Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia · Slate Podcasts

Feet on the Ground, Reaching for the Stars Edition Part 2

·52 min·4 clips

On July 4th, 1970, Casey Kasem debuted American Top 40 with Marvin Gaye's 'The End of Our Road' at number 40.

This episode of Hit Parade, hosted by chart analyst Chris Molanphy, focuses on the life and career of legendary radio host Casey Kasem. Molanphy, celebrating the podcast's 100th episode, details how Kasem's work on *American Top 40* shaped music fandom and chart culture. The episode traces Kasem's early life as Kamal Amin Kasem in Detroit, his initial radio work, and his adoption of the name "Casey" from the poem "Casey at the Bat." It covers the 1970 launch of *American Top 40*, which used *Billboard*'s Hot 100 chart and started on just seven stations. A key innovation was the 1978 introduction of the "Long Distance Dedication" segment, inspired by Kasem's own 1964 spoken-word single "Letter from Elena." The show's format deliberately mixed genres, playing pop, rock, R&B, and disco hits in a single countdown. By the 1980s, the program aired on 520 stations, and Kasem expanded to television with *America's Top 10*. A surprising insight is that Kasem co-created *AT40* and worked for free for its first two years until it turned a profit. The infamous "Dead Dog Tape," a studio outtake from 1985 featuring an explicit rant, revealed how seriously Kasem took transitions between songs. The most dedicated song in the Long Distance Dedication segment's history was Kenny Rogers' "Through the Years." Kasem left *AT40* in 1988 over a contract dispute but returned in 1998 after buying back the rights with his partner Don Bustany. His final countdown in 2009 featured Taylor Swift's "Love Story." The tone is educational and deeply nostalgic, blending biographical narrative with music history trivia. Molanphy's delivery is conversational and reverent, reflecting his personal admiration for Kasem. This episode will delight fans of pop music history, radio lore, and stories about iconic 20th-century media figures. Listeners with no interest in chart mechanics or the golden age of radio might find it less engaging.

As heard by us

A tribute-heavy chart-history segment that casts Casey Kasem as central to American Top 40's suspense.

Chris Melanthe uses Hit Parade's 100th episode to move from a chart-nerd origin story to Casey Kasem, one of his radio heroes and a lasting influence on the show.

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Why you'd press play

You want Casey Kasem, chart trivia, and a reminder that Top 40 could pull pop, rock, R&B, country, Latin, disco, and even jazz crossover into one countdown.

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