Casey Kasem

Casey Kasem (born Kemal Amin Kasem on April 27 1932, in Detroit, Michigan) is an American radio personality and voice actor of Druze Lebanese extraction. He has been married to actress/singer Jean Kasem since 1980 and they have one child together. He had three children with his first wife, Linda Myers Kasem (to whom he was married from 1969 to 1979). Their son, Mike Kasem, is also a voice-over actor. Their daughter is television host Kerri Kasem.

Radio

Kasem is best known by name as a music historian and disc jockey, most notably as host of the weekly American Top 40 radio program from 1970 to 1988, and again from March 1998 until January 10 2004, when Ryan Seacrest succeeded him. He hosted a spin-off television show called America's Top 10 for a time in the 1980s. He was the host of the short-lived American version of 100% in 1999. For a period in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Kasem was the staff announcer for the NBC television network. More recently, he has appeared on infomercials about CD music compilations. Kasem was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1992.

Related Topics:
American Top 40 - January 10 - 2004 - Ryan Seacrest - America's Top 10 - 1980s - 100% - NBC - Infomercial - CD - Radio Hall of Fame

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Casey Kasem developed his rock-trivia persona from his work as a disc jockey in the early 1960s at KEWB in Oakland, California.

Related Topics:
Disc jockey - 1960s - KEWB - Oakland, California

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Outtakes

A notorious perfectionist in the studio, recordings of a frustrated Kasem in an extended profane rant during a rehearsal for American Top 40 appeared on Negativland's single "U2". In it, Kasem is heard introducing a U2 single by reading the names and instruments of the entire personnel of the band from a script. Kasem interrupts and says:

Related Topics:
Negativland - U2 - U2

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:This is bullshit! Nobody cares! ... These guys are British (sic) and who gives a shit!

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Another notorious Kasem outtake from 1985 (also used by Negativland in their U2 single) involves Casey reading a "Long Distance Dedication" from a man to his deceased dog "Snuggles." Casey objects to the dedication following an up tempo song and explodes:

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:...I want somebody around here to use his fucking brain to not come out of a goddamn record...that's up-tempo and I've got to read about a fucking dog dying!

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The tape widely circulated among Kasem's fans and on the internet, where it acquired the unofficial name of "The Dead Dog Tape" or the "Snuggles Tape." Though often mis-understood, Kasem is actually objecting to the tempo shift between the previous song and the dedication, not the dedication itself.

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