Classic TV PSAs From The '70s

Casey Kasem's American Top 40

Casey Kasem's American Top 40 was a legendary weekly American radio program.

The program was syndicated nationally and until 1989, and sent to radio stations in a box set of 4 vinyl transcription discs (records that contained the program and national commercials, with cue sheets for the disc jockeys on where to insert the local ad spots.)

Very few stations played this program directly off the records on the air, most stations taped them on reel to reel tape and added the local ads, station jingles, promos, et al to the tapes) prior to broadcast, saving them time, potential errors and the embarrassment of a potentially skipping or stuck record.

Each week when the show was finished, the records were to be returned, whereupon they were destroyed (by contractual obligation.) But this was rarely enforced. Many radio station personnel simply took them home and added them to their personal collections. Or sold them. Which is why they're fairly easy to find at online auctions and used record dealers.

Casey Kasem hosted the program from 1970 to the 2000s in various incarnations, American Top 40, Casey's Top 40 and Casey's Top 20 (for Adult Contemporary radio stations.)

When I was growing up, Casey Kasem's American Top 40 countdown show was MANDATORY listening for me. I used to write down all the songs in my notebook every week and compare them with songs in the previous weeks. Seeing which songs were rising, which ones were falling (I never bothered with the Long Distance Dedications or bonus songs Casey would dot his programs with.)

It was a sad day for me when he stopped hosting the Top 40 program. I never cared much for Rick Dees, Shadoe Stevens and certainly not Ryan Seacrest. Casey Kasem WAS the Top 40 for me.

The Amico AM Radio Wristwatch

Another watch I owned. It was an AM radio on a watch, circa 1979.

It didn't sound very good, coming from a two inch speaker. And in order to see the time, you had to press the lower right button, which the red digital LED display instantly caused a loud screeching noise that overrode the radio signal when the radio was on.

Reception was very limited (Seattle's KJR and KING, then Top 40 stations, which put in strong signals on most radios in the Lynnwood, WA area were barely audible on this radio. But the religious station two miles away in the nearby Edmonds area came in loud and clear.) 

It was also heavy and uncomfortable after a few minutes of wearing......

Crayola Crayons

Who didn't own themselves a box of THESE?

Remember these now retired colours?

Green Blue
Orange Red
Orange Yellow
Violet Blue         
Maize
Lemon Yellow   
Blue Gray
Raw Umber (WTF?)

East German Punk Rock

"Hasch Mich Madchen" Keks (1983)


This was a band from the former German Democratic Republic called Keks (Cookie). Totally unknown outside the GDR, it's been suggested they started out as more of a mainstream pop group before going punk in the early '80s. Didn't last long, they were banned by the East German government by 1985.

Here's what probably sent the East German officials over the edge. A track from 1983 called "Hasch mich Madchen" ("Catch Me Girl"), a strange tune that sounds like a bad rehearsal (they stop and start several times.) Besides, the title (which is repeated throughout the song), it's hard to figure out what they're talking about

From the guitars, you can also pretty much hear how Rammstein and every other German industrial metal band got started on this track:

They later became Knorkator, which was Germany's answer to Ministry. They broke up in 2008 after one of the members decided to start a new life in Thailand......

One other act was Nina Hagen. She came to America in the '70s and quickly established herself as one of the STRANGEST acts in the New Wave era of the early '80s.

She existed just outside of the mainstream in New Wave (but never too far away.) She's probably best known for her song "New York New York", which was featured in the bizarre 2003 Macaulay Culkin film Party Monster.

She appeared on Adamski's 1991 hit and video "Get Your Body". But this would be her last US hit. She's still performing today.