Kasem signing off on 'AT40'

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Casey Kasem, longtime host of radio's "American Top 40," is leaving the show he helped create more than three decades ago.

Beginning the weekend of Jan. 10-11, "American Idol's" Ryan Seacrest will take over the hosting duties on the weekly hit music countdown show that has come to be called "AT40" for short.

Kasem created the show in 1970 with Ron Jacobs and Tom Rounds. He left the show in 1988 and Shadoe Stevens took over until "American Top 40" went off the air in 1995. After ABC allowed the rights to the original show to expire, Kasem acquired rights to the show and eventually sold them to Premiere Radio Networks, an arm of the Clear Channel broadcasting company.

Kasem's final "AT40" show is scheduled for the weekend of Jan. 3, but he is not going off the air entirely. He will host two versions of "American Top 20" for Premiere Radio Networks, customized for two different types of adult contemporary hit music stations.

With Seacrest in the studio, "AT40" will offer a more "live" feel -- allowing the audience to vote on hits and talk to the host on the air.