Emotional Feedback: Why Radio Should Never Die

Casey Kasem in the studio, circa 1984

"Here we go with the Top 40 hits of the nation this week on American Top 40, the best-selling and most-played songs from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Canada to Mexico! In the next three hours, we'll count down the 40 most popular hits in the United States this week, hot off the record charts of Billboard magazine. Now, on with the countdown!"

If you read that in the voice of Casey Kasem, you're not alone. I read it that way, too! That's the monologue (or a close variation thereof) that Kasem would use to introduce each week's episode of American Top 40. If you were a music fan and lived near a radio station that picked up the syndicated show (and you probably were), you probably came to know his voice well. I know I did! 

I wasn't around to listen to Kasem's first, "classic" run (he left the show in 1988, and I wasn't born until the next year), but I was around for his triumphant return in 1998! I was a constant listener from then until he left the show again in 2004. All of us music nerds owe Kasem and AT40 a big debt; thanks to the show, we kept up with the fluctuations of the Billboard Top 40 chart, and, thanks to Kasem himself, we got an education in pop music trivia!

Kasem is an important figure in the history of radio. Why? Because he did what every radio DJ should do: he helped bond his audience together! 

For instance, throughout the show, Kasem took care to say that these forty singles were being listened to by people all across the country. As I grew older, the idea that millions of people were listening to AT40 and hearing these singles at the exact same time became really potent to me. I was picked on a lot throughout elementary and middle school, and I felt really lonely. The reassurance that there were millions of other music nuts across the country meant a lot to me. 

Looking back, I think that was when I started to fall in love with radio. For the first time, I had made an emotional connection with what a DJ was saying, and I knew that there were others who were doing so, too. That knowledge made the music even better!

Not every radio DJ has the same pull as Casey Kasem had. After all, not everyone has a nationally syndicated radio show. A DJ doesn't have to have something like that, though, to be great. All a jockey needs to be awesome is:

1. a good broadcast voice
2. a working knowledge of broadcast equipment
3. a great personality
4. a passion for music 
5. a love for the audience

The first two qualities can be taught; the other three things need to already be there. Luckily, most disc jockeys have those unteachable qualities, or they wouldn't have tried to be DJs.

What all that means is that every town has at least one good jockey, or one good station, or whatever. It takes a little searching to find them. Luckily, though, once you DO find them, setting a preset on the radio takes maybe two seconds. And it's worth the search and the presetting to get that kind of connection you can get only from a good disc jockey and good programming.

That kind of connection is hard to get from Pandora Radio or an iPod playlist. Don't get me wrong; I use Pandora and my iPod as much as the next person. However, neither of those things can replace the excitement, laughs, and exhilaration that can come from a good DJ and a good radio playlist. For that reason alone, radio should never die!

(Credit where credit is due: shout-out to Rush and "Spirit of the Radio" for giving me the title of this post!)