Casey Kasem

At 82 years old, Casey Kasem has this physical status:

Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American DJ, music scholar, radio presenter, and actor.

He was the host of numerous music radio countdown shows, including American Top 40 from 1970 to 2009, many of whom were not able to retire in 2009.

He also appeared in the Scooby-Doo franchise from 1969 to 1997, and then from 2002 to 2009. Kasem co-founded the American Top 40 franchise in 1970, serving it from its inception to 1988, and then from 1998 to 2004.

He appeared on Casey's Top 40, Casey's Hot 20 and Casey's Countdown from January 1989 to early 1998.

Kasem has hosted two adult spinoffs of American Top 40: American Top 20 and American Top 10 from 1998 to 2009.

He founded the American Video Awards in 1983 and continued to co-produce and host until the end of 1987. Kasem performed numerous commercial voiceovers, appeared on children's television (such as Sesame Street and the Transformers cartoon series), and was "the voice of NBC" as well as the annual Jerry Lewis telethon.

Early life

Kasem was born in Detroit, Michigan, on April 27, 1932, to Lebanese Druze immigrants, Helen and Amin Kasem, who were grocers. He was named after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a man Kasem said respected his father. Parents in Kasem refused to allow their children to speak Arabic and instead recommended that they immigrate into American life.

According to reports, "Make Believe Ballroom" in the 1940s inspired Kasem to pursue a career in radio. At Northwestern High School in Detroit, Kasem had his first experience in radio broadcasting sports. He then attended Wayne State University, where he starred on radio shows such as The Lone Ranger and Challenge of the Yukon. Kasem was drafted into the United States Army and sent to Korea in 1952. On the Armed Forces Radio Korea Network, he served as a DJ/announcer.

Personal life

Kasem was a devoted vegan who advocated animal rights and environmental causes and was a critic of factory farming. When asked to be Shaggy in a Burger King commercial, he refused to voice Shaggy, but he returned in 2002 after deciding to have Shaggy become a vegetarian.

Kasem was active in politics, promoting Lebanese-American and Arab-American causes, which was sparked by Israel's 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. "Arab-Americans: Making a Difference," he wrote for an Arab American Institute brochure. In Disney's 1994 sequel to Aladdin, he called for a fairer portrayal of heroes and villains in favor of both faiths. The American Druze Society named him "Man of the Year" in 1996. Kasem protested the Gulf War, pledging non-military means of pressuring Saddam Hussein to withdraw from Kuwait and organizing conflict-resolution workshops for Arab Americans and Jewish Americans.

Kasem, a political liberal, narrated a campaign ad for George McGovern's 1972 presidential bid, hosted fundraisers for Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign in 1984 and 1988, praised Ralph Nader for US president in 2000 and 2008, and praised progressive Democrat Dennis Kucinich in his 2004 and 2008 presidential campaigns. Kasem also endorses a variety of other social causes, including affordable housing and the rights of the homeless.

Kasem was married to Linda Myers from 1972 to 1979. Mike, Julie, and Kerri Kasem were three children at the time: Mike, Julie, and Kerri Kasem.

Kasem was married to actress Jean Thompson from 1980 to his death. Liberty Jean Kasem was their one child.

Kasem bought a house built in 1954 and located at 138 North Mapleton Drive in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, that was previously owned by developer Abraham M. Lurie, as a birthday gift for his wife, Jean, in 1989. Kasem and his wife put the house up for auction in 2013 for $43 million. The property was re-listed in 2021 for US$37.9 million following the termination of the dueling cases involving Kasem family members.

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Career

Kasem started his radio broadcasting career in Flint, Michigan, then spent time with WJB and WJBK in Detroit, Michigan, and then appeared on "Krogo the Clown": 1318, but he left broadcasting to help with the family's grocery store, 201 in Fenton, Michigan. Kasem unsuccessfully auditioned for a part in the off-Broadway production Ivan Of, but losing to Ed Asner. 201–202: Kasem's return to Detroit, Kasem re-applied at WJBK, but the team was quickly referred to co-owned WJW, which not only had a late-evening slot open but also a hosting role for Cleveland Bandstand over WJW-TV. 202 Cleveland's rising fame as a well-known music epicenter attracted Kasem, having been aware of WERE's Bill Randle dating back to when Randle worked in Detroit. Kasem has referred to him as "Casey at the Mike": 1318, owing to numerous misspellings of his name in both contemporary news accounts and station promos.

