From countdown king to Scooby- Doo, Kasem was a gentle voice for millions
LOS ANGELES — Casey Kasem, the internationally famous radio broadcaster with the cheerful manner and gentle voice who became the king of the top- 40 countdown with a syndicated show that ran for decades, died Sunday. He was 82.
Danny Deraney, publicist for Kasem’s daughter, Kerri, said Kasem died Sunday morning.
Kasem’s American Top 40 began on July 4, 1970, in Los Angeles. The No. 1 song on his list then was Mama Told Me Not to Come, by Three Dog Night.
The show continued in varying forms — and for varying syndicators — until his retirement in 2009. In his sign- off, he told viewers: “And don’t forget: keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.”
In recent years, Kasem was trapped in a feud between his three adult children and his second wife, former actress Jean Kasem. In 2013, his children filed a legal petition to gain control of his health care, alleging that Kasem was suffering from advanced Parkinson’s disease and that his wife was isolating him from friends and family members. Kasem also suffered from Lewy Body Disease, a form of dementia.
A judge in May temporarily stripped his wife of her caretaker role after she moved him from a medical facility in Los Angeles to a friend’s home in Washington state. Jean Kasem said she moved her husband to protect his privacy and to consult with doctors. Casey Kasem developed a severe bedsore while in Washington and was in critical condition by the time he was hospitalized in early June.
It was a sad, startling end for a man whose voice had entertained and informed music lovers worldwide.
After its 1970 debut, Kasem’s American Top 40 expanded to hundreds of stations, including Armed Forces Radio, and continued in varying forms — and for varying syndicators — into the 21st century. He stepped down from American Top 40 in 2004 and retired altogether in 2009, completing his musical journey with Shinedown’s Second Chance.
While many DJs convulsed their listeners with stunts and “morning zoo” snarkiness, Kasem would read “long distance dedications” of songs sent in by readers and introduce countdown records with sympathetic background anecdotes about the singers.
“The idea from the beginning was to do the type of thing on radio that Ed Sullivan did on television, good, honest stories with human interest,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 1975.
Kasem’s legacy reached well beyond music. His voice was heard in TV cartoons such as Scooby- Doo ( he was Shaggy) and in numerous commercials.
“They are going to be playing Shaggy and Scooby- Doo for eons and eons,” Kasem told The New York Times in 2004. “And they’re going to forget Casey Kasem — unless they happen to step on his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I’ll be one of those guys people say ‘ Who’s that?’ about. And someone else will say, ‘ He’s just some guy who used to be on the radio.’ ”