Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40
| Genre | Music chart show |
|---|---|
| Running time | Approx. 4 hours (including commercials) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Hosted by | Bob Kingsley |
| Created by | Bob Kingsley |
| Original release | January 1, 2006 – present |
| 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 from its inception in 2006 until 2017, Kingsley played back snippets of the previous week's top 5 hits, ending with the No. 1 song from the previous week. Beginning with the May 20-21, 2017 program, however, he's begun the show by playing the number one song from the previous week in full. This was his original practice when he hosted American Country Countdown beginning in 1986 when ACC went from a three-hour to four-hour program. 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 from 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, heard 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). This feature was likely inspired by a similar featured that was short lived on American Top 40 in the mid 1980's.
- 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.