Record World magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with Billboard and Cashbox. It was founded in 1946 as Music Vendor. In 1964, it was changed to Record World under the ownership of Sid Parnes and Bob Austin. It ceased publication on April 10, 1982.
History
Growth
Music Vendor published its first music chart for the week ending October 4, 1954.
Record World was housed in New York City at 1700 Broadway, at 53rd Street, across the street from the Ed Sullivan Theater. Its West Coast editorial offices were located in Los Angeles on Sunset and Vine.
Peak
Record World showed musical diversity by printing a "Non-Rock" survey, comparable to Billboard's "Easy Listening" / "Adult Contemporary" chart. This chart began in the February 4, 1967, issue, with the first No. 1 being Ed Ames' "My Cup Runneth Over". The chart ended on April 1, 1972, having morphed to the name "The MOR Chart" by 1971. Several titles of interest appeared on this 40-position list without making the Billboard Easy Listening survey. The chart returned with a weekly top-50 "A/C Chart" on February 16, 1980. Record World initiated first annual jazz award in 1968.
Contributors
Staffers included Mike Sigman, editor-in-chief (who then went on to become publisher of the LA Weekly); Howie Levitt, managing editor (later of Billboard and BMI, the music royalty service); Pat Baird, who went on to key publicity positions at both RCA and BMI; associate editor Allen Levy, who went to become a public relations person for United Artists Records, ASCAP and A&M, and who is now a professor of mass communication at Chapman University.
Dede Dabney
Dede Dabney was from Philadelphia. She, the daughter of a pharmacist, came on board in 1972. She had a weekly column called "Soul Truth". She communicated weekly by phone to major figures in radio programming to get and give information. These figures included Frankie Crocker of WBLS-FM, New York, E. Rodney Jones of WVON, Chicago, and Joe "Butterball" Tamburro of WDAS, Philadelphia. When an artist or group's record was mentioned in "Dede's Ditties to Watch", it was one that was watched.
Marie Ratliff
Marie Ratliff hailed from Missouri. Following a weekend visit to the Grand Ole Opry, she moved to Nashville. She started out in the music business in a part-time role, handling the mail for artists Skeeter Davis and Ralph Emery. Not too long after that role, she got a job at Key Talent and Newkeys Music as office manager. She was pictured with other Newkeys staff in the 9 July 1966 issue of Record World. She also worked with Tom T. Hall.
Later at some stage, she was employed at Record World and at some stage became the country chart manager. Her role there was selecting and maintaining the reporting panels for radio and retail. It seems that her name appeared as a columnist on 23 June 1970. It was Country Hot Line By MARIE RATLIFF & CHUCK NEESE. Prior to that the magazine didn't name the contributor.
In 1982, she was working as VP for MAF Advertising, which was the in-house publishing company for the group Alabama. In 1986, she joined the staff of Billboard as country charts manager. Her column at Billboard was called Country Corner. In 1991 she was working for Amusement Business as the manager at Boxscore / Touring database manager. By 1998 she had retired.
Others
Other staff included writers Vince Aletti (later of The New Yorker); Marc Kirkeby (he went on to CBS/Sony Records); Jeffrey Peisch (later of MTV and independent producing); Dave McGee (later of Rolling Stone); Laurie Lennard (later as a talent booker on The Late Show, then wife of comedian Larry David, and producer of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth); columnist Sophia Midas; chart editor and assistant editor Fred Goodman (later editor of Cash Box and current managing editor of Pro Sound News and a songwriter/music publisher; radio director Neil McIntyre; and art director David Ray Skinner, who also contributed a weekly cartoon from 1978 until the magazine's demise in 1982 (www.RWCartoons.com).
Charts
100 Top Pops
With the 11 April 1964 issue, the magazine was still called Music Vendor. The national top 100 singles chart was called Music Vendor 100 Top Pop. At some stage prior to 6 June 1964, the magazine had changed its name to Record World, and the national top 100 singles chart was called 100 Top Pops.
R&B
In 1978, Record World changed the R&B title to Black-Oriented.
List of number-one singles
Here is a list of all the songs that reached number one on the Music Vendor/Record World chart, obtained from the cited sources. In total, 658 songs reached number one on the chart. In the early history of the chart, multiple versions of the same song charted as one entry, so the most successful recording of these songs is listed. An asterisk (*) denotes a nonconsecutive run at number one.
"The Twist", by Chubby Checker, is the only song to hit number one in two different chart runs. The record holder for the most weeks at number one is Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life", which stayed on top for 13 weeks. "I Love Rock 'n Roll", by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, was the last song to top the chart before the magazine ceased publication.