#atozchallenge Top Ten: KDKA (1020 AM, Pittsburgh, PA), 7/2/71

A to Z Challenge, Monday's Music Moves Me 2 Minutes

One of the oldest radio stations in the United States (if not the oldest), KDKA in Pittsburgh has broadcast a news-talk format since 1992, but was a Top 40 station throughout the ’60’s, ’70’s, and ’80’s. Here’s their Top Ten from July 2, 1971.

  1. Glen Campbell, “The Last Time I Saw Her”: Title track from his 20th album, a song written by Gordon Lightfoot. Reached #12 on the Easy Listening chart in 1971.
  2. Steve Alaimo, “When My Little Girl Is Smiling”: Written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and originally done by The Drifters in 1961. Alaimo’s version only reached #72.
  3. Jack Jones, “Let Me Be The One”: Written by Roger Nichols and Paul Williams and done by the Carpenters on their eponymous 1971 album. Jack Jones’s cover reached #18 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
  4. John Denver, “Take Me Home, Country Roads”: John wrote this with the help of Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert, and it was released as a single in April. It rose to #2 on the Hot 100 in August. The State of West Virginia has adopted this as one of its state songs.
  5. Cat Stevens, “Moonshadow”: From his 1971 album Teaser and the Firecat, the current Yusuf Islam considers this his favorite among his old songs. It reached #30 on the Hot 100 and #10 on the Easy Listening chart.
  6. Bobby Goldsboro, “Come Back Home”: Title track from Goldsboro’s 1971 album, the song reached #15 on the US Easy listening chart.
  7. Jonathan King, “Lazy Bones”: An oldie by Johnny Mercer and Hoagy Carmichael, Jonathan’s version reached the Top 20 in the UK and #34 on the Hot 100.
  8. Gordon Lightfoot, “Talking In Your Sleep”: From Gordon’s seventh studio album Summer Side of Life. It peaked at #64 on the Hot 100 but reached #19 in Canada.
  9. Lobo, “I’m The Only One”: Roland Kent LaVoie, better known as Lobo, released this as the B side of his “She Didn’t Do Magic.” The song reached #14 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
  10. Bobby Russell, “Saturday Morning Confusion”: A song about dealing with a hangover as well as his wife, kids, and neighbors. It reached #24 on the Country chart, #28 on the Hot 100, and #13 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

See you back here tomorrow with E!

In April, my Monday A to Z Challenge entries will also be my Monday’s Music Moves Me posts.

Monday’s Music Moves Me is sponsored by Marie, Cathy, Alana, and Stacy, so be sure and visit them, where you can also find the Linky for the other participants.

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

Published

30 thoughts on “#atozchallenge Top Ten: KDKA (1020 AM, Pittsburgh, PA), 7/2/71”

  1. Pingback: #atozchallenge 2021: A Reflection – The Sound of One Hand Typing

  2. I had to learn Take Me Home, Country Road when I was in about year 4 at school. Can’t remember why we had to learn it, but it’s stuck with me ever since.

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  3. Pingback: The Electronic Disaster Week That Was – The Sound of One Hand Typing

  4. This is not what I would have expected from a 1971 top 10 survey, which makes it interesting. Pittsburgh must have had way different musical tastes than New York City – perhaps half of these songs are new to me – interesting indeed. But ahhhh….Cat Stevens….

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    1. They were more an adult contemporary/easy listening station, from what I gathered from the Wikipedia article, and the hits tend to lean more in that direction. It was a surprise to me as well.

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  5. I miss John Denver. I loved his Annie’s Song. And I still have my vinyl album of Cat Stevens Teaser and the Firecat, but I no longer have a record player to play it on. (Still can’t part with it, though.)

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    1. That Cat Stevens album could be worth quite a bit if it’s still in good shape. There are some pretty reasonable turntables available, too…

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  7. I remember the call letters from when I lived in Pittsburgh for a year when I was about 7 or 8. I wasn’t really paying much attention to music on the radio back then, but I knew those call letters. My mother was probably listening to that station at the time.

    Arlee Bird
    Tossing It Out

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  8. I only recognized a few of those songs. My musical wheelhouse is classic rock and pop, not Easy Listening or Adult Contemporary. I only started listening to the AC countdown when I was thirteen, in 1993.

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    1. KDKA was more of an adult contemporary station, tending to play more of the lighter hits. I started doing the radio surveys a couple of years ago because I wanted to remember what some of the songs sounded like, and in the process I’ve found lots of songs that I swear I’ve never heard, even though I was around when they were popular…

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  9. John,

    A handful of the artists on today’s list I know well. The only songs from the list I remember are “Country Roads” and “Moonshadow”. The later, I’m not sure if I recall that one from back in the day or it’s a title that was introduced to me since I began blogging. Excellent playlist for country music. I really love your theme! It gives me some fine tunes to play while I do other things. 🙂

    Curious as a Cathy’s Looney Tunes A-Z Daffy Duck Art Sketch. Join the fun at your leisure. Happy A2Zing, my friend!

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  10. Going against the grain here. Glad I didn’t have to listen to this station, 1971 was a year with some great music and with the exception of Country Roads none of these songs are in my memory at all.

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    1. KDKA always had more of an adult contemporary vibe, but I’m sure you remember “Moonshadow”…? Or “Talking In Your Sleep”…?

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  13. Now this was a nice listen although I hadn’t heard of some. I always love John Denver, whom I miss like Roy Orbison, John Candy and Robin Williams. I like Gordon Lightfoot. I also like Alaimo and the song sung by Glenn Campbell.

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