Legendary radio personality Casey Kasem, best known for his popular rock ‘n’ roll countdown show, “American Top 40,” died June 15 at age 82 in Washington state.

Kasem entertained radio audiences for nearly four decades, starting in Flint, Mich. in the mid 1950s. He developed his on-air, rock-trivia radio persona as a disc jockey in the early 1960s at KYA in San Francisco and KEWB in Oakland. He also worked at WJW (now WKNR) in Cleveland; WBNY (now WWWS) in Buffalo and KRLA in Los Angeles (1963–69), before launching “American Top 40” in 1970.

A native of Detroit, he was born Kemal Amin Kasem in 1932 to immigrant Lebanese parents. He graduated Wayne State University and in 1952 was drafted into the U.S. Army. He was assigned to Korea, where he worked as an Armed Forces Radio announcer.

Kasem co-hosted a local 1960s TV teen dance show, “Shebang” in Los Angeles. He later appeared in a few network TV shows and low-budget biker-theme movies in the late 1960s. He also provided off-camera voices for cartoon characters, commercial narration and was once the promo voice for NBC-TV.

Casey Kasem received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1981. He was also inducted into the National Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame in 1985 and the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1992.