Casey Kasem – My Thoughts On A Radio Icon

I don't remember the first time I tuned into Casey Kasem on his American Top 40 show, but I think it was from the beginning back in 1970.
I was in high school at the time, Top 40 Radio was our avenue for music, and the concept of a weekly Top 40 countdown was really cool.

Every Saturday (that's the day it aired in the Corning area, where I grew up) we would tune in and listen intently to the countdown, full of artist and song trivia, long distance dedications (many were very touching) and of course, to find out what song would be number one that week.

One of my first jobs was working at a full service car wash and we were allowed to listen to the radio while we worked.
So  of course, every Saturday morning, we listening to the entire 4 hour American Top 40 show with Casey Kasem.
We worked our tails off at that job, and listening to the show, made our work a bit more fun.

I'm not exactly sure listening to Casey gave me the idea to become a DJ, but I like to think he did have an influence on me to do just that.
The thought of playing records and talking into a microphone to thousands of people, seemed like a fun thing to do.
It was in 1972 that I joined a class to learn about Radio, and I haven't looked back since.

One of the first things I was assigned to do as a new part-time DJ at WCBA in Corning, NY, was to air the weekly American Top 40 with Casey Kasem.
That was a thrill.
The show came on 4 albums, with each side containing 30 minutes of the show.
I had to make sure I played them in order (each side was numbered to make it easy), otherwise that would have been disaster, and the studio phones would be lighting up with angry listeners, including my boss!

Each time I moved on to another Top 40 radio station, I made sure we aired American Top 40.
The station wasn't complete without that weekend show.

It's hard to believe that it was 44 years ago, we first heard of Casey Kasem.
A radio legend...we will miss you Casey.