Kasem's time in Cleveland was short but fruitful, with the aim of attacking Top 40 stations WHK and KYW "with a vengeance." Kasem came in second place in ratings polls on weeknights, 202 and number one on Saturday nights, with two others ranking second and number one. Pete "Mad Daddy" Myers, Kasem's predecessor, was partially inspired by his on-air presentation: 1318, but Kasem felt obliged to produce a unique on-air personality to distinguish himself. In a "high-energy rock" style, the first three hours of his evening show remained dedicated to R&B recordings, while the fourth hour was more laidback with his news reader as a co-host. Kasem's R&B picks and "wild-tracking" distinguished himself from WJW's daytime pop-oriented fare, which often featured Perry Como and The McGuire Sisters as central performers.

: 202

Kasem's songs were categorized as "the night," according to a descriptor of random words or names. Alan Freed's career was tense after Kasem joined WJW; Kasem's "Payola Tune of the Night" was launched as a WJW comedy piece, which was intended to discourage listeners from knowing he was under scrutiny as well; In the end, Kasem's career was not affected by the payola scandal. On September 14, 1959, Kasem and Diana Trask became a "world record" distinction, with his news reader describing the kiss on-air. Kasem began to take pep pills to lose weight; one day he forgot them while en route to the station, and the resulting pang of conscience after recovering them from his apartment caused him to abandon the habit completely.

After WJW changed to beautiful music, which Kasem attributed specifically to the payola scandal, he left WJW for Buffalo's WBNY: 1318, but stayed in touch with friends in the Cleveland area. The general manager of KYA in San Francisco suggested that instead of talking about the music, he tone down his delivery and focus on the records. Kasem played both the music director and an on-air host at KEWB in Oakland, California. He was inspired by a Who's Who in Pop Music, 1962 magazine, which he discovered in the garbage. He arranged a show that mixed biographical details about the artists he performed and attracted Bill Gavin, who wanted to recruit him as a partner. Kasem's career began to flourish after he joined KRLA in Los Angeles in 1963, championing the R&B music of East Los Angeles.

Kasem appeared in several low-budget films and radio dramas. When hosting "dance hops" on local television, Dick Clark attracted the attention of Dick Clark, who was hired as co-co-host of a daily teenage music show called Shebang, which began in 1964. Hawaii Five-O and Ironside were among Kasem's appearances on a network television series. He appeared on The Dating Game in 1967 and appeared in "Mouth" in the motorcycle gang film The Glory Stompers. He appeared in Knife in the film Wild Wheels in 1969, and in another biker film, The Cycle Savages, starring Bruce Dern and Melody Patterson, The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (also with Dern).

Kasem's voice was the key to his success throughout his career. Kasem released "Letter from Elaina," a spoken-word recording that told the tale of a girl who met George Harrison after a San Francisco Beatles concert in 1964. He began acting as a voice actor in the 1960s. Where Are You, Shaggy's voice, he began in 1969 as one of his most well-known roles, as Shaggy's voice on Scooby-Doo. Groove of The Cattanooga Cats appeared on his own this year.

Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds, and Ron Jacobs formed the American Top 40, a weekly radio show on July 4, 1970. Top 40 radio was on the decline at the time, as DJs preferred to perform album-oriented progressive rock. The show count decreased from No. 5 to No. 101, which was based on the TV show Your Hit Parade. From 40 to No. 1 is based on the Billboard Hot 100 weekly chart. Kasem mixed in biographical and trivia about the singers, as well as flashbacks and "Long-Distance Dedication" segments in which he read letters from listeners wishing to dedicate songs to distant relatives. He used a trivia fact about an unidentified celebrity before a commercial break, then gave the name of the artist after recovering from the break. "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars," Kasem ended the show with his signature sign-off.

The show premiered on seven television stations before expanding nationally. The show soared from three hours to four in October 1978. The success of the American Top 40 also inspired many imitators, including a weekly half-hour music television show, and America's Top 10, hosted by Kasem himself. "I expected we'd be on TV for at least 20 years," he later remarked. "I knew the procedure worked." "I knew people tuned in to find out what the number one record was," the singer explained. Kasem became well-known for his music commentaries, so he interspersed with trivia about the performers.

