When did Casey Kasem officially retire from his radio hosting duties?
Casey Kasem, 77, is calling it quits for hosting the “American Top 20” countdown program that airs on radios across the country every weekend. He announced his retirement and did his final broadcast on July 4th, which would make it a total of 39 years since he founded the “Top 40 Countdown” on the same day back in 1970. There was a time from 1988 through 1998 that ABC Watermark took over the “Top 40” program. In 1998, Kasem came back on the “Top 40 countdown” to host a newer version of the show. In 2003, Kasem turned over the Top 40 countdown over to Ryan Seacrest when Premiere Radio Networks took over. Kasem was then given the job hosting the “American Top 20” countdown show. Kasem has received the Clear Channel Radio Lifetime Achievement Award. Kasem released a statement saying “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.” Kasem pioneered
Casey Kasem officially retires at the age of 77 this weekend. Been listening to him for a long time, don’t want to say I’m a huge fan of his, but I did like listening to him. Not sure if any of you are old enough to remember that he did the voice for Shaggy in Scooby Doo cartoons in the lates 60’s to the early 70’s. Haven’t listened to Casey for over 20 years, but I still to this day can hear his voice in my minds ear. He is an icon of icons in the music broadcasting world. He’s up there with Wolfman Jack and Dick Clark. Casey is an institution for what he does/did with the Top 40. He really made that thing work and was so visible with it for quite a while. I haven’t heard him in a long time, either, but he’ll always be the top 40 guy to me. The guy definitely had a unique voice for sure. I always liked watching Dana Carvey on Saturday Night Live do a impression of him. Can’t believe he’s 77, but that just proves what kind of legend he is too. Sources:
