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The Ultimate Party with Tom Kent
Big Hits & Big Requests every Saturday Night from 7pm – Midnight
Reach Tom live toll free at 800-TOM KENT Saturday night or email [email protected]
I’m at this soccer game with my daughter Katie at the University of Akron.
A whistle blows. It’s half-time. I decide to mosey next door where the Akron Zips baseball team had a game in their new state of the art stadium. I was struck by the idea that they had modeled their facility after major league baseball parks. There was music blasting between innings just like the big leagues. In the stands I noticed what appeared to be a 12 year old girl singing along with “I Feel Good” by James Brown and then right beside her was about a 54 year old woman singing along too. What I witnessed I’d probably seen a hundred times before, not just at sporting events, but also at parties. What was different was on that day the light bulb went on. It was crystal clear that we’ve got an entire culture that has been inundated over the years with great party music that everyone knows and loves. Music that makes all of us, in the immortal words of Mr Brown, feel good! And so, The Ultimate Party show was born! Saturday night would be the platform and feeling good would be it’s anthem. Party music has no boundaries. It’s genderless, ageless, and era-less because it’s timeless! ”The Ultimate Party” is the most fun you will ever have listening to the radio…I promise! It’s five hours of wall to wall party hits. If it wasn’t a party hit, it ain’t gonna be played. Period. Join the party. Take “The Party Pledge” by signing up for “The Ultimate Party” Underground Lampshade Club. Send me an email with your name, address, age and telephone number and we’ll make sure your on the list for free party favors like t-shirts, mugs, hats, trips to far away fun party places and even cold hard party cash! Listen every Saturday night for your chance to win. Also please let me know about your favorite party songs you’d like to hear more of or any ideas you may have for the show.
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The Amazing ’80s with M.G. Kelly
Saturday Nights at Midnight!
KOOL 105 takes you back to the era of big hair and big beats with two hours of big hits hosted by M.G. Kelly, winner of Billboard Magazine’s “National Radio Personality of the Year!
Film and TV sound bites, Historic news events, Artist Interviews, Lifestyle flashbacks, Fun and creative trivia contests, and of course: Big Hits from the 1980’s!
The Amazing ’80s with M.G. Kelly: a great way to keep your Saturday Night party rollin’!
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Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 – The ’80s
6-10am Sundays
Casey Kasem was one of the most recognizable voices in radio and television. Millions of fans around the world still find his name synonymous with musical countdowns. Today, Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 – The 70’s and Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 -The 80’s continue to be distributed and broadcast by Premiere Networks on more than 200 radio stations around the world, as well as on Sirius-XM Satellite Radio.
In 2009, after 39 years as the “King of the Countdowns,” Kasem stepped down as host of American Top 20 and American Top 10, and in 2003, he retired from the helm of American Top 40 – the show he created in 1970 that became the gold standard of music programming.
Kasem’s friendly, “crackling” voice style took him to the top of his profession. The man, who once dreamed of being a baseball player but ended up as a radio sports announcer instead, was the youngest member ever inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. He has his own star on Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame. In 1997, Billboard magazine honored him with its first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award. Kasem was honored with the first ever “Radio Icon” award at the Radio Music Awards in 2003. He also received the first “Lifetime Achievement Award” from Clear Channel Communications, parent company of Premiere, in 2004.
Kasem also released his own series of music CDs entitled, Casey Kasem Presents America’s Top Ten Through The Years, highlighting 20 top ten hits from each decade of the rock and roll era, the 1950s – 1990s.
Throughout his career, Kasem worked as a character actor in films and television. He has voiced countless commercials and Saturday morning cartoon-show characters, including the voice of Shaggy in the evergreen Scooby Doo television and film franchise.
All this is a long way from when young Kemal Amen Kasem, son of Lebanese Druze parents, was a sportscaster for his Detroit high school’s radio club. It was a short hop to radio acting. While majoring in speech and English at Wayne State University, he landed roles in national shows like “The Lone Ranger” and “Sergeant Preston of the Yukon.” During military service in Korea, he coordinated and acted in radio drama on the Armed Forces Network.
A civilian again in 1954, Kasem became a disc jockey, moving from Detroit to Cleveland, Buffalo, Oakland and eventually Los Angeles. The easy-going vocal style that was his trademark came about as the result of a station manager in Oakland telling him to change his format from wild, improvised comedy characters – just minutes before he was to go on the air. With only moments to spare and still stuck for a new format idea, he spied a discarded magazine, Who’s Who in Pop Music, 1962, in a trash barrel at the studio. It was full of facts about recording artists – exactly what he needed. That night he began telling stories about the true lives of popular musicians – teased with lead-ins a few minutes before each story was told. This “teaser/bio” format became a familiar part of American Top 40 and a standard in the radio industry.
Away from radio, Kasem co-hosted Jerry Lewis’ annual Labor Day Telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association beginning in 1981. He received the prestigious Founder’s Award for aiding Danny Thomas’ St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. A vegetarian, he did TV spots and specials aimed at combating alcohol abuse, drunk driving and hunger, as well as a major campaign against smoking for the National Cancer Institute.
Kasem was a member of FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting). He spent much of his time after 1986 calling the entertainment industry’s attention to ethnic stereotyping. He also helped promote and support workshops like the Cousins Club that brings Arabs, Jews and others together to discuss conflict resolutions. Kasem aided the Great Peace March in the U.S.A. (1986), and participated in the American-Soviet Walk to End an Arms Race Nobody Wants, held in the U.S.S.R. (1987). He returned to Moscow in 1992 to emcee a pop music concert on behalf of the Children of Chernobyl charity project.
His alma mater, Wayne State University, presented him with its “Distinguished Alumni” award. He received the 1989 “Martin Luther King Drum Major” award from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and, in 1990, the NAACP’s “Image” award and the “Ellis Island Medal of Honor” award.
Kasem passed away on June 15, 2014. He is survived by his four children and his wife Jean, an actress who co-starred in the 1987 NBC-TV comedy series “The Tortellis.”
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Lovin’ Life Livin’ The ’80s
Sundays 5-10pm with host Tom Kent
Lovin’ Life, Livin’ the 80′s” is a show that celebrates music of the great decade of the 1980s. It’s all here…the Pop, the Rock, and the Soul from the beginning in 1980 all the way through 1989. I’m so passionate about this decade that I’ve put together a show that will bring you to a place in time that I know will put a smile on your face.
When I think of the 80′s, I think of Ronald Reagan, the end of the cold war, Back to the Future, the beginning of my family and some fantastic days in radio working at WLS in Chicago, WAVA in Washington and WRQC in Cleveland. Nothing is ever perfect but in my mind, the 80′s was just about as perfect as it gets. Every song takes me back to that place and time. The artists of the 80′s are iconic and distinctive and they’re all played here. Billy Joel, Huey Lewis, Queen, Eagles, Hall and Oates, John Mellencamp, Police, Journey, Michael Jackson, Bryan Adams, Heart, and so many more.
Here’s my 80′s pledge and mission statement for “Lovin’ Life, Livin’ the 80′s”. I promise to play the songs that you want to hear and present them in a fun way that will entertain you. I hope you enjoy this show as much as I do bringing it to you. As with all my shows, I always welcome and appreciate your feedback.