Casey Kasem

He was the voice of Shaggy in Scooby Doo.

Every Saturday, I would listen to his show while lolling around in my shag-carpeted bedroom. Kasem made the pop-hits lineup seem so consequential and exciting. When I listened to his background narratives about the songs and bands (the quirky anecdotes behind the music), I felt like the world was opening up in front of me.

I would sit on my bed with a typewriter on my lap, typing my list of that week’s Top 40 as he announced them, song by song.

I was - and am - nuts.

I remember the sappy song dedications for dead pets or lovers.

Do any radio stations do song dedications anymore?

[quotes]I remember the sappy song dedications for dead pets or lovers.

Dana Carvey was perfection. Musicians for Free Range Chickens

His wife Jean was terrific on Cheers as Nick Tortelli’s wife Loretta.

Didn’t the family have a feud about his body when he died and his casket drifted around for months while they tried to iron out the situation?

R3: You have my utmost respect. I would write down the week's Top 5 on line paper and keep it in a notebook. I used to think I was the only one who did this.

Checking in to say I wrote them down too. It was exciting when he'd get to the top 5. The dramatic music and drum roll announcing number one was epic and satisfying. Simpler times that's for sure.

He would relay each week’s Top Forty hits over the air, while in the nude!

I never heard of Casey Kasem until I was an adult. In New York, 77-WABC AM released its top 20 every Tuesday at 2:00 PM on the Dan Ingram Show. I wrote down every song and its position starting at 2:30 (on the bus when school got out), and continuing through the evening with Scott Muni at 7:00 and Cousin Brucie Morrow at 10:00.

At the time, I thought the entire country got their news and music from WABC. New Yorkers can be so self-important.

When i was in 5th, 6th, and 7th grade, a friend and I would spend the new year listening to Casey Kasem count down the top 100 hits of the year on his nationwide show. This would have been 1977-9.

AMERICAN... TOP FORTY

Listened in tbe car in the 1980s. Saturdays on the way to the country house.

I never listened to him. I was hooked on WBCN in Boston from the late sixties through the early eighties..

Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.

R14 was that the station with David Brod-something?

Thank you r15 could not remember!

Why Top 40? That’s a weird number

I remember when he played Diana Ross’ Pieces of Ice at #38. The next week, Kasem said there was a mistake and that song actually was #41

R7, the whole situation was a mess. When Casey was bedridden with Lewy body dementia, his wife Jean kept him away from family and friends. His children filed conservatorship over his care, but Jean had him spirited away to god knows where. When he finally died, daughter Kerri got a temporary restraining order to prevent Jean from cremating the body, but Jean had his body shipped to Norway.

[quote]Why Top 40? That’s a weird number

I have no idea, but I'll give it a shot. Most pop songs were about three minutes long. Playing 10 three-minute songs takes 30 minutes. The rest of the hour goes to the DJ, commercials, and news. That would fit into a four-hour time slot. Kasem's show was four hours.

The horror of the drum roll as he'd rapturously announce yet another record-breaking week at #1 for You Light Up My Life....

He was an ace in the German Luftwaffe in WWII, but was captured and sent to America, and built hid fortune there.

^^^ his

Bland, sterile, robotic personality. But later I learned that he was quite liberal and his blonde-bimbo-looking wife was very intelligent.

He and my dad were good friends for years. They worked together in the 1960s. He really hustled - I mean hustled in the best way. He really wanted to be an actor. In the 60s & 70s he was too ethnic. He used to make appearances as “Columbo” he wore the rumpled raincoat and did the whole Peter Falk impression. My dad and Casey drifted a bit when he married second wife Jean. Jean didn’t like my dad - but in hindsight I think she kept Casey at arms length from a lot of his old buddies. …. He was a really good man. My dad passed away almost 20 yrs before Casey. I was so surprised that Casey had such a crummy ending.

Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.

I always thought that was a dichotomy.

People.