Part Four - New York
AM Top 40 was starting to die out around
1970 as FM began to catch on. One of the first casualties was New York's WMCA,
which usually ran a distant second to powerhouse WABC. WMCA management decided
to launch an all-talk format with a heavy emphasis on news.
Bob was called to New York to help launch
the effort. The talk format lasted…for a while.
The news commitment did not. Around
Christmastime 1970 Bob found himself unemployed again.
And again, that didn't last long.
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Bob on the air at WNEW AM and FM
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There were plenty of opportunities for an
accomplished radio newsman in New York at the time, and soon Bob found himself
working at what many considered the premier newsroom in the city.
WNEW had an enormous news department—nearly
60 people—all the more remarkable considering that it was primarily a music
station, but the news came on every hour on the hour.
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The news on WNEW simulcast on the
middle-of-the-road AM station and the progressive rock WNEW-FM. Bob needed all
his resourcefulness, as he had to craft scripts that simultaneously appealed to
two very different audiences.
Bob anchored mornings and reported the news
on WNEW through the 70's and into the 80's—tough, turbulent times in the
city—with some highlights and plenty of lowlights.
Radio and radio news in particular were
changing during these years. The idea of music stations with enormous news
departments was falling out of favor.
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Bob in the
WNEW newsroom |
WNEW staffers left and were not replaced. The hourly news was dropped from WNEW-FM. The news staff was further reduced. By
1986 the news department was little more than a shell—and after more than 15
years at WNEW, Bob was out.
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Bob on the beat for WOR
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It was becoming clear that if you wanted to
do the news on the radio in the 1980's and beyond, you'd better be with a
station that did the news on the radio and not much else.
After a short stint at WOR, Bob found a new
home at 1010 WINS.
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It was exciting to be on the air at a
station where there were no listeners sitting through the news to get to back to
the music; the entire audience was tuning in specifically to hear the news.
Bob reported and anchored with equal skill.
After almost forty years in the business, Bob was one of the best in the
business. His news judgment was uncanny, his ability to communicate unparalleled
and his style had long ago been perfected—his delivery was simultaneously
conversational and authoritative. Listeners had the impression of hearing the
news from a trusted friend—a friend with an incredible voice.
In 1993, 1010 WINS invited Bob to become a
permanent part of the WINS morning anchor staff. He was now a member of the most
listened to morning show in the entire United States. Millions of people woke up
every morning to Bob and gave him “22 minutes” to find out what was happening.
He’d come a long way from Akron.
| As Bob always done throughout his career, he
did more than his job description required. At WINS, he was union shop steward.
He wrote a manual on how to use the police scanners and was a mentor to junior
members of the staff.
The hours were rough, as they had been for
much of Bob's career. But living in a Manhattan high-rise less than a block from
the 1010 WINS studios made it a little easier. He could stay up to a catch a
ballgame and still make it to work at 4:10 in the morning. |
Bob on the balcony of his Manhattan apartment. |
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