American Top 40 Live: Casey Was There!

[Scott Lakefield]

I've gotta give props here...the AT40 live special on Fox was really quite good. The highlight, of course, was a "cameo" by Casey, to whom Ryan gave the credit he so richly deserves. Nice job!

[BrettVW]

Glad to hear Casey was there!!! I had it taped for me back home, so I will check it out next weekend.

[MEF]

Yes, Casey was there, in person LIVE. Casey introduced one of the acts.

In was nice Ryan acknowledged that without Casey, there would be no AT40. He also mentioned Casey was the co creator of AT40 and many people got their start in radio because of Casey.

I think this was the first time Casey and Ryan appeared together, even since Ryan took over AT40.

This AT40 special was pretty good. It had AT40 main element. It was all about the music.

[Jeffster]

Dang. If I'd known Casey would be on, I would have actually recorded it, and just fast forwarded through the horrible, horrible music. Maybe somebody can make a video file of the Casey part? I would love to see it.

[Matt Cameron]

Any rumblings or info known on what if anything AT40 will be doing to celebrate its fast-approaching 35th Anniversary on July 4th, 2005? I'd love to hear a special countdown, but when was the last time you heard a special countdown that wasn't the year-end Top 100? Probably back to the Shadoe years, I'd guess.

[Deleted]

tv shows like this dont interest me, so I can't say I cared one way or the other.

[Scott Lakefield]

liberaljag said:

when was the last time you heard a special countdown that wasn't the year-end Top 100? Probably back to the Shadoe years, I'd guess.

7/4/91 ... "The All-American 4th of July Special" ... Shadoe's countdown of the top 40 American acts of the previous 10 years.
12/30/99 ... "Casey's Y2Kountdown: 40 Days That Changed Music" ... but I'm not sure that qualified as a countdown per se.

[BrettVW]

I watched my tape over the weekend....didn't watch the whole show, just the part w/ Casey....glad to see him there, but it left me thinking "almost 35 years of counting down the hits and he got maybe a minute of air time"

[Deleted]

I'm sorry, and maybe I am coming off like a jerk when I ask this, but that is really a comment that comes off like you HAVE to have something to complain about. What does it matter if he was shown for 1 minute, 1 second, or 1 hour?! AMERICAN TOP 40 ISN'T HOSTED BY CASEY KASEM ANYMORE, AND IT NEVER WILL BE AGAIN!

Did Walter Chronkite ever get a huge amount of time on the CBS Evening News after he left? Have Joe Buck, Chris Collinswoth, and Troy Aikman invited Pat Summerall to come join them for an NFL telecast?! In fact, are they ever even AKNOWLEDGED VERY OFTEN UNLESS THE MOMENT CALLS FOR IT? No!

You talk about AT40 so much, well, what about Shadoe Stevens?! The comment was recently made that they try to pretend like Casey never hosted the show....first off, I don't see that, and second, talk about someone who is never aknowledged.....if not for us NO ONE would ever know Shadoe hosted the show!

Again I am sorry if I have come off like a jerk. Technically I dont listen to the show at all anymore, this hoopla over AT40 Live has really rubbed me wrong I guess. I have people sending me e-cards suggesting AT40 could possibly be cancelled because a FREAKING TV special did poorly! So what?! And then whether Casey is shown or not and for how long because they hosted the show for 24(not 34 or 35) years! <---again, where was the tribute to the guy who hosted it for 5 if we are gonna complain about who was and HAS been treated right or poor?!

[Matt Cameron]

A TV special based on a radio program doesn't seem like a recipe for success to me. I didn't watch the show, had to work. But was there a "history of" segment preceding Casey's appearance? He and Don Bustany are still acknowledged as the show's creators at the end of every AT40 broadcast (by contractual obligation, I'm sure).
Shadoe hosted the show for nearly 6 1/2 years (Aug 1988- Jan 1995). It's just that few of us over here got to hear it for the last year and a half or so.

[BrettVW]

Paul,

I'm sorry if I come off that way. I guess all I was saying is that personally I would have rather seen a show that was more of a retrospective of American Top 40 and pop music with more attention given to Casey and his 24 years on the show....not Ryan and his year and four months. I'm not saying it wasn't wrong to not include any information on Shadoe....but those are considered "the lost years" of the show, especially since Casey was doing CT40. I'm not saying it's good or bad, i'm just saying it's a bit different.

I guess when it comes down to it....I thought the show was going to be a bit more of a retrospective.....not just two hours of current music. But in the manner they did choose to do the show - yes - Casey's appearance was probably all that was needed. And you are right, I should be glad that Casey was even mentioned on the show, let alone given the opportunity to introduce Ciara.

[Deleted]

It wasn't just you Brett. As I have read some of the post lately it has been building and finally I just let it out.

Now, I hear what you are saying, but let's be honest. This site is the foremost authority on AT40's past. There are what.....5-7 REGULAR posters on this board? The chat on Thursday has maybe 10. I don't know as I havent been in there in a few months, my work schedule dictates that I have to go to sleep earlier now.

All that said, if there are 5-7 regulars on this board, do you REALLY think a history of AT40 on TV would have done any BETTER than the show that was aired? Pop culture over the years seems to love these live concert specials, I personally don't and never have(never watched Amercian Idol, Star Search, or anything else either). But overall, I guess they do pretty well usually or there wouldnt be so many every year, award shows included. If the live music show did as badly as it wound up doing, I can only imagine that a retrospective would do far worse. Stuff like historical music show retro's should be left to VH-1 or one of those cable stations.

[Matt Cameron]

I agree with Paul that a retrospective show would be handled better by a cable channel like VH-1. They always seem to do well with their 70's, 80's and 90's themed shows. I hope they or someone will do something to commemorate AT40's 35th Anniversary this July. I don't think Fox will.

[Scott Lakefield]

Paul said:

All that said, if there are 5-7 regulars on this board, do you REALLY think a history of AT40 on TV would have done any BETTER than the show that was aired?

Not a chance. The AT40 special was about the music, which, sadly, is all that people care about. Other than the visitors of this site, past or present members of the radio and/or record industry, and those involved past or present with the show(s), I doubt there are many people who view AT40 as anything more than "just another radio show." I hope I'm wrong there, you all know what a special place AT40 has and always will hold in my heart. But I'm just trying to look at it realistically.

I will say this, however. I was glad to see Casey appearing on the AT40 TV show. I thought he'd get ZERO air time...either mentioning his name or an on-screen appearance. Instead, Casey got about a minute on camera, and there was that huge montage at the beginning of the show of current music artists telling of their experience of listening to AT40 as kids...and most acknowledged that back then, it was CASEY that they listened to. All of this added up to far from the zero that I was expecting.

So, the producers of the AT40 TV special (and Ryan was one of them) got it right...they acknowledged Casey and the show's history...while trying to play to the larger audience who just wants to hear (or in this case, view) the hits.

[Deleted]

I really thought VH-1 would have included a small part of the "I Love the 70's: 1970" program to the debut of American Top 40. I mean, for the 1974 show they DID include a couple of minutes to "Land of the Lost!" As much as I love the show and have all three seasons on DVD, it isn't like it was one of the greatest shows ever made or anything. Plus, they were including all kinds of crap all over that show. But...on second thought, maybe it was good they didn't. The people who would comment were either trying to make everyone laugh or were insulting whatever was on(stuff you know good and well they were into back in the day)