Casey Kasem: The Michigan Years
In most discussions of Casey Kasem, it has been nearly forgotten that Casey was born in raised in Southeastern Michigan, and spent time in the Detroit, Flint, and Fenton areas. He worked at various stations in Michigan, with sketchy details about some. I discussed with Casey on about three occasions his working at WAMM 1420 in Flint, which has been called by some his first DJ job. According to Casey, this was about 1957. He was also working at WJBK 1500 Detroit during this period, at night from 7:00-Midnight, an airshift that was associated with several "Jack The Bellboy" DJs at WJBK, such as Grand Funk Railroad founder Terry Knapp/Knight and Ed McKenzie. But Casey was not called Jack The Bellboy even though DJs before and after in the same time slot were. There are Surveys on ARSA from WJBK with Casey's picture and airshift shown. Casey could well have worked both WAMM, a daytimer, and fulltime WJBK the same day, as did a contemporary from Wayne State University and WDET-FM, "Frantic" Ernie "D" Durham, who worked simultaneously at WBBC 1330 Flint and WJLB 1400 Detroit during this same period, driving between two closely spaced airshifts before I-75 reduced commuting times to close to an hour. Ernie Durham was also an early partner in WAMM according to information found on David's archives. Ernie apparently hired Casey to work at WAMM. Casey and Ernie performed duties other than as Disk Jockeys at WDET and other stations, but WAMM and WJBK were apparently the first DJ type positions Casey had. He spent time during his early years with relatives in Flint near the now demolished Chevrolet Flint Manufacturing complex where his brother Mouner worked for many years, on McAras Ct., and worked for relatives at the Larry Hamady Grocery Store in Fenton, where his mother lived for many years.
