Bob at CHWO in 2003 |
Bob Dearborn began in radio at CKOC in
Hamilton, Ontario. Believe it or not, he was only 15 years old! Bob
left his native Canada and began his career in the states at WPRO in Providence.
Other stops along the way included WIXY in Cleveland , WPTR in Albany ,
WKNR in Detroit , and WCFL in Chicago. Bob became world famous after writing
his analysis of Don McLean's American Pie while
at WCFL. . . |
| "Yep, that was
me. In my six years at WCFL, I started on overnights in July of 1970, went
to late-night a few months later (from where I did the 'America Pie analysis',
then to middays in the summer of '72, to morning - drive in late '72, then
back to middays in late '73.
When I was doing mornings by myself in late 1972, it marked the first time WCFL ever beat WLS (our chief nemesis) in morning-drive. To be fair, Super 'CFL really was super -- we were #1 in every daypart except morning - drive, where I was #2 behind Wally Phillips on WGN.. "World Famous" Tom Murphy (a wonderful human being and great talent) was added to the morning show in early '73. When the team concept failed, it was decided to break up the team -- have Tom stay on mornings and send me back to middays where I had had 20- shares in the summer of '72. And that's where I stayed until March 15, 1976, when WCFL abandoned contemporary music for a "Beautiful Music" format. I was offered the morning-drive/Op's Manager position at the new WCFL, but refused it." ... Bob Dearborn After a stop at WDAE in Tampa , Bob joined WTAE in Pittsburgh in 1976. The next Big Challenge came in January 1981 with the RKO Radio Network and Night Time America. Bob was program director at Adult Standards KIXI in Seattle in the late 1990's. Bob took off for a couple of years to care care of his parents in Toronto. Bob began another chapter of his great career April 28, 2003 at CHWO AM 740/ Prime Time Radio in Toronto. In early January 2004, Bob left CHWO. In 2011, Bob is retired. "Last year after looking over the radio landscape and finding nothing appealing, I retired. After 50 years of broadcasting and moving 38 times, we've had enough and are quite content to relax and enjoy life here in southwestern Ontario. I'll keep cranking out the Almanac every day and maybