Personal Music Tributes?

[Deleted]

We all know the inevitable is probably coming very soon. When it does, I'd assume on a corporate level SXM may air a few 70's shows, no clue about the 80s. One of the kid stations might do a Scooby Doo marathon but that'd seem odd in a way since many of their clientele wouldn't know who Casey Kasem even was. Nonetheless, I could see them doing it. It'd also be nice if someone aired the old Americas Top 10's but if no one could be bothered to show any of the old Bandstand's when Dick Clark passed away I am certainly not holding my breath on this. I was wondering if any of you have any personal tributes musically you intend to engage in? Personally I do, I thought I'd share what it is. It's 26 shows with a total running time of 3.5 days according to Itunes. Where this is no show listed, it's AT40

1. 7/4/70
2. 7/2/81 - Top 40 Beatles Song show
3. CH20 11/5/94 (first CH20)
4. 7/5/80 - Book of Records
5. AT10 3/26/05 (Son was born 3/25)
6. 5/28/77 (I was born May 29)
7. 4/6/74 - Top 40 British Hits of the Rock Era
8. CT40 1/21/89
9. 8/5/72 - Top 40 Albums of the Week Special
10. 1/4/04 (CK's last AT40 hosted)
11. AT10 7/4/09 (CK's last weekend)
12. 3/28/98 (AT40 v 2.0 begins)
13. 12/13/80
14. AT20 3/26/05 (Son was born 3/25)
15. 8/14/99 (My wife and I's first date)
16. CC 5/2/92 (first CC)
17. 8/6/88 (CK's last show as host of AT40 v 1)
18. 12/18/99 (Day I asked wife to marry me)
19. 10/7/78 (First 4 hour regular show)
20. CT40 3/28/92 (Grandfather died 3/29, first major family death I experienced)
21. CT40 6/3/95 (Graduated HS 6/4)
22. 7/22/00 (Married 7/21)
23. 7/5/86 - Giants of Rock n Roll Special
24. 8/21/82 (Started school that week)
25. 1/1/00 - Y2K Special
26. AT20 7/4/09 (CK's last weekend)

[briguy52748]

Looks good. Not much to add to it, except maybe the Sept. 14, 1985 show – with the "Dead Dog" rant substituted for the retake that made it to air, fading in to "Shannon," just for laughs.

No clue at this point what Premiere will do the first Saturday after Casey Kasem's passing (assuming it happens earlier in the week).

I'm sure, as someone pointed out in another thread, some clips from past AT40s have probably already been assembled and are ready to go when the news does come. May be a documentary on Casem's life and career and soundbites from his shows, and interview clips from top artists and others whom he impacted and whose lives he touched ... or it may be something else, I don't know. The first thing that came to my mind, aside from that, was perhaps a re-airing of the first AT40 (from July 4, 1970) and his last original AT40 (from Aug. 6, 1988) the same weekend, along with an intro by Larry Morgan acknowledging the passing.

Beyond that, I don't know.

As far as Cartoon Network/Boomerang, I always thought most of their audience was adults who remembered the cartoons as kids – not current kids, but those of us who are 35 and older – and thus would likely have at least some idea of who Casey Kasem is/was. So you MIGHT see a marathon, but that's up to Turner/Time-Warner/whatever they call it now.

Brian

P.S. – Its way too late to ask now, of course, but did Casey ever get a letter from a young listener asking if Shaggy was going to "guest host" an AT40 show? I know he once did something like that for a Jerry Lewis telethon.

[Deleted]

Cartoon Network is mostly new cartoons for this generation of kids. As a father of a 9 year old I can vouch for that. Boomerang is old stuff mostly.

As far as Premiere, I'd imagine the first episode being offered to both 70s and 80s affiliates (and possibly forced on them as a one time tribute with the feeling being get over yourself it's a tribute to a legend) or for 80s stations, yeah the last episode or possibly the world famous 12/13/80 show since that's probably his most defining 80s moment in terms of shows.

[blackbowl68]

Just in case anyone didn't notice, the Classic AT40 channel on I-Heart Radio was created as a tribute to the career of Casey Kasem.

[briguy52748]

Jun 8, 2014 14:47:11 GMT -5 @paul said:

Cartoon Network is mostly new cartoons for this generation of kids. As a father of a 9 year old I can vouch for that. Boomerang is old stuff mostly.

So I'm going to guess television-wise, Boomerang – which does air the classics – is the more likely choice? Although Cartoon Network has run classic cartoons in the recent past, although mostly Tom and Jerry. We'll just have to wait and see, I suppose.

BTW – I know we had the discussion back in March when GSN re-ran "The Dating Game" episode featuring Casey Kasem (as part of a tribute to Jim Lange). Any bets, anybody, that this show will be shown again? I don't know …when Ann B. Davis (Alice Nelson, the housekeeper on "The Brady Bunch") died earlier this month, did they rerun her "Dating Game" episode? I guess that's the easiest way to tell.

Brian

BTW: For me, the list would also include:

• Jan. 15, 1972: The day I was born, and one of America's most famous songs – "American Pie" by Don McLean – was No. 1.

