After it was revealed that the whereabouts of former "Top 40" radio host Casey Kasem are unknown, Glenn Beck reflected on the influence the legendary broadcaster has had on the nation and on his own career.
"I remember the first time I met Casey Kasem, right after we joined [Premiere Radio Networks]," Beck said on his radio program Tuesday. "I'm walking into Premiere Radio, and I see Rush Limbaugh's Los Angeles studios. I see Dr. Laura's studios ... all these amazing legends."
Beck said when he walked around a corner and saw Kasem's studios, though, it was like he was a "12-year-old kid all of a sudden."
Glenn Beck speaks on his radio program about the influence "Top 40" host Casey Kasem had on the nation. (Photo: TheBlaze TV)
Beck recalled childhood instances when he wouldn't go out with friends so he could stay home and listen to Kasem. He said Kasem was "very gracious" when he was able to meet him in 2001.
Beck also added that the encounter was before he became "Glenn Beck, the infamous," but said he likes to think Kasem would have been gracious even today, despite their different views on matters like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"This is a bizarre case," Beck said. "Here's a legend, a guy who -- forget about the radio part. Here's the voice of Shaggy in Scooby-Doo. Here's a voice you have heard for generations."
"Just pray for the family," Beck asked his audience. "And Casey Kasem, thank you. As a 12-year-old kid that got into radio because it was magic, because the power of the spoken word was something that could take you places that you had never been. [It] made you have feelings that you had never felt before, and hear stories of people that you had never met. But by the time you were finished telling the story, we felt we knew them. Thank you, Casey Kasem."
Superior Court Judge Daniel S. Murphy on Monday ordered a court investigator and adult protective services to find out where Kasem is being treated. The 82-year-old former "Top 40" host, who suffers from advanced Parkinson's disease, can no longer speak and has been in various medical facilities chosen by his wife, Jean Kasem.
But Kasem's children have complained that they have been unable to see their father in accordance with an agreement with their stepmother. Daughter Kerri Kasem had sought a temporary conservatorship and was appointed her father's temporary caretaker on Monday. Her attorney, Troy Martin, said the family believed the entertainer has been taken to an Indian reservation in Washington state.
Murphy's order came after Craig Marcus, an attorney who appeared on Jean Kasem's behalf at Monday's hearing, said he did not know where the radio personality was but that he was "no longer in the United States."
"I have no idea where he is," Marcus said.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
