RELEASE: Letters to Casey: The Longest Distance Dedication

[baylink]

This weekend was something of an anniversary. Five years ago last week, our favorite storyteller ran out his string; long way aways, no more stories to tell.

And the entire show for which we loved Casey Kasem was about stories; stories about the songs, and the singers... and the listeners. In 1978, Matt Wilson found in the American Top 40 mailbag the listener letter that became the first Long Distance Dedication--of Neil Diamond's "Desiree", from a man to his girlfriend, moving away to West Germany to live on an Army base with her family.

And there were hundreds more.

But in 39 years, Casey only read one Long Distance Dedication *to him*.

We thought that was kind of a shame.

Our response was kind of under the transom at the time, for some fairly obvious reasons, but the world's a somewhat different place nowadays, and so, on this anniversary, we want to share with you...

Letters To Casey: The Longest Distance Dedication

It's a 4 hour countdown we produced that year, in tribute to the King of the Countdown, with 40 dedications to him and his career, shared with us by 40 fans of the show. When we finished it, that Labor Day weekend, we shared it with all of them.

And now, we're sharing it with you.

We hope you enjoy it as much as they did.

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You can get the countdown at

downloads.baylink.com/at40/

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Our thanks to Shannon Lynn, Pete Battistini, Guy Aoki, Scott Lakefield, and all the other staffers, fans, and listeners who both gave the show such a clear frame that we could follow along in its footsteps, and continue to listen to it today, on great radio stations all across the United States.

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Jay R. Ashworth
Daniel Staats
Michael Fox
Pamela Jaye Ashworth