My Sunday Morning Ritual Spent With Casey Kasem

It was a ritual.  Every Sunday, after church, I would grab the keys from mom and run out to the car to start it and dial up the AM radio station.  As soon as I heard the music and that voice, I was locked in until noon.  It was American Top 40 and that voice was Casey Kasem.  I would listen intently to hear what Casey had to say as he "counted them down from Number 40 to Number 1."  Whether we had to stop at the grocery store or were simply headed home, I wasn't getting out of that car until we hit "#1" for fear of missing a story or maybe a letter from a listener.  The rest of the family would go inside to change out of their church clothes, but not me, I would sit in the car until the #1 song of the week was unveiled and Casey would give his sign-off "keep you feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars."  LIke I said...this was a ritual - starting when I was 7 or 8 years old - going until I was in high school.

With Casey Kasem's passing this weekend that voice has been silenced.  The voice that introduced me to so many songs and introduced me to a world of radio that pulled me in and made me want to do what I have now done for a living for the past quarter of a century.  Thank you Casey.  You reached so many...and now you've reached the stars.