{"id":17150,"date":"2014-06-16T00:16:46","date_gmt":"2014-06-16T07:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/?p=17150"},"modified":"2014-06-16T10:16:38","modified_gmt":"2014-06-16T17:16:38","slug":"casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\/","title":{"rendered":"5 RADIO LESSONS I LEARNED FROM CASEY KASEM"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"American<\/a>There will be no shortage of well deserved tributes to Casey Kasem, from people who knew him far better than I. So let’s just “talk radio,” with the big 5 lessons I learned from him.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Stubbornly Champion Your Dream<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

At station after station, Casey tried to convince program director after program\u00a0director<\/span> to allow him to do a countdown show.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Let’s see if I understand this: You want to count backward from 40 to 1. And you think somehow that will be fascinating to listeners? I don’t think so.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

If It’s Worth Listening To, People Will Listen.<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Shortly after I arrived in L.A., I stumbled upon “American Top 40” via KEZY’s shaky radio signal from Anaheim. That was before the program became nationally, then internationally known.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was attracted primarily by the drama (see below) of the countdown format. As a listener, I’d have had to be awfully dense not to grasp (and always remember) the power of the “tease.”<\/span><\/p>\n

But the biggest lesson I learned was: People will listen to unique programming that they enjoy, even if the radio station is (as KEZY was in Los Angeles) at a competitive disadvantage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Drama Is Where You Find or Make It.<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Many years ago I happened upon a print interview with Art Garfunkel<\/strong><\/span>, who related how as a kid he’d avidly follow the Billboard charts\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026and how exciting it was on those rare occasions when a record that been climbing the charts and then began to drop\u2026reversed directions and started climbing again.<\/span><\/p>\n

I knew exactly what he was talking about. I had felt the same way.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, the long distance dedications.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, the artist bio blurbs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, the teases.<\/span><\/p>\n

But most radio people never understood what Casey intuitively knew: There was drama in those numbers\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026if you knew where to look and if you knew how to present it.<\/span><\/p>\n

How to Handle Embarrassment<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Sure, I enjoyed it when a friend sent me one of the first bootlegs of Casey’s X-rated “dog dying” rant.<\/span><\/p>\n

The contrast between his carefully protected, squeaky clean image and the anger-fueled coarse language made it irresistibly entertaining.<\/span><\/p>\n

How did Casey publicly react?<\/span><\/p>\n

Did he express outrage at the violation of his privacy?<\/span><\/p>\n

Did he demand that whoever leaked the tape be fired?<\/span><\/p>\n

Did he claim he’d somehow been “set up” by his enemies, who were out to embarrass him?<\/span><\/p>\n

I wouldn’t be surprised if his private reactions included at least one of the above.<\/span><\/p>\n

But when asked about it publicly, he said something like, “I haven’t heard it”<\/em> (I find that hard to believe) “but apparently when I was recording a show I lost my temper and swore a lot.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Oh. Umm\u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, okay. I guess I don’t really have any follow-up questions, and the Big Story becomes what it deserves to be: a minor embarrassment with no lasting importance.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Always, Successful Radio Is About Just One Thing.<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

People.<\/span><\/p>\n

Up-and-comers, supergroups and one-hit wonders who are moving up or sliding down the charts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those sentimental long distance dedications. Corny? Perhaps. But they came from real people, and each represented a real person’s story.<\/span><\/p>\n

And every disc jockey, radio host and presenter in the world who does some form of “countdown” or “chart” show carries Casey’s torch.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thereby demonstrating that sometimes, when the dream is strong enough, the talent large enough, and the determination fiercer than the skepticism it faces\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

A very lucky few of us stubbornly seize a surprising measure of immortality by reaching for the stars.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There will be no shortage of well deserved tributes to Casey Kasem, from people who knew him far better than I. So let’s just “talk radio,” with the big 5 lessons I learned from him. Stubbornly Champion Your Dream At station after station, Casey tried to convince program director after program\u00a0director to allow him to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"yoast_head":"\n5 RADIO LESSONS I LEARNED FROM CASEY KASEM<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 RADIO LESSONS I LEARNED FROM CASEY KASEM\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There will be no shortage of well deserved tributes to Casey Kasem, from people who knew him far better than I. So let’s just “talk radio,” with the big 5 lessons I learned from him. Stubbornly Champion Your Dream At station after station, Casey tried to convince program director after program\u00a0director to allow him to […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DanODayRadio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-16T07:16:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-06-16T17:16:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/CaseyKasem-320.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan O'Day\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Dan_ODay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Dan_ODay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan O'Day\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dan O'Day\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c\"},\"headline\":\"5 RADIO LESSONS I LEARNED FROM CASEY KASEM\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-16T07:16:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-06-16T17:16:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":586,\"commentCount\":4,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/CaseyKasem-320.png\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\\\/\",\"name\":\"5 RADIO LESSONS I LEARNED FROM CASEY KASEM\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/CaseyKasem-320.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-16T07:16:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-06-16T17:16:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/CaseyKasem-320.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/CaseyKasem-320.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"5 RADIO LESSONS I LEARNED FROM CASEY KASEM\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\",\"description\":\"Straight talk about radio programming, radio advertising, radio production...Well, you get the idea.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c\",\"name\":\"Dan O'Day\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/assistant\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 RADIO LESSONS I LEARNED FROM CASEY KASEM","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"5 RADIO LESSONS I LEARNED FROM CASEY KASEM","og_description":"There will be no shortage of well deserved tributes to Casey Kasem, from people who knew him far better than I. So let’s just “talk radio,” with the big 5 lessons I learned from him. Stubbornly Champion Your Dream At station after station, Casey tried to convince program director after program\u00a0director to allow him to […]","og_url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\/","og_site_name":"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DanODayRadio","article_published_time":"2014-06-16T07:16:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-06-16T17:16:38+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/CaseyKasem-320.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Dan O'Day","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Dan_ODay","twitter_site":"@Dan_ODay","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan O'Day","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\/"},"author":{"name":"Dan O'Day","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c"},"headline":"5 RADIO LESSONS I LEARNED FROM CASEY KASEM","datePublished":"2014-06-16T07:16:46+00:00","dateModified":"2014-06-16T17:16:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\/"},"wordCount":586,"commentCount":4,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/CaseyKasem-320.png","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\/","url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\/","name":"5 RADIO LESSONS I LEARNED FROM CASEY KASEM","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/CaseyKasem-320.png","datePublished":"2014-06-16T07:16:46+00:00","dateModified":"2014-06-16T17:16:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/CaseyKasem-320.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/CaseyKasem-320.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/casey-kasem-5-radio-lessons\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"5 RADIO LESSONS I LEARNED FROM CASEY KASEM"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/","name":"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","description":"Straight talk about radio programming, radio advertising, radio production...Well, you get the idea.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c","name":"Dan O'Day","url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/author\/assistant\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17150"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17159,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17150\/revisions\/17159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}