

Still to come: Absences (at least one so obvious as to knock you over like an ocean wave), oversights and reconsiderations.