Iconic DJ Casey Kasem signed off after 39 years in the music business July 4. Kasem, 77, passed the mic to Ryan Seacreast in 2004 to his syndicated radio program, but continued to emcee two abridged versions.

“We began the weekend of July 4, 1970, and after 39 years this will be our final countdown,” he said on American Top 20, with a lack of pomp or bravado.

ABC News said it was an end of an era in a report that, at times, read more like an obituary than a retirement announcement (perhaps not surprising, seeing as how it wasn’t long ago when fellow radio legend Dick Clark largely left the airwaves after a stroke). According to published reports, Kasem gave fans no advance notice of his retirement, and ABC said the DJ has declined interview requests.

However, the New York Times reports that, in a statement, Kasem said he “loved every minute” of the countdowns, but was looking to “free up time I need to focus on a myriad other projects.”

Kasem is also known for voicing the perpetual stoner Shaggy in the Scooby Doo cartoon series, but it will likely be his “long distance dedications” on American Top 40 that his fans will remember.