Casey Kasem

Two charts I followed in the early '90s (on shortwave radio) were BBC's Multitrack Top 10 (hosted by Tim Smith) and Billboard Top 10 on Now music USA (VOA, hosted by Ray McDonald). Casey's Top 40, hosted by Casey Kasem, was aired on VOA Europe. On the first listen itself I was blown away by his style and format of the program. As the Wiki entry says, he pioneered the format of countdown shows.

I received this autographed picture from Casey Kasem (in 1993, I guess) and is the best thing in my radio memorabilia collection.
Now you can hear Casey Kasem on Radio Indigo in Bangalore on weekends.

Keep reaching for the stars!

Willis Conover 1920-1996

Cross posted from my other blog. The complete scanned copy of the VOA newletter is posted here.

Willis Conover 1920-1996
You may call Willis Conver a Jazz legend, though he was just the host of the Jazz Hour program on Voice of America. I heard Conover on radio (Voice of America on shortwave) when I was probably too young to listen to Jazz. Perhaps he is the only radio show host who is as respected as the legends of the music genre itself.

The clipping is from the VOA newsletter which I recieved in '96. Click on the image to read.

Read the Conover tribute by the The Hindu jazz critic Jazzebel here.

Radio Indigo

In Bangalore, Radio Indigo is one FM station that tries to be different, by playing music that differentiates it from the rest (Western pop/rock, Classic rock, Jazz and World music). Before hitting the FM airwaves, Indigo had a presence on the Worldspace satellite radio in the early 2000s. Much of my Sunday mornings during that time was largely devoted to Indigo, which had some great programs on weekend. While other channels have revised their genre of music for more foot print and ad revenues, Radio Indigo has completely stuck to its roots, thanks to the visionary owner Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

Mint has profiled Mr. Chandrasekhar in its weekend edition, Lounge.

Chandrasekhar’s involvement in the media will also extend to a 2-hour programme
that he will host on his FM station. It will “play blues, contemporary rock…” It
won’t just be about the music he likes, Chandrasekhar says. “If the point of
having a radio station is to play only music I like, it would be cheaper to buy
a music player rather than invest Rs35 crore in running a station,” he adds.