From a personal standpoint, some shows that aired the weekend some friends and family members died, including shows from:

• Nov. 10, 1973: OK, I didn't know anyone then – I was not even 2 – but several teenagers from the community in which I grew up were killed in a horrible car-bus collision a day earlier, and it just sent the whole area into mourning. I've heard many things about it many years later.
• April 23, 1983: My paternal grandpa died.
• July 20, 1985: My maternal grandpa died.
• Sept. 24, 1988: OK, it's a Shadoe Stevens show (Casey was off the air at this point), but my father's mother (my maternal grandmother) passed away.
• Jan. 24, 1998: This one touched me very deeply – two young, beautiful women – one just days from turning 18, the other a homecoming queen who had just graduated from high school (my alma mater) – were killed in a deadly car-semi accident on a busy interstate highway. Like the accident I mention above from nearly 25 years earlier, it just hit the community so hard and I think haunted everyone for many years.
• Feb. 23, 2002: My father passed away. (Fortunately, my mother is still with us.)

Any of the last regular countdown shows of the decade I'd also like to hear – Dec. 22, 1979, Dec. 23, 1989 (CT40 and AT40 both) and Dec. 25, 1999.

As far as CT40s, probably the decade-end 1980s special from Jan. 6, 1990.

[beegee3]

The marathon of shows is a good idea. Something else they could do is splice together a Top 40 "Best of Casey" special, where the countdown is made up of notable segments from other shows. It could start with the #40 hit on the first AT40, then for #39 through #2 pick a song from casey's run that highlighted a chart moment, or a fascinating story (maybe #37 is "Invisible Touch" by Genesis, and Casey's story of when the members of Genesis occupied five spots on the Top 40, #21 could when "We Are the World" debuted, #4 could be his eulogy to John Lennon before "Starting Over," the debut of the Grateful Dead, which Casey thought he'd never get to say, and so on). Include a few of Casey's favorite stories (The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the Beatles having the Top 5 hits in one week), some of his listener questions and notable long distance dedications (either his first or the Cheryl Ladd ones come to mind), maybe even the words he said at the passing of other acts like Karen Carpenter and Andy Gibb (they stand out because I remember him mentioning Karen's voice being a treasure in his remembrance of her, much as Casey's voice is, and how Andy Gibb had been in the news with some problems, as the Kasems have). Then at #1 play the #1 hit from his last broadcast and his send off as he said goodbye.

[OldSchoolAT40Fan]

As a tribute to Casey Kasem, my choices would consist of Casey's most memorable episodes of AT40 by year he was host (based on original airing's ratings). Though the only exceptions being Casey's first AT40 from July 4, 1970 and his last AT40 before leaving ABC Radio Networks in August 6, 1988. Other than that, the highest-rated weekly episode of each year from 1971 to 1987 inclusive would be involved in the marathon. Heck, I could even throw in a few random CT40 and Second Generation AT40 between 1989 and 2003, and Casey's final AT40 show before Ryan took over in 2004, as well as highest-rated AT20 between 2005 and 2009 inclusive, though 2009's show would be a rebroadcast of Casey's official last radio show he hosted before he retired for good. There would be 40 years to cover.

[OldSchoolAT40Fan]

Jun 8, 2014 14:25:47 GMT -5 @paul said:

It'd also be nice if someone aired the old Americas Top 10's but if no one could be bothered to show any of the old Bandstand's when Dick Clark passed away I am certainly not holding my breath on this.

The only network I know of that did something in honor of Dick Clark was Game Show Network, when they did marathons of his version of $25,000/$100,000 Pyramid, and a 15-second tribute during every airing of Pyramid for a week. At least that was something.

[BrettVW]

Not sure what show I will have the desire to listen to when the unfortunate happen. When we first learned of Casey's illness, I spent some time listening to AT20's and AT10's from 2008 and 2009 and although there were certain weeks he definitely sounded frail, it still amazes me that even as his disease progressed he was able to do such a fine job.

I like the idea of a top 40 clips of Casey. For my personal one, I would do his intro to the first show, A variety of clips from important shows and my birthday show and then his final signoff.

The one show I would not put as much emphasis on as many have been is 8/6/88. Yes, it was the last original run AT40 and the last time Casey would count down the Billboard chart. But the music on it, at least for me, is unmemorable and he would still count down for 21 years. The 2/21/98 WW1 shows and even 1/3/04 are historical, but are also regular shows that simply don't have Casey inviting us to join him again the following week for a show with the same program title. His final shows from 2009 are a different story however

[Deleted]

Jun 8, 2014 20:12:02 GMT -5 BrettVW said:

The one show I would not put as much emphasis on as many have been is 8/6/88. Yes, it was the last original run AT40 and the last time Casey would count down the Billboard chart. But the music on it, at least for me, is unmemorable and he would still count down for 21 years. The 2/21/98 WW1 shows and even 1/3/04 are historical, but are also regular shows that simply don't have Casey inviting us to join him again the following week for a show with the same program title. His final shows from 2009 are a different story however

8/6/88 (as well as the entire year) musically aren't memorable but I don't think it's any less a big deal. 8/6/88 to me is the end of an era. Yeah he came back to host the show again, but the fact that the #1 countdown show in the world was changing hosts and this was the legendary "old guard" having his last was important. To me, that's a far bigger deal actually than his last edition of Casey's Top 40. He only hosted it for 9 years, at best I think it was the #2 most listened to show in the US and Worldwide (although I could be wrong on that), and just in it's name I never got the sense there was going to be any passing of the baton ever. The show that to me is incredibly overrated in terms of historical importance and claiming it's a big one in terms of his career is 9/14/85.

