Casey Kasem
Casey Kasem
Kemal Amen "Casey" Kasemwas an American disc jockey, music historian, radio personality, voice actor, and actor, known for being the host of several music radio countdown programs, most notably American Top 40, from 1970 until his retirement in 2009, and for providing the voice of "Shaggy" Rogers in the Scooby-Doo franchise from 1969 to 1997, and again from 2002 until 2009...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTV Show Host
Date of Birth27 April 1932
CityDetroit, MI
CountryUnited States of America
If I were doing a real rock show, slapping the phone book in time to the music, grooving with the songs, then it would matter to know how I felt about what I was playing. You can't fake it in that situation. But I'm just counting them down as they appear on the chart, 1 through 40. What really matters is what I say between the songs.
Growing up, I actually wanted to be a professional baseball player instead of a radio DJ. Believe it or not.
Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.
For the most part, that message hasn't changed a lot over the years - love is still love, and heartbreak is still heartbreak.
'American Top 40' allowed me to be current without my having to force change to keep up with things. The new songs kept us up to date, so every show sounded fresh.
They are going to be playing Shaggy and Scooby-Doo for eons and eons, 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.'
After about a year-and-a-half, Tom Rounds and Ron Jacobs felt we could do better selling the show to stations. And that's when they swung over.
I had also done a little disc jockeying.
Hosting various versions of my countdown program has kept me extremely busy, and I loved every minute of it.
Before that, they thought talking movies might eliminate radio as well. But radio just keeps getting stronger.
Garbage. It's a natural quality of huskiness in the midrange of my voice that I call 'garbage.' It's not a clear-toned announcer's voice. It's more like the voice of the guy next door.
The dullest thing in the world is waiting for your scene. But the most exciting thing is seeing yourself on the screen and then getting compliments.
The greatest compliment that anyone can pay me is that after I say something, they remember it. I'll go over a piece of copy until I've gotten the essence of what the writer had in mind - every nuance.
A lot of my fans are people who have grown up and don't have as much time to listen to the radio, but still want to keep up with what's popular. A lot of shows don't talk to them anymore, but I do.