Casey's Top 40

In January 1988, Kasem was entering the final year of a seven-year contract as host of American Top 40 with syndicator ABC Watermark. The two sides were unable to come to an agreement for a renewal, so on February 9, ABC Watermark announced that it would begin searching for a replacement host.

Westwood One, which at the time was already home to several weekly music programs including those broadcast by its corporate sibling Mutual Broadcasting System, began aggressively pursuing Kasem and offered him a five-year contract worth triple his current salary. Kasem signed with Westwood One in April 1988, and Shadoe Stevens was named Kasem's replacement the following month.

Kasem’s final episode as host of the original AT40 was on August 6, 1988. His contract did not expire until January 1989. Since they had several months before Kasem became part of their broadcast lineup, Westwood One went to great lengths to promote his arrival at their network. This included a "Westwood One Survival Kit" that was sent to affiliates. Included in the package was a "Casey in '89" button, a pin displaying the premiere date and a flashlight called a "Shadow Simulator", perhaps taking a shot at Stevens.[1]

Casey's Top 40 premiered on the weekend of January 21, 1989 on stations from coast to coast and overseas. Some of those stations had been carrying American Top 40 and opted to drop it in favor of Kasem’s new show; in some cases both countdowns aired on the same station.

As on AT40, Kasem would require substitute hosts from time to time. In the early years of the show, the role was filled by voiceover artist Mark Elliott, who had also been one of many substitutes for Kasem on AT40. From 1993 until 1998, veteran Los Angeles DJ David Perry was the designated fill-in.

Casey's Top 40 was similar to Kasem's old AT40 show, featuring Kasem's trademark voice, teasers and trivia about songs and artists (including the "stretch" stories). However, while American Top 40 used the Billboard Hot 100 as its source, Casey's Top 40 used the weekly CHR/pop airplay-based survey produced by Westwood One's then-subsidiary Radio & Records. AT40 would eventually follow suit by moving to airplay-only charts, switching first to the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart and then to its Mainstream Top 40 chart.

When it launched, Casey's Top 40 was one of several shows using the Radio & Records chart; in addition to Unistar Radio Network's Rick Dees Weekly Top 40, this list included two programs already under Westwood One's corporate umbrella, The National Music Survey hosted by Charlie Tuna for Mutual and Rockin' America Top 30 Countdown hosted by Scott Shannon for Westwood One.

In 1994, Radio & Records split its weekly CHR/pop survey into two different trackers. One focused on stations with a dance/rap/R&B-centered playlist, called the "Rhythmic" chart. The "Mainstream" chart, which tracked more traditional pop music, became the new chart source for Kasem's countdown, beginning with the program airing the weekend of April 30, 1994.

Like AT40, Casey's Top 40 was timed to generally fit ten songs per one hour. The show divided each hour into segments, with four three minute commercial breaks inserted per hour. Each hour consisted of five segments, the last of which was the shortest. Unique to Casey's Top 40, the last segment for each hour (never the last hour) consisted of one song and a teaser by Kasem used to segue into the next hour, followed by a musical bumper for stations to play their hourly required station identification, before immediately going into the next song on the countdown to start the next hour; this segue would carry over to the revived AT40 in 1998.

Kasem would occasionally host special countdowns focusing on past hits, such as his countdown of the greatest summer songs of the 1980s, which aired on July 7, 1990.

As with AT40, Casey's Top 40 also had problems with some stations reluctant to play music that did not agree with their format. In one example, WSTR in Atlanta, Georgia, being an anti-rap station and a very Adult Contemporary-leaning CHR, edited "Another Night" by Real McCoy (a Euro disco record with rap breaks) out of its broadcasts of Casey's Top 40 in 1994, even while the song was at #1 on the show.

