“Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.”
Casey Kasem, the KING OF COUNTDOWN and an American staple. Mr. Kasem’s life was DEVOTED to MUSIC. Keep the Sound of Life moving in heaven, Casey.
Kemal Amin “Casey” Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American musician, disc jockey, radio personality and actor, best known for being the host of the music radio programs American Top 40, American Top 20 and American Top 10 from 1970 until his retirement in 2009, and for providing the voice of Norville “Shaggy” Rogers in the Scooby-Doo franchise from 1969 to 1997, and again from 2002 until 2009.
Kasem founded the American Top 40 franchise in 1970, along with Don Bustany, Tom Rounds and Ron Jacobs, and hosted it from 1970 to 1988 and from 1998 to 2004. Between January 1989 and early 1998, he was the host of Casey’s Top 40, Casey’s Hot 20, and Casey’s Countdown. Also beginning in 1998, Kasem hosted two adult contemporary spin-offs of American Top 40, American Top 20, and American Top 10. Kasem retired from AT20 and AT10 on July 4, 2009 and both shows ended on that day.
In addition to his radio shows, Kasem provided the voice of many commercials; had done many voices for Sesame Street; provided the character voice of Peter Cottontail in the Rankin/Bass production of Here Comes Peter Cottontail; was the voice of NBC; helped out with the annual Jerry Lewis telethon; and provided the cartoon voices of Robin in Super Friends, Mark on Battle of the Planets, and a number of characters for the Transformers cartoon series of the 1980s. In 2008, he was the voice of Out of Sight Retro Night which aired on WGN America, but was replaced by rival Rick Dees. After 40 years, Kasem retired from his role of voicing Shaggy in 2009, although he did voice Shaggy’s father in the 2010 TV series, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.
Casey Kasem – The Last Show July 5th 2009
Some of my favorites music from the 70s & 80s
Career-1950s–1960s
Kasem, whose professional radio career started in the mid-1950s in Flint, Michigan, was drafted into the US Army in 1952 and sent to Korea, where he was a DJ / announcer on the Armed Forces Radio Korea Network. He developed his rock-trivia persona from his work as a disc jockey in the early 1960s at KYA in San Francisco, California, and KEWB in Oakland, California. He also worked for several other stations across the country, including WJW (now WKNR) in Cleveland, Ohio; WBNY (now WWWS) in Buffalo, New York; and KRLA 1110 in Los Angeles, California (1963–69), before launching the national show American Top 40 on July 4, 1970. Kasem also starred in several low-budget movies in the 1960s.
In 1967 he played the role of “Mouth” in the motorcycle gang film precursor to Easy Rider, The Glory Stompers which also starred Dennis Hopper and two scions of Hollywood royalty Jody McCrea (son of Joel McCrea) and Lindsay Crosby (son of Bing Crosby), along with Chris Noel and Jock Mahoney. In 1969 he played the role of “Knife” in the “surfers vs. bikers” film Wild Wheels, plus he had a small role in another biker movie, The Cycle Savages, starring Bruce Dern and Melody Patterson, best known for her role as “Wrangler Jane” in the fondly remembered comedy series F-Troop.
1970s–1980s
Kasem is best known as a music historian and disc jockey, most notably as host of the weekly American Top 40 radio program from July 4, 1970 through 1988, and again from March 1998 until January 10, 2004, when Ryan Seacrest succeeded him. During Kasem’s original run (1970–88), his show featured certain songs in addition to the countdown, such as a “long distance dedication” from one listener to another; or, the song of a “spotlight artist.” On the July 4 weekend of each year, the show’s anniversary, Kasem often featured a special countdown of particular songs from a certain era, genre or artist.
The Moody Blues were the only artist to appear in both Kasem’s first countdown on July 4, 1970, and his last on August 6, 1988. Michael Jackson appeared in both countdowns, but as part of The Jackson Five in 1970 and as a solo artist in 1988.[citation needed] Kasem hosted the spin-off television series America’s Top 10 for most of the 1980s. For a period in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Kasem was the staff announcer for the NBC television network. More recently, he has appeared in infomercials, marketing CD music compilations. Kasem received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 27, 1981 (his 49th birthday) and was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1992.
When he was hosting American Top 40, Kasem would often include trivia facts about songs he played and artists whose work he showcased. Frequently, he would mention a trivia fact about an unnamed singer before a commercial break, then provide the name of the singer after returning from the break. This technique, called a tease, later also made its way into America’s Top 10, where viewers would submit trivia questions for him to answer.
In 1971, he provided the character voice of Peter Cottontail in the Rankin/Bass production of Here Comes Peter Cottontail opposite Vincent Price providing the voice of the villainous Iron Tail. Kasem would end both his radio and television broadcasts with his signature sign-off, “Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.
In 1972, Kasem appeared in the low-budget film The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant, which also starred Bruce Dern. In 1984, Kasem made a cameo in Ghostbusters, reprising his role as the host of American Top 40.
1990s
From January 1989 to March 1998, when Kasem was not at the helm of AT40, he was host of Casey’s Top 40, Casey’s Hot 20, and Casey’s Countdown, syndicated by the Westwood One Radio Networks. He was also the host of the short-lived American version of 100% during the 1998–9 season, and would close each episode by inviting viewers to join him that weekend on AT40, to which Kasem had just returned.
2000s
In August 2006, XM Satellite Radio, now merged with Sirius Satellite Radio, began airing newly restored versions of the original American Top 40 radio show from the 1970s and 1980s. Premiere Radio Networks also started airing reruns of AT40, dating from 1970 to 1988, in January 2007.
