http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/123516/casey-kasem-longtime-american-top-40-host-voiceove

He was 82 years, and unfortunately his last years were not good. For me, Kasem was very much a hero and idol. I admired the man on the radio who played music for me every week, counting down 40 songs from bottom to top, and also giving those long distance dedications. He, among many others, made me want to become a radio disc jockey, a dream that came true in high school when I joined the local radio/TV production class at the vocational skills center. I would eventually realize that yes, Kasem was a good amount of cartoon people I watched, including Shaggy. But Casem, he just presented himself in a manner that came from the old school, which means in my time, he was already old school. Today, that style, with the staff of writers who put together scripts, producers who programmed the music, a good amount of that no longer exists. It wasn't so much a sense of cool but rather, it sounded very fatherly, if not like a grandfather. "Sit with me, listen to these songs, I want to tell you about it." We all wanted to be gung ho and dive into the music, but he wasn't afraid to say "you may need a bit of guidance. I'll help you on the path, but in time you'll get to walking on your own." It was class, it was etiquette, it was just understanding what worked with radio.

People may have laughed and joked in recent years because he was an old man of the business, but it was this old man of the business who helped me, and millions of others, grow. No one had it like him, and no one ever will.


Kemal Amin Kasem, thank you. The stars will guide you, wherever your path takes you next.



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