He's the man who I have always revered as my radio idol, the man I was a poor imitation of when working for DiscJockey.Com, and the man I had always hoped would pass his job to me when he retired...
The one and only Casey Kasem, 77, retired this past weekend, on the date he first hosted the original show, from the spin-off programs,"American Top 20" and "American Top 10," . The original American Top 40, hosted by Ryan Seacrest since 2004, debuted on July 4 1970. Kasem hosted American Top 40 until 1988 when ABC Watermark acquired AT40. He left to host his own show, Casey's Top 40 and was replaced by Shadoe Stevens until the show's demise in the early 1990s. He returned in 1998 to host a revived version. He left as host of AT40 for the AC spinoffs in 2003 when Premiere Radio Networks named Ryan Seacrest as the new host. Kasem continued as host of American Top 20, a Hot AC/AC countdown. In 2005, Kasem was awarded with the Clear Channel Radio Lifetime Achievement Award.
In a statement released quietly two weeks ago, Kasem said, "Hosting various versions of my countdown program has kept me extremely busy, and I loved every minute of it. However, this decision will free up time I need to focus on myriad other projects."
There have been many imitators over the years, and many so-called successors to the crown. Yes, some of those hosts have been good at the job - Dick Clark, Wink Martendale, Rick Dees, Leeza Gibbons, Shadoe Stevens, and yes, even Ryan Seacrest - but there was - and IS - only ONE Casey. He is an ICON of the biggest kind, and Casey leaving the airwaves is tantamount to Carson leaving the Tonight Show in 1992. It's never gonna be the same.
Casey - thank you for 40 great years of entertainment - you will always be remembered in my book as the absolute BEST of the BEST...and what people should strive to be when working in radio....
