Casey Kasem has Parkinson’s and is unable to speak. His family struggle has finally made it to the national consciousness,
His second wife has blocked all contact with his children. For the most part, she was successful – however, the current situation is that he is possibly being held on an Indian reservation in Washington State in an attempt to say he s outside the jurisdiction of US Courts. That is not siting well with the judge.
The Top 40 show you may have heard on the radio in your youth were distributed on LP phonograph records, which are more durable than magnetic media. Several stations use those to air the old shows – KPRC-AM in Houston does 3 hours on Saturday nights (Premiere Radio does the distribution)
I’m somewhat indifferent about Kasem’s legacy and his family situation. He was from the Detroit area – his family were Lebanese Christian immigrants in the grocery business. Henry Ford aggressively sponsored Lebanese immigrants as he found them to be more capable to do work making cars and easier to manage. Casey was very politically active in Arab American causes and a big supporter in the Democratic Party. He has been married to his current wife since 1980, so he knew what he was doing when he did that. There is no right for children to inherit their parent’s “stuff”.
I haven’t heard the KPRC stream but sometimes listen to his show on SiriusXM’s 70son7 channel. I think they have it weekends (commercial free, of course). The songs are mainly the same as you would hear on that station regularly but with a larger playlist.
The most interesting parts are when he introduces a “new” artist or a brand new song from a familiar artist – that and of course the long distance dedications. I always wonder what happened to the couples in the long distance dedications from 40 years ago.
Kasem’s career wasn’t too “Shaggy”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm0LnxB2c9Q
The judge who turned over control of his affairs to his daughter has given her the go ahead to pull the plug
http://www.thewrap.com/casey-kasem-life-support-kerri-top-40-hospice/
Casey Kasem has died.
He lives on forever as Shaggy. Anyone have a scooby snack? 😉