Don Bustany

Biography

Bustany was born in Detroit to Lebanese-American parents. He and radio host and voice actor Casey Kasem were childhood friends, and later co-creators of the syndicated radio programs American Top 40 and American Country Countdown.

In the 1970s, Bustany was camera coordinator of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, and other MTM productions. Earlier he had produced local talk shows on several Los Angeles, California stations.

He has a BA in Liberal Arts from Wayne State University and an MS in Communications from Syracuse University.

Bustany is an activist for the Palestinian right of return. Since 1996, he has produced and hosted the radio program Middle East in Focus on KPFK, the Los Angeles station of the Pacifica Radio network. The show's "mission is to fill the many gaps left by the mainstream media in their coverage" of the Middle East. He is a member of the advisory committee of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and, in the 1990s, served for four terms as president of the organization's Los Angeles chapter. For statements that have been critical of the Zionist Movement and Israel, he has been criticized by such organizations as the JDL and the Zionist Organization of America.

Bustany is also a member of the board of directors of the Southern California Chapter of Americans for Democratic Action, a liberal political group.