[dukelightning]

The 9/14/85 show has a National Enquirer type of fascination to it and thus, is overrated in terms of importance. Yes only those last AT10 and AT20s from the 4th of July, 2009 have an ending of an era wrapped around them. The only other such show where the host is promoting it as such is the 1/28/95 AT40 with Shadoe. And there are no shows where Casey actually promotes it as the first of the series. The first AT40 show's opening does if you read between the lines. But all the other first shows...for CT40, the second run of AT40, all the AC shows...were done as if they had already been doing those shows previously. In fact, I think Casey did a top 3 recap in each show's opening. I am sure that was on purpose making people think that the show really had been going for some time but it was just picked up that week by the listeners' local station.

[briguy52748]

Even though I think that sometimes Sept. 14, 1985, is blown out of proportion, we'd be remiss if there wasn't some sort of an "outtakes" or "bloopers" reel included in a tribute show. The "Dead Dog Dedication" aside, I'm sure there is somewhere many, many clips where Casey was much more lighthearted when he'd stumble over copy, a record skipped, the copy was just so funny he couldn't help but break out in so much laughter he had to stop ... and so forth. (That is, not the ranting, angry Casey when something went wrong, but the relaxed side of him.)

Historically, I agree it's far less important than some of the many milestones mentioned by several posters. But it's a part of the show's history nonetheless and probably would warrant at least a brief segment, certainly no more than five minutes.

After all, if this were Dick Clark we were talking about – they'd do the same, only with his shows. (Such as the time a contestant on "The $100,000 Pyramid" was told he was playing the Mystery 7 for a 1958 automobile … instead of the actual 1985 model he ended up winning.)

Brian

[Deleted]

There's not going to be any bloopers or outtakes in mine. And no, GSN aired Dick Clark's old shows as they did. There were no outtakes and bloopers in his either.

[briguy52748]

Jun 10, 2014 9:06:07 GMT -5 @paul said:

There's not going to be any bloopers or outtakes in mine. And no, GSN aired Dick Clark's old shows as they did. There were no outtakes and bloopers in his either.

OK, I think there may be a bit of confusion here for a second.

If we are indeed talking about just a marathon of classic Casey Kasem-hosted countdown programs, then you've seen my list above. No changes needed and no, the "Dead Dog Dedication" show is not included in it. (Never really gave that show any thought, to tell you the truth.)

I think I was referring to the inevitable special that might be produced that documents Casey's entire radio and show business career. That, and only that, would include any bloopers and outtakes. Sorry for any confusion.

[mkarns]

Jun 10, 2014 4:42:53 GMT -5 @paul said:

Jun 8, 2014 20:12:02 GMT -5 BrettVW said:

The one show I would not put as much emphasis on as many have been is 8/6/88. Yes, it was the last original run AT40 and the last time Casey would count down the Billboard chart. But the music on it, at least for me, is unmemorable and he would still count down for 21 years. The 2/21/98 WW1 shows and even 1/3/04 are historical, but are also regular shows that simply don't have Casey inviting us to join him again the following week for a show with the same program title. His final shows from 2009 are a different story however

8/6/88 (as well as the entire year) musically aren't memorable but I don't think it's any less a big deal. 8/6/88 to me is the end of an era. Yeah he came back to host the show again, but the fact that the #1 countdown show in the world was changing hosts and this was the legendary "old guard" having his last was important. To me, that's a far bigger deal actually than his last edition of Casey's Top 40. He only hosted it for 9 years, at best I think it was the #2 most listened to show in the US and Worldwide (although I could be wrong on that), and just in it's name I never got the sense there was going to be any passing of the baton ever. The show that to me is incredibly overrated in terms of historical importance and claiming it's a big one in terms of his career is 9/14/85.

9/14/85 is not really a significant show in terms of Casey's career or AT40 overall; what makes it stand out was not heard by anyone until a while later, and it's of note mostly as a bit of embarrassing comic relief, and perhaps Casey's ability to admit to having a volatile temper and laugh off the incident. It may speak more of our current culture than anything else that a lot of people retrospectively think that 76 or so seconds of off-the-record cussing and fussing is a big deal or some kind of great entertainment.

1988-89 is noteworthy as kind of a transitional time, as are 1998 and 2003-04. So to make the Casey/AT40 story complete it's worth at least touching on those periods, regardless of their musical quality.