Casey's 1988 Departure

[adam31]

I just listened to Casey's last AT40 show from 8/6/88 (at least until the rebirth in 1998) and had some questions on the whole situation.

Does anyone know why Casey was allowed to do that show (it was mentioned that Hall & Oates guest hosted the previous week while he was "away"?

Does anyone know how AT40 was allowed to proceed since it was created by Casey and Don? Did Watermark think Casey would permanently retire? They couldn't have thought it a good idea to continually promote him in the credits each week especially when he started hosting the rival show "Casey's Top 40"

Does anyone know the behind the scenes details of the contract dispute that led to Casey's departure?

And finally, I also listened to the 30th anniversary show (7/8/2000). Casey did not say anything special about the historic anniversary. I thought I read somewhere that he credited Shadoe Stevens on a show. Can anyone shed some light on this?

Thanks for any replies.

PS I always look for Rob Durkee's book but cannot find it anywhere in print.

[Deleted]

Jan 12, 2012 19:25:05 GMT -5 adam31 said:

I just listened to Casey's last AT40 show from 8/6/88 (at least until the rebirth in 1998) and had some questions on the whole situation.

Does anyone know why Casey was allowed to do that show (it was mentioned that Hall & Oates guest hosted the previous week while he was "away"?

Does anyone know how AT40 was allowed to proceed since it was created by Casey and Don? Did Watermark think Casey would permanently retire? They couldn't have thought it a good idea to continually promote him in the credits each week especially when he started hosting the rival show "Casey's Top 40"

Does anyone know the behind the scenes details of the contract dispute that led to Casey's departure?

And finally, I also listened to the 30th anniversary show (7/8/2000). Casey did not say anything special about the historic anniversary. I thought I read somewhere that he credited Shadoe Stevens on a show. Can anyone shed some light on this?

Thanks for any replies.

PS I always look for Rob Durkee's book but cannot find it anywhere in print.

He was allowed to do the show because that was the determined time he would leave. He had to have a last week at some point, that was it. Casey's Top 40 didn't begin until near the end of January 1989. So, there was no reason not to do the show in August.

As far as why ABC was able to keep producing AT40. They owned it. Watermark had sold to ABC in the early 80s thus they could do what they wanted. That's why they still own and produce American Country Countdown which was also a Watermark production. This does lead to a question of my own I'll ask after this. The reason the show came back in 98 was because AT40 ceased to exist in 95 and when Watermark sold there was a clause in the contract that stated if ABC did nothing with the show for 3 years, Kasem & Bustany got the rights back. Once they got them back, Don sold his to Casey, Casey sold his to AM/FM which ultimately became Premiere Radio Network.

Yes, ABC knew he was leaving to go start a new show at Westwood One. Thus, the reason his last show hosting was in August of 88. Had he been retiring or they thought he was there would have been no reason to not let him work through the rest of the contract. They wanted to give listeners a period of time to listen to and accept Shadoe Stevens as host before Casey Kasems new show started.

Now, my question. If ABC stopped producing ACC, would those rights them revert back to Casey & Don after a period of time (probably 3 years)?

[marv101]

'American Country Countdown' which was launched by ABC/Watermark in 1989 with Bob Kingsley as host, has been known as 'Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40' for several years now

There's an 'American Country Countdown' hosted by Kix Brooks, which switched from utilizing BB's charts to Mediabase in 2009.

[caseyfan100]

Jan 12, 2012 21:19:56 GMT -5 marv101 said:

'American Country Countdown' which was launched by ABC/Watermark in 1989 with Bob Kingsley as host, has been known as 'Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40' for several years now

There's an 'American Country Countdown' hosted by Kix Brooks, which switched from utilizing BB's charts to Mediabase in 2009.

.

American Country Countdown was created in the 70's (1973?) by Casey and Don Bustany. It was first hosted by Don Bowman,best known as the writer of the song "Wildwood Weed" by Jim Stafford. Bob Kingsley later replaced Bowman and then I believe Kingsley had a contract dispute ala Casey and left ACC to start Country Top 40 and Kix Brooks took over ACC after Kingsley's departure. The Kix Brooks hosted show is the show created by Kasem/Bustany.

[Caseyfan4everRyanfanNever]

Rob's book "American Top 40: The Countdown of the Century" covers Casey's departure in great detail. Unfortunately, it's out of print but can be found for sale on Amazon, Ebay, etc or can be checked out at your local library. Hopefully, the book will be re-released at some point in the future.

[briguy52748]

Jan 12, 2012 22:43:43 GMT -5 caseyfan100 said:

American Country Countdown was created in the 70's (1973?) by Casey and Don Bustany. It was first hosted by Don Bowman,best known as the writer of the song "Wildwood Weed" by Jim Stafford. Bob Kingsley later replaced Bowman and then I believe Kingsley had a contract dispute ala Casey and left ACC to start Country Top 40 and Kix Brooks took over ACC after Kingsley's departure. The Kix Brooks hosted show is the show created by Kasem/Bustany.

ACC's first broadcast was Oct. 6, 1973. Bowman hosted until the April 29, 1978 show, after which Kingsley was the host.

Kingsley's last program was the Dec. 24, 2005, countdown and the accompanying "Christmas in America." (His new program began the next week, and "Christmas in America" moved with it.) After a couple of weeks with new producer Michael Jay hosting, Kix Brooks began effective Jan. 21, 2006. (Hard to believe he's been on the job for six years already. Time moves fast!)

Brian

[Deleted]

Jan 12, 2012 21:19:56 GMT -5 marv101 said:

'American Country Countdown' which was launched by ABC/Watermark in 1989 with Bob Kingsley as host, has been known as 'Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40' for several years now

There's an 'American Country Countdown' hosted by Kix Brooks, which switched from utilizing BB's charts to Mediabase in 2009.

No, the show is known as American Country Countdown. The ABC show is the same show, same lineage as the one Bob hosted and Don Bowman before him. Thus, I was asking what happened if ABC stopped producing the show.

Country Top 40 is a show that began at the end of 2005 the week Kingsley left ABC. It's his own show, absolutely no connection to American Country Countdown except he is the former and most well known former host.