From the time I was 10-12 years old I wanted to play professional baseball. It was the time of the "Big Red Machine." Johnny Bench was my favorite player. The Reds won the World Series in 1975 in a classic series with the Red Sox. They would repeat the following year with a sweep of the Yankees. I think it's common for a kid to have the same dreams I had. But, at that time I also loved to listen to the radio, and one of the main reasons was Casey Kasem. It was appointment listening for me.
"American Top 40" aired on 97AM KOOK in Billings, Montana from 8-11pm on Sunday night. Back then I had one of those black rectangular shaped cassette tape recorders. It was the kind you could plug a microphone in on the side. You would press play and record at the same time to make a recording. I would spend my Sunday night listening to Casey count down the hits on AT40 with the microphone pressed up to the speaker of a transistor radio. I listened for the long distance dedications, the trivia about the artists, and tried to predict that week's number one song. Even though I had school the next morning, my mother would still let me stay up until Casey signed of with his signature phrase: "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars."
To this day, there are certain songs from that era that remind me of "American Top 40" more than anything else. Songs like:
Paul Simon-50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
Simon and Garfunkel-My Little Town
Jefferson Starship: Miracles
The Bee Gees-Nights on Broadway
On New Year's Eve I would listen to Casey count down the top songs of that year. I can tell you with 100% certainty that Terry Jacks "Seasons in the Sun" was the number two song in 1974, although I have no idea what the number one song was. I don't know why I remember these things. Maybe Casey Kasem was a bigger influence on me than Johnny Bench. I just didn't realize it at the time.
Years later Casey's count down shows started to re-air on oldies stations. When I hear them, I try to recall what year was being replayed by the songs I heard, usually with pretty good accuracy. Even if I am wrong, it brings back the memory of my transistor radio and black tape recorder, and reminds me of one of the reasons I chose radio as a profession.
R.I.P Casey
