Casey Kasem

Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (/ˈkeɪsəm/ KAY-səm; April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, actor, and radio presenter who created and hosted several radio countdown programs, notably American Top 40, as well as the weekly syndicated television series America's Top 10. He was the first actor to voice Shaggy Rogers in the Scooby-Doo franchise (1969 to 1997 and 2002 to 2009) and Dick Grayson/Robin in Super Friends (1973–1985).

Kasem began hosting the original American Top 40 on the weekend of July 4, 1970, and remained there until 1988. He hosted Casey's Top 40 from January 1989 to February 1998, then revived American Top 40 in 1998. He hosted two countdowns for the adult contemporary format from 1992 to 2009. He also founded the American Video Awards in 1983 and continued to co-produce and host it until its final show in 1987.

Kasem provided many commercial voiceovers, performed many voices for children's television (such as Sesame Street and the Transformers cartoon series), was "the voice of NBC", and helped with the annual Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon.

Kemal Amin Kasem was born on April 27, 1932, in Detroit, Michigan, to Lebanese Druze parents Helen Dow (also Helen Sefa) and Amin Kasem, who were grocers. His father, whose original surname is sometimes given as Konsow or Kansao, immigrated from Moukhtara, Lebanon while his mother was born to a Lebanese family in Carbondale, Pennsylvania. He was named after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, whom his father respected. Kasem's parents did not allow their children to speak Arabic and insisted that they assimilate into American life.

In the 1940s, the radio show Make Believe Ballroom reportedly inspired Kasem to pursue a career as a radio disc jockey. He received his first experience in radio covering sports at Northwestern High School in Detroit. He then attended Wayne State University, where he voiced children on radio programs such as The Lone Ranger and Challenge of the Yukon. In 1952, he was drafted into the Army and sent to Korea where he worked as a disc jockey and announcer on the American Forces Korea Network (AFKN).

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.