Part Five - Epilogue
Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Far and away the best prize that
life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” Bob had achieved
that prize and had done it with the admiration of his listeners and the respect
of his colleagues.
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Bob's last day on the air.
February 26, 1999
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But the business was changing. It wasn't
the same one Bob entered four decades earlier. He liked the new technology;
he took to computers and the Internet with an enthusiasm and mastery
unmatched by much younger colleagues. But he didn't like all the changes in
the industry and he began to think about life beyond radio.
By now Keta had staked out a retirement home in Arizona with easy access to
Cactus League baseball. |
It was February 1999. A new millennium was
approaching. It was time.
Bob joined Keta in Arizona. Free from the demands of his career, they could
finally do the things other couples took for granted—go to movies, museums, and
events together without the time constraints of the job.
A Phoenix station tried to lure Bob out of
retirement to no avail. But Bob frequently weighed in on radio matters via the
New York Radio Message Board on the Internet. A true newsman, he loved radio to
the end.
Bob died at home, in Peoria, Arizona, on
July 4, 2004.
His funeral was a celebration of his life
and ended with a sing-along of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”
“And now he is gone and we are diminished
by his passing, and we and radio are better because he was here. Radio news
people don't come any better than Bob Hagen.”-Andy Fisher |
