Was Casey A Smoker?

[slf]

Recently, while checking out some AT40-themed Facebook discussion board, someone included a comment that Casey's voice or vocal delivery was affected adversely by him being a smoker.  I have read comments about Casey on this site for years and I don't remember anybody referring to Casey smoking either cigarettes, cigars, or pipes. (And I'm only referring to tobacco; I seriously doubt Casey smoked anything else .)  I would have guessed that Casey lived tobacco-free, given that he was so obsessed with living healthy and eating a healthy, vegan diet.  (Although he may have done that for purely ethical reasons, I don't know.)  Can anybody confirm or deny whether he was or wasn't a smoker?

[mkarns]

Casey said that early in his adulthood he smoked a lot, but quit. I don't know exactly when he quit, but for most if not all of his countdown days he was a nonsmoker.

[woolebull]

I could totally be wrong about this, but I think it was in Rob Durkee's book on American Top 40 that I read that Casey was a smoker, but quit cold turkey after the first surgeon general's warning. That would have been 1964, or when I think he would have been 30 or 31.

[doofus67]

Once during the early to mid-80s, he did a PSA, most likely for the American Cancer Society, that ran during the show. He specifically said, "I used to be a very heavy smoker." That's all I can remember about it.

* Follow-up...It was the National Cancer Institute.

[Deleted]

It’s not surprising. That era smoking was apparently all the rage and people in entertainment, television, and radio smoked like chimneys.

[OldSchoolAT40Fan]

Given Casey was nasally-sounding when he hosted AT40, it implies he smoked at some point in his life.

Smoking was popular among people who are now old enough to be grandparents.