Casey Kasem hosts his final top 20 countdown

Kasem said he ‘loved every minute’ of his broadcasting career

Eric Jamison / AP file	After 39 years, Casey Kasem has retired from doing his music countdown show.

Most popular

• Most viewed

• Top rated

• Most e-mailed

The 10 most gorgeous mother-daughter pairs

911 caller: Husband won’t eat dinner

‘Unusually large storm’ strikes central U.S.

Report: Bin Laden daughter hiding in Tehran

Senate clears last hurdle before final health vote

Most viewed on msnbc.com

updated 8:53 p.m. ET July 6, 2009

Casey Kasem has done his final countdown.

The 77-year-old DJ told “American Top 20” listeners across the country Saturday that the program would be his last.

Kasem launched his weekly countdown of the nation’s most popular songs, the “American Top 40,” on July 4, 1970. Ryan Seacrest took over the show in 2004, and Kasem went on to host two syndicated spinoffs, the “American Top 20” and “American Top 10.”

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

Kasem said he “loved every minute” of his broadcasting career, but that he was leaving the show to “free up time I need to focus on myriad other projects.”