On January 3, 2004, Kasem gave up hosting duties of American Top 40, with Ryan Seacrest becoming the new host. Kasem signed a new contract that continued his two American Top 20 shows.[citation needed] That March one of them, the adult contemporary version, became American Top 10.[citation needed] At the end of the year, Kasem recorded several holiday-themed programs to air on stations that flip to “all-Christmas” for the holidays.
In April 2005, the television special American Top 40 Live aired on the Fox network, hosted by Seacrest, with Kasem appearing on the show.
In November 2007, Kasem’s son Mike became his regular and final substitute host for American Top 20 and American Top 10.[citation needed] In June 2009, Premiere Radio Networks announced it would cease production of the two shows after the Fourth of July holiday,[citation needed] ending Kasem’s 39-year run in the radio countdown business. He has since avoided the spotlight, but briefly appeared on his daughter Kerri’s podcast in late 2009. As of 2014, reruns of 1970s and 1980s shows play on a number of U.S. station
Early this Father’s Day morning, our dad Casey Kasem passed away surrounded by family and friends. Even though we know he is in a better place and no longer suffering, we are heartbroken. Thank you for all your love, support and prayers. The world will miss Casey Kasem, an incredible talent and humanitarian; we will miss our Dad
Please feel free to drop photos, videos, words in tribute to the COUNTDOWN KING.
Reblogged this on Home Sweet Home WY and commented:
Casey Kasem Tribute
Thank You 3ChicsPolitico
Great photo!
Casey with daughter Kerri Kasem
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=740155309356778&set=a.243205632385084.54389.142845292421119&type=1
Aww….so dear.
Thank you for this tribute.
Mr. Kasem loved music. You could hear it in his voice. He respected those who created music.
“Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.”
Want some whiskey in your water? Sugar in your tea?
What’s all these crazy questions they’re askin’ me?
Open up the window, and let some air into this room
I think I’m almost choking on this cheap perfume.
Open up the window, let me catch my breath.
The radio is blastin’, someone’s knockin’ at the door
I’m lookin’ at my girlfriend – she’s passed out on the floor
I seen so many things I ain’t never seen before
Don’t know what it is – I don’t wanna see no more
Mama told me not come…
lol
LOL Ah, the music of the 60s, 70s & 80s still my favs.
Mine, too, SG2!….esp. 60’s and 70’s.
FULLL SCRIPT HERE
I Want My Son to be Proud
Casey Kasem
When he was 12, my son, Mike, walked into our living room and said to me, “Dad, I hate Arabs.”
I was shocked. My parents’ background is Lebanese. I thought I’d taught Mike to be proud of his Arab heritage. Of course, like most kids born here, he thought of himself as American, period.
I asked why he hated Arabs. Mike said it was because of what he saw in films and on TV.
As a student at Detroit’s Wayne State University, I’d learned how media stereotypes can create public attitudes. But that lesson only hit me emotionally when I saw how it had affected my son’s self-image. I became more aware of how traditional Arab stereotypes get full play: from Rudolph Valentino’s 1921 portrayal of The Sheik (with its memorable line, “When an Arab sees a woman he wants, he takes her”); to bad Arabs with big swords pursuing everyone across the desert, from The Three Stooges and Hope & Crosby to Beatty & Hoffman; all the way to recent films, where Arabs appear only as terrorists. At the same time, the positive contributions of Arabs throughout history — and of the Arab-American community — are skipped over as if they didn’t exist.
That imbalance creates racism.
Americans with Arab heritage who have contributed to our nation include innovators in science and medicine like Dr. Michael DeBakey, the pioneer heart surgeon, and Prof. Elias Corey, winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize for chemistry; entertainers like Paula Abdul and Paul Anka; political figures like John Sununu, President Bush’s former chief of staff, George Mitchell, the Senate Majority Leader, and Donna Shalala, President Clinton’s Secretary of Health and Human Services; and sports figures like Doug Flutie, the 1984 Heisman Trophy winner, and Rony Seikaly, the pro basketball star.
Recently, I asked prominent Americans of Arab descent how they had dealt with racism.
http://www.alhewar.com/CaseyKasem.htm
Casey was very passionate, and sounds like he did not suffer FOOLS.
He was actually being considerate of the sad dog story. He was upset that “upbeat” music was played just before he had to tell about a death.
It drives me nuts when a death is reported on TV, and then the newscaster all chatty and happy goes into the next story.
Exactly, Yahtc. His respect for the dying was clearly evident here, It showed his love and respect for all life. I’m sure the folks responsible for the screw ups didn’t hang round in his circle for long.
You are right, Ametia.
Amazing how he was able to correct course, after being so uplifted by the music, though. It had to be challenging to go from 10 to 0 in ZERO seconds!
Thank you, Casey!
Wonderful tribute, Ametia! Casey Kasem was the bestest!
Casey’s voice in music was undeniable.
I really liked him. He always seemed so kind.
Indeed, vitaminlover. I’m not interested in the family drama surrounding his death.
Same here.
I liked him a lot, too, vitaminlover!
I used to listen to him on KRLA out of Pasadena in the 60’s.
He introduced the Beatles at the 1964 Hollywood Bowl concert I attended. The next day he broadcast the show from the night before with lots of commentary as I recall.
You can hear him introduce the Beatles on this recording. Hehee….I was screaming too :)
LOL I remember the first time my sibs and I sat down and watched The Ed Sullivan show when he introduced the Beatles. Casey was an American TREASURE, introducing us to music we might never have heard.
Wow…I remember that Ed Sullivan show!
Now, looking back…I realize that summer of ’64 was Mississippi Freedom Summer….Bob Moses…Fannie Lou Hammer…rejection of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party at the Dem. Nat’l Convention in August………..
Then Vietnam, assassination of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, marches of Cesar Chavez with boycotts, Kent State…..