Mr Nice GuyCasey Kasem & The American Top 40
April 15th 2011 00:27
As a teenager growing up in Australia, I remember I would put aside Sunday nights for the sole purpose of listening to the dulcet tones of Kasem and tune in to hear what was no doubt heading to our shores in the way of the next big set of chart toppers.
The show was featured on more than 1,000 radio stations in 50 countries around the world as well as Armed Forces Radio and the Voice of America. American Top 40 spawned a television spin-off, America's Top 10, that ran from 1980 through 1990 and featured Casey Kasem counting down the week's top 10 hits and playing music videos.
Kasem was not only well-known for his radio work, but also as a voice-over actor having taken on the voice of Shaggy in Scooby-Doo show plus roles in The Adventures of Batman and Josie and the Pussycats.
Casey Kasem was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1992 and the National Broadcaster's Hall of Fame in 1995 and presented the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) Presidential Award for Sustained Executive Achievement in 2001.
In 2004 Casey Kasem retired from hosting American Top 40 and on the 4th of July weekend in 2009 announced to his listeners that the countdowns of that weekend would be his last.
Until recently I preferred to simply delight in the theatre of the mind - never once really wanting to dispell the myth in my own mind by knowing what Casey even looked like - but curiousity and my own need to do a research project finally spelt the need.
So enjoy what was my first sighting (albeit a old interview) of Casey as he speaks to the members of KISS.
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