In 1992, Kasem added a second countdown show. With mainstream pop radio in decline, and many Casey's Top 40 affiliates having an adult contemporary format, Westwood One launched Casey's Countdown on March 7, 1992 as a three-hour, 25-song countdown (later reduced to 20), using the Radio & Records AC chart. In addition to the weekly hits and "Request and Dedication" pieces, some past hits were played, along with Kasem's anecdotes related to the songs or artists.

On November 5, 1994, Kasem began yet another show, Casey's Hot 20, a three-hour countdown that used a new Radio & Records hot adult contemporary chart that had launched in April.

As on the parent program, both Casey's Countdown and Casey's Hot 20 concluded their years with an annual special featuring the top hits of the year. Casey's Countdown originally featured a two-part, seventy-song countdown, which was later reduced to thirty-five. Casey's Hot 20 only featured thirty-five songs in its abbreviated first year countdown, but beginning in 1995 this was expanded to sixty over two programs.

The songs that finished the year atop the charts are as follows:[3]

¹ In 1994, Radio & Records did not compile a year end Hot AC list. The countdown was instead based on data gathered by the producers of Casey's Hot 20.

As 1997 was coming to an end, Kasem was also nearing the expiration of his second contract with Westwood One, a four year deal which he signed in 1993. This time, the future of his career looked to be in serious flux as a series of issues began to arise.

In 1988, as he was getting ready to leave ABC Watermark, Kasem and ABC negotiated his release terms, As part of these terms, the network agreed that if, at any time, it canceled American Top 40, it would retain the rights as long as it made an effort in an intervening period to relaunch the show; make use of the AT40 branding with a special, promotion or contest; or continue paying fees to Kasem and partner Don Bustany. If the intervening period lapsed and none of the above happened, Kasem and Bustany would regain the rights to the name.

ABC did eventually stop carrying AT40 several years later. In its domestic markets, the show was replaced by Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 in July 1994 after signing Dees away from Westwood One. The show continued in its international markets under the distribution of Radio Express for several more months, with the finale airing on January 28, 1995; replaced the following week with The World Chart Show. Since the rights lapsed at the end of 1997 and Bustany had retired from the program shortly after Kasem left, this meant Kasem would gain exclusive rights to the branding.

However, Westwood One was unwilling to let Kasem introduce the AT40 branding on their programs; they were also dissatisfied with the revenue Kasem's shows was generating. While still popular nationwide and globally, Casey's Top 40 was no longer airing in several larger media markets in 1997, affecting Westwood One’s revenues as the absence of the larger markets also meant no advertising revenue was being generated there.

In 1993 Westwood One became a subsidiary of Infinity Broadcasting, which several years later became a division of CBS Corporation. The former move put Kasem in a talent lineup that included Howard Stern and Don Imus, among others. The move made him part of one of the world's biggest media organizations, with potential opportunities not just in radio but also in television and other media for the promotion of his shows. To Kasem's chagrin, Westwood One chose not to utilize them to promote him or his countdowns.

As news began to emerge about the contract dispute, other radio networks began showing interest in luring Kasem away from Westwood One. In December 1997, Westwood One decided that despite the decline of Casey's Top 40, it did not wish to see Kasem employed by a competitor. The two sides struck a deal to bring Kasem back to Westwood One for a ninth year. It included a one-year renewal of all three of Kasem's weekly countdowns,[4] contingent on an advertising revenue target of $6 million being reached. If this figure was not achieved, either side could opt out of the deal.

On February 21, 1998, Kasem hosted an edition of Casey's Top 40 that aired the weekend before the annual Grammy Awards. "Truly Madly Deeply" by Savage Garden and "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion, the two most recent chart toppers, were played in the final segment. Kasem signed off and invited the audience to join him again next week for the next countdown. However, on February 28, 1998, listeners of Kasem's countdowns heard David Perry, Kasem's regular substitute at the time, hosting the shows. But as Perry mentioned that he was substituting for Kasem that week, Kasem did not intend his absence to be temporary, as it was a method to find a way out of his newly signed contract, without Westwood One's knowledge.