In the Rankin/Bass production of Here Comes Peter Cottontail, Kasem provided the character voice of Peter Cottontail in 1971. He appeared in The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant in the same year as his best-recalled acting role. Kasem voiced Robin for several Super Friends franchise shows from 1973 to 1985. In 1980, he performed Merry in Return of the King. Alexander Cabot III appeared on Josie and the Pussycats, Josie, and the Pussycats in Outer Space, as well as providing a variety of voices for Sesame Street.

In the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries two-part series "The Mystery of the Hollywood Phantom," Kasem portrayed an actor who imitated Columbo. In a Charlie's Angels episode titled "Winning is for Losers," he portrayed a golf commentator and appeared on Police Story in Quincy, M.E. Switch and Go. Kasem was hired as the narrator of ABC's Soap in 1977, but he resigned after the pilot episode due to the show's tumultuous content. Rod Roddy was given his first assignment to the program. Kasem made a cameo in Ghostbusters in 1984, reserving his role as the host of American Top 40. He served as the NBC television network's staff announcer for a period in the late 1970s.

Kasem helped establish the American Video Awards, an annual music video awards show taped for broadcast on television, which he also hosted and co-produced in 1983. His aim was to make it the "Oscars" of music videos. There were just five show winners. In 1987, the last show on television premiered.

Kasem was voted out of the Top 40 in 1988 by an American Broadcasting Corporation due to a labor dispute with ABC Radio Network. He began Casey's Top 40 after he started his five-year, $15 million deal with Westwood One and introduced the Radio & Records Contemporary (CHR)/Pop radio playplay chart, which was also used contemporaneously by Rick Dees Weekly Top 40). Casey's Hot 20 and Casey's Countdown were two shorter versions of the program. Kasem hosted the Radio Hall of Fame induction ceremony in the late 1990s.

Mark Kasem appeared in Battle of the Planets and several Transformers characters including Bluestreak, Cliffjumper, Teletraan I, and Dr. Arkeville. He left Transformers during the third season because he felt the show contained insulting caricatures of Arabs and Arab countries.

In a 1990 article, he explained:

Kasem hosted Nick at Nite's New Year's Eve countdown of the year's top reruns. In the early 1990s, he appeared on Saved by the Bell and ALF. Kasem resigned as Shaggy in 1997, after Billy West and Scott Innes took over the role in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

After Kasem's departure, the original American Top 40, hosted by Shadoe Stevens, was postponed in 1995. Kasem regained the rights to the name in 1997, and the show on the AMFM Network was revived in 1998 (later purchased by Premiere Radio Networks).

Kasem said he would leave AT40 after his deal came to an end and Ryan Seacrest would take over. In the interim, he decided to join his weekly adult contemporary countdown shows, which were both branded American Top 20. Kasem resigned from Premiere Radio Networks in 2005 to continue hosting his shows, one of which had been cut to ten songs and renamed American Top 10 to reflect the transition.

On the Fox network, hosted by Seacrest, a television special called American Top 40 Live aired in April 2005, with Kasem appearing on the program. Kasem performed the voice over for WGN America's Out of Sight Retro Night in 2008. During the 1998-99 season, he was also the host of the short-lived American version of 100%.

Premiere Kasem's two remaining countdowns will no longer be produced in June 2009, an eleven-year partnership. By this time, Kasem has decided against finding another syndicator or replacement host, citing a desire to try new avenues, such as writing a memoir. On the 39th anniversary of the first countdown show, he released a press release announcing that he would step down from radio on July 4th.

Kasem has also worked in more than 100 commercials throughout his career, appearing in more than 100 commercials.

Kasem returned to Shaggy in 2002, deciding to continue on the condition that his character return to vegetarianism (based on his personal lifestyle). He retired from voice acting in 2009, with his last appearance being Shaggy's voice in Scooby-Doo! The Samurai Sword and the Samurai Sword. He did do a voice for "The Official BBC Children in Need Medley" again, but the request was turned down by his request. Despite officially retired from acting, Kasem performed Colton Rogers, Shaggy's father, on a recurring basis in the 2010–2013 series Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated was once more uncredited at his request.

"It's a natural quality of huskiness in my midrange that I call 'garbage,'" he said to The New York Times. "It's not a loud-toned announcer's voice," the announcer claims. It's more like the voice of the guy next door."

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