Premiere really blew it

[mrjukebox]

In my opinion,the decision to cancel "American Top 10" was rather hasty-Granted,Casey decided it was time for him to retire & I respect him for that-However,Premiere should've passed the torch to his eldest child Mike-All this time,I was under the impression that Mike was being groomed to take over for his dad-Mike has proven himself to be just as good as Casey & I know he wouldn't have any trouble filling Casey's shoes-Premiere should reconsider-Does anybody else agree?

[Caseyfan4everRyanfanNever]

I fully agree with what you're saying, Mr. Jukebox. I can't help but wonder whether or not Mike and Casey may have something like that in the works somewhere down the line if not now. Of course they may be restricted somewhat by the fact that Casey is still under contract with Premiere/Clear Channel for a few more years. I don't know whether Mike is restricted in the same manner, though.

Abandoning the Adult Contemporary nitch would not be a wise thing for Premiere to do, provided that they have the resources to keep a presence there. While Ryan could somehow fill the void in HAC, everyone knows that he's not Casey and never will be no matter how hard he may try.

[Mike Schwartz]

Jun 14, 2009 22:03:37 GMT -5 Caseyfan4everRyanfanNever said:

While Ryan could somehow fill the void in HAC, everyone knows that he's not Casey and never will be no matter how hard he may try.

I have been arguing here and on other message boards, that the two countdowns are not comparable. Ryan's is mostly a lifestyle/entertainment related show with the music as something of a backdrop. AT20/10 have primarily been about the music. I have listened to Ryan's show on countless occasions, only to be faced with a 4 hour informercial for some movie, staring an actor/actress who isn't related to the music world in the least. When I sit down to listen to a countdown, I want to hear about the artists and their music. Casey/Mike do that, Ryan does not.

I check in with this board daily, because I have yet to read any analysis as to why Premiere made this decision and is there real evidence that AC (not Hot AC) listeners don't like countdowns. Should I uncover any evidence, I will be sure to post it here.

[freakyflybry]

I'm willing to bet that Westwood One will sign Mike up for a new AC/Hot AC countdown show of some sort.

[unclemike]

Where was it written that Casey wanted to retire? The release from Premiere says they will not produce the shows anymore.

[mrjukebox]

Over the weekend,I saw a profile of Casey on Wikipedia & the article stated that he plans to retire after the final "AT10" & "AT20" shows air on the Fourth Of July weekend.

[unclemike]

Wikipedia can be edited by anyone. Whomever wrote this assumed Casey was retiring without actual facts.

[easye]

Jun 15, 2009 10:19:37 GMT -5 freakyflybry said:

I'm willing to bet that Westwood One will sign Mike up for a new AC/Hot AC countdown show of some sort.

Hope you are right, with Casey perhaps doing some fill in work. Alas, I have a feeling that it will be somebody related to "American Idol". How does "<Insert Generic Name> with Paula Abdul" sound?

[Caseyfan4everRyanfanNever]

I don't know about Westwood One--they had Casey's Top 40 in the late 80s-most of the 1990s and their parting wasn't good at all (Casey left and restarted AT40 and WW1 filed suit). Mike may be a different story but probably not Casey.

[mkarns]

Jun 15, 2009 20:48:20 GMT -5 easye said:

Jun 15, 2009 10:19:37 GMT -5 freakyflybry said:

I'm willing to bet that Westwood One will sign Mike up for a new AC/Hot AC countdown show of some sort.

Hope you are right, with Casey perhaps doing some fill in work. Alas, I have a feeling that it will be somebody related to "American Idol". How does "<Insert Generic Name> with Paula Abdul" sound?

Speaking of AI-hosted countdowns, how about American Top 40 with Kris Allen and Adam Lambert? I read that we'll be getting that for one weekend in July when Seacrest's off.

As for Westwood One, a new Kasem countdown somewhere would be great but I think Casey may try to steer his son away from that particular company!

[pzimm7700]

A show hosted by Mike Kasem would be a disaster. Not because Mike is terrible, I like listening to him, but in the current state of radio the number of radio shows being hosted is dwindling because there are fewer and fewer personalities people recognize or have their own "flavor" being given the opportunity. When it became apparent Dick Clark wasn't returning, did they find a new permanent host? No, they cancelled the show. When American Country Countdown and American Top 40 sought new hosts, who did they go find? A new DJ in New York or Los Angeles? Nope, they went out to find a personality people were familiar with from the entertainment world (I know Ryan was a DJ in LA at the time, but few knew that compared to knowing him from AI). Unfortunately that is the state of radio in 2009 and I don't see it getting any better. With more voice tracking and now daily national shows like Delilah, Tesh, and On Air, I suspect it will get worse as fewer DJ's get any exposure at all.

[OnWithTheCountdown]

Although this last post was 14 years ago (and almost 7 years before my time on here), Paul's post is spot on. I had a great interest to go into radio, stemming from my time listening to Casey count down the hits on AT40. Then stuff hit the fan in my teens, normally at a time when teens have a sense of direction and need stability. I had neither. A good friend of mine snuck me into her college class in communications just two years after I graduated high school (and the same year she graduated), and while it was fun and interesting, my heart just wasn't fully there. Looking back, I feel it's for the best because of what Paul said. Radio today is nowhere what it was. As for my friend, she got several radio gigs over the years, but is now out of radio, and she, too, found out the very same things, from an insider's point of view. While the sentimental part of me is sad for her, and for myself, I know this is how it's supposed to be. (As for Paul, I still correspond with him once in a while. We both keep busy with life.)

My thought is, yes, while we would have liked to have Mike Kasem continue in his dad's footsteps, aside from Premiere's ceasing to produce the shows, maybe Mike himself had other endeavors (it's his right), and there just has to be an agreement with all parties involved. There clearly wasn't, and here we are.

[dukelightning]

Paul Zimmerman. I thought his most recent name here was something else. Good for you that you still correspond with him. I did for quite awhile but lost track of him during the 4 year hiatus I had from AT40 that ended a year and a half ago. And he had deleted his account here by then. Maybe he will reappear like I did.