In January 1998, AMFM Radio Networks, the syndication arm of broadcaster Chancellor Media and forerunner of today's Premiere Radio Networks, was organized, and upon its establishment, the new company sought big-name radio talent and piqued the interest of the disgruntled 65-year old Kasem, who signed with the upstart network and gave them the rights to the American Top 40 branding.[5]

Upon knowledge that Kasem was seeking an early exit out of their contract, Westwood One, Infinity and CBS responded by suing Kasem for breach of contract and filing to block the new American Top 40 from launching. Kasem, in turn, cited the continued broken promises Westwood One made to him and claimed the contract that he signed in December 1997 had vague language. Specifically, Kasem claimed that the contract's advertising-revenue clause only applied to 1997's final figures and not toward the current year; thus he was allowed to seek a new syndication deal with another company.[6]

When it became apparent that Kasem's departure from Westwood One was permanent, the company made an effort to continue his countdown programs under new titles beginning the week of March 14, 1998: Casey's Top 40 became The Top 40 Countdown; Casey's Countdown became The Top 20 Countdown; and Casey's Hot 20 was renamed The Hot 20 Countdown. Likewise, the daily interstitial segments sent to stations with the weekly countdowns were renamed "The Biggest Hits". JAM Creative Productions would also record new themes and jingles for all three countdowns with the new titles. David Perry would host all three countdowns the week of March 14; the following week on March 21, Perry would host only The Top 40 Countdown, while The Top 20 Countdown was hosted by Jeff Wyatt, the former host of for Westwood One's American Dance Traxx, and The Hot 20 Countdown was hosted by musician and former Entertainment Tonight host John Tesh. As the changeover was made on short notice, some stations continued to use local commercial bumpers featuring Kasem and the old titles at the end of each break.

The "Requests and Dedications" feature would continue, but the "Dear Casey" open was simply omitted as was any mention of his name in the body of the letter. Instead, the host would go right into the letter after a brief description.

Ben Harris, a long time staffer for Kasem's countdown programs, was named the producer for all three countdowns. Previous producer Lorre Crimi, who had joined Kasem in 1996, followed him to AMFM to produce the new AT40.

Despite the changes, Westwood One would ultimately discontinue the programs on March 21 after only two weeks. Like Kasem's last show before his abrupt exit, there was no mention made of the cancellation of any of the three countdowns; in fact, the hosts of each countdown continued to solicit Request and Dedication letters as well as updates on previous featured requests, and signed off encouraging listeners to join them on the next program.

On March 28, one week later, the new AT40 launched on AMFM Radio Networks with Kasem again behind the microphone of his creation. Many of his Westwood One staff would follow him there (including Perry, who continued briefly in his role as Kasem's designated sub host, his producer Lorre Crimi, and Merrill Shindler, who Kasem had brought over from AT40 when he left ABC Watermark). The legal wrangling between the two sides continued. However, Westwood One did not object to Kasem's continued use of the Radio & Records CHR/pop survey as its chart source. As such, Kasem's first and second #1 songs on the new AT40 were the same as his last two with Westwood One. That week, "My Heart Will Go On" finished its seventh week atop the chart. Three weeks later, "Truly Madly Deeply" reclaimed the #1 spot for a third non-consecutive and last week at the top. Kasem hosted the revived AT40 until the weekend of January 4, 2004, after which he handed the hosting position to Ryan Seacrest who continues in that role today.

AMFM also picked up the mainstream AC and hot AC countdown shows Kasem was doing and rebranded them as American Top 20. They both launched the same weekend as the new AT40. The mainstream AC countdown was eventually cut in half in 2004 and became a more feature driven program, retitled as American Top 10. Kasem remained as the host of both AC countdowns until he decided to retire on the weekend of July 4, 2009.

• Durkee, Rob. American Top 40: The Countdown of the Century. ISBN 0-02-864895-1. New York City: Schirmer Books, 1999. Accessed December 10, 2007.