Casey Top American Radio Popular Show Song Created

American Top 40 is a popular, weekly radio program that "counts down" the 40 most popular songs in the United States, "announcing" (saying) and playing them one at a time, starting with the 40th most popular song and ending with the most popular song.

The show was created in 1970 by a man named Casey Kasem. He "hosted the show" (was the main person who spoke on the show) from 1970 to 1988, providing information about each of the most popular 40 songs, such as who sang them and whether they had already been in the list of the top 40 songs in earlier weeks. He provided "bios" (biographies; information about a person's life) for a few of the musicians and told stories about how they had created the songs.

Listeners could "call in" (participate in a radio show by using one's phone) to ask questions about the songs. They could also "request" (ask for) "dedications," where Casey would say that a certain song was being played for a certain person, perhaps because someone wanted to express love for that person by having his or her name said on the radio right before a "meaningful" (filled with meaning and importance) song was played.

In 1988, another person began hosting American Top 40, so Casey created a similar show called Casey's Top 40. Many radio stations decided to "broadcast" (play on the radio) only Casey's show. In 1998, Casey renamed his show to be American Top 40 again, and he continued hosting it for another five years. Beginning in 2004, another man began hosting the show, but Casey continues to host related programs, including American Top 20 with Casey Kasem and American Top 40 with Casey Kasem. Casey Kasem's radio shows were very popular and many people today can easily recognize his "distinctive" (different from others) voice.