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Casey Kasem Dies At Age 82

R

Radio Ink Buzz Stream

Sad news today: Casey Kasem, the legendary radio personality who for many years hosted American Top 40, died this morning at age 82. Kasem hosted American Top 40 and other popular countdown programs from 1970 until his retirement in 2009. Kasem passed away in a Washington state hospital, reports say. Clear Channel Networks President Darren Davis said, "People all over America have fond memories of Casey counting down the best songs each week. I can vividly remember listening to American Top 40 each Sunday morning when I was a kid, and Casey's polished style and dedication to his craft helped me fall in love with radio. He was a true gem, and I'm grateful I got to meet him several times over the years. Casey was such a wonderful man."

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Casey Kasem Has Died

Sad news, although not unexpected: Casey Kasem has died. He passed away at 3:25 AM June 15, 2014, in the Washington hospital where he had spent the past two weeks. His children -- Kerri, Mike and Julie -- posted this statement on Facebook: "Early this Father's Day morning, our dad Casey Kasem passed away surrounded by family and friends."

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/15/showbiz/casey-kasem-obit/
 
Sad to hear this news. He was the master of the top 40 countdowns and it's great, radio still features them. The best to his family. Rest in Peace Casey. You are in a much better place now and in peace.
 
Casey's American Top 40 countdowns are replayed every weekend on Sirius XM's '70s Channel and on a few oldies stations across the country. At its peak, AT40 was heard on more than 1000 stations.
 
LARadioRewind said:
Casey's American Top 40 countdowns are replayed every weekend on Sirius XM's '70s Channel and on a few oldies stations across the country. At its peak, AT40 was heard on more than 1000 stations.
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I've listened to American top 40 on 99.9 KOLA-FM over the Weekends since no other station in the Los Angeles area carries it. But I wonder if KOLA will continue to broadcast it after this Weekend. I'm hoping that they will continue to do so.
 
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KFI Sunday evening host Wayne Resnick just offered this observation: "Casey Kasem is to popular music what Walter Cronkite was to news." Right on!
 
Casey Kasem Passes Away

I sure many of you have read about the passing of Casey Kasem on Sunday at the age of 82. I have vivid memories of listening to him on American Top 40 Sunday nights on KDWB. After watching sitcoms such as All in the Family and Alice, I would go up to my bedroom an tune into Casey counting down the week's top hits. He would also relay stories behind the artists and songs.

In October 1978, Watermark did the right thing by expanding AT40 from three hour to four hours. Never again would songs have to be edited for time. It also gave birth to the most popular feature the Long Distance Dedication. He read many of them over the show's long run.

But Casey was more than a countdown host. He voiced many cartoon characters, including Shaggy on the numerous Scooby Doo incarnations. He did many NBC promos from 1977 to 1981 and the voice over for thousands of commercials. He also hosted the TV series America's Top 10 and early a Los Angeles dance show titled Shebang.

One of the broadcasting greats has been silenced. It's a day to mourn for anyone who is into broadcasting and history. But we'll always remember he closed each countdown "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars. And keep your radio tuned right where it is."

May he rest in peace.
 
Being a baby boomer, I grew up with Casey Kasem on KRLA in the 60s, before he found his national fame doing American Top 40, which started around 1970 or 71 if I remember correctly. In the late 60s, he was the weekend and fill-in guy. On Sunday afternoon, he do a countdown show using the Cashbox magazine survey, not Billboard.

Since KRLA was the "hipper" Top 40 station, with lefty newscasts and nighttime jocks like Jimmy Rabbit, the Caser came off as being the squarest guy at the station. It was surprising and impressive to hear much later that he was progressive politically, and quite active in Arab political causes.

I once read somewhere (can't remember) that he discovered his signature style in the early 60s when he was DJing at KEWB in the Bay Area. Like most DJs at the time, he tried to be funny on the air, but apparently wasn't very good at it. His Program Director finally told him to knock it off. Afterward, he was wandering the halls of the station wondering how he'd fill air time, when he saw a rock fan magazine lying in the trash can. He used gossipy tid-bits from the magazine on his show, and developed his style from there.
 
Mister Keller, Casey was at KYA in 1961, then went to KEWB in 1962. According to the oft-told legend, he found some teen magazines in a wastebasket and retrieved them, then started sharing biographical information about the artists whose songs he played. In an interview many years ago, Casey said that when he was young he was fascinated by all the stories his father and his father's buddies would tell. Like father, like son!

In 1964 Casey reached #103 on Billboard's Bubbling Under chart with A Letter From Elaina, a recitation of a letter that he had received from a girl who wanted to meet the Beatles. The recording is on YouTube, although the post erroneously says that Casey was at KYA in 1964. He was at KRLA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf3pb-DPYQ0
 
955wdhf said:
I've listened to American top 40 on 99.9 KOLA-FM over the Weekends since no other station in the Los Angeles area carries it. But I wonder if KOLA will continue to broadcast it after this Weekend. I'm hoping that they will continue to do so.
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I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't or why Sirius/XM wouldn't either.

AT 40 is a major part of top-40 radio history. I think the late Mr. Kasem would smile down on us from heaven knowing we still listen to the old countdowns and hold him in high esteem in our memories.
 
United Stations continued to offer some Dick Clark shows after he died. His Rock, Roll, & Remember was turned over to Gary Bryan after his stroke, and it included some "best of" segments. I don't know if it's still available now. It is a bit strange hearing a voice after we know he's passed on. This Week In Baseball kept the voice of Mel Allen at the end of the show for a few years. Premiere was syndicating the old AT40 shows, so it's probably up to them.
 
Ryan Seacrest, who replaced Casey as host of American Top 40 in 2004, had this to say: "It's a sad day for the broadcasting community and for radio listeners around the world. When I was a kid [Seacrest is 39], I would listen to Casey Kasem's AT40 show every weekend and dream about someday becoming a radio DJ, so when decades later I took over his AT40 countdown show, it was a surreal moment. Casey had a distinctive friendly on-air voice and he was just as affable and nice if you had the privilege to be in his company. He'll be greatly missed."
 
For years I used to listen to Casey Kasem while playing solitaire; this was in the '70s and '80s. I always enjoyed the trivia and anecdotes he would include with every song; he was part of the reason why I have a reputation for being a rock encyclopedia among family and friends.
 
Related links:

1. Dick Clark presents Rewind with Gary Bryan info page: http://www.unitedstations.com/shows/?mode=All&Program=218
The latest info I could find says that the show airs on KRTH on Saturday mornings from 6am-9am.
I have heard the show on K-Earth on the weekends...I'll just have to listen more carefully to see what time it actually airs.

2. K-Earth 101 Casey Kasem tribute page: http://kearth101.cbslocal.com/tag/casey-kasem-rip/

3. Classic American Top 40 shows continuously on iHeart radio: http://www.iheart.com/live/Classic-American-Top-40-6545/

Direct streaming URL to copy/paste (only!) into media players:

http://at70-fl.akacast.akamaistream.net/7/763/234624/v1/auth.akacast.akamaistream.net/at70-fl

The station ID that appears during this ad-free stream is that of KPEZ-HD2 Austin (Texas at 102.3 HD2) which is normally formatted as Classic Rock.
 
The LDD actually started 2 months before AT40 went to a 4 hour show..also Casey was hired to be the original voice of the TV show "SOAP" but dropped out after doing the unaired pilot due to the "adult themes" the show covered. Rod Roddy was then brought in to do the announcing.
 
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