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Casey Kasem

From Steve G – Mr. Pop – It’s finally happened – Casey Kasem will no longer count down current hits. I’ve checked your site – and you give lots of information concerning Casey and radio. Thank you.

Mr. Pop History – Yes – all great things must come to an end. Casey invented the national hit countdown show – make no mistake. He also perfected it – no one was better. So many others imitated Casey. During the early 1980’s – when Hit radio was making a comeback – all of a sudden – Casey had all kinds of competition – Mark Eliot, John Lander, John Leader, Scott Shannon, Rick Dees, Dan Ingram – and several others. It was incredible. They were all doing their version of Casey Kasem. “American Top 40” goes down in pop history as the best of its kind. Like Johnny Carson of the talk-TV genre – you can’t touch it.

AT-40 began in July of 1970 with only seven stations and grew to 1,000-plus. No one made money in the beginning. Not Casey or his producers.  It took guts. “American Top 40” began on a cash basis – which means syndicater “Watermark” had to generate invoices and get paid. It was a big pain in the you-know-what. Finally during the early 1980’s – the show began selling national advertising and went, what we call “barter.” That was the model everyone else  -  all the imitators -  followed. Casey did it all.  All other shows were judged against AT-40. 

Here’s the thing. Casey was the most natural at being pre-recorded. The other guys – it seemed – sounded like they were trying to overcome it. Rick Dees to me – always sounded different on his national show. His local KIIS-FM morning program always sounded more “natural.” In fact – Casey Kasem was just the opposite. As a live DJ in Los Angeles – he sounded – OK, but on tape and national – he was so much better… the best.