Over the past few weeks the radio community both locally and nationally has seen more losses.

The founder of WVCC, now WMVL/Linesville-Meadville, Art Cervi passed away on Sunday, June 14^th at the Soldiers and Sailors Home in Erie. He was 89. According to the obituary in the Meadville Tribune, Cervi was a World War II veteran who went to work at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh after the war. It wasn’t until he was 50 years old when he went after his dream and began WVCC after receiving notoriety as a DJ of big band and pop music first in Pittsburgh then throughout the Meadville area. He operated WVCC for 33 years, selling it to Joe Vilkie in 2003. I remember Art as a very kind and generous gentleman who was in his element out in the public, holding court on “radio row” every year at the Crawford County Fair.

David Twomey

A quick rising star who left us much too soon was David Twomey, who died on June 30^th in Arlington, VA due to complications from the H1N1 (swine flu) virus. David was a Portland, ME native who came to Gannon University for his undergrad degree. While at Gannon, he served as News Director and New Media Director for WERG, for which he created what is arguably the best radio website in Erie, and that’s five years ago. He also worked at St. Vincent Health Center in corporate communications while in Erie. His love for media and politics flourished at Gannon, leading to an internship for Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, and a Master’s degree from Emerson College in Boston in organizational and political communications. In March 2007, he moved to Washington and began working for the Environmental Protection Agency, then finally to the federal courts as Operations Coordinator for Digital Media Services. Services were held July 7^th in Portland. David was one of those amazing college students who made as much of an impact on Erie, as Erie made on him. He is sorely missed by his class and work mates.

Casey Kasem

Finally, Casey Kasem is no longer counting down the hits. Kasem announced “number one” for the final time on the 4^th of July, on his American Top 20 AC countdown (it was “Second Chance” by Shinedown). After 39 years of music tidbits, long-distance dedications, and “feet on the ground…reaching for the stars,” he is leaving the franchise. For the first time on July 4, 1970, the iconic voice of broadcasting took us through a week’s worth of hits, with artists like Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Temptations, and the Jackson Five appearing in the Top 10, all the way down to number one, “Mama Told Me Not to Come,” by Three Dog Night. Kasem was AT40′s host from 1970 until 1988, when he left ABC Watermark in a contract dispute. He began “Casey’s Top 40″ a year later on Westwood One, while Shadoe Stevens hosted AT40. Kasem revived AT40 in 1998 on what would become a part of Premiere Radio Networks and hosted the CHR countdown until 2004, when Ryan Seacrest took over, and Casey began an Adult Contemporary version of the chart, American Top 20 and American Top 10 which ended on July 4^th. His voice lives on in television commercials, movie trailers, the voice of Shaggy on Scooby Doo, as well as reruns of his 70′s and 80′s countdowns on stations across the country and on Sirius/XM satellite radio. Now, back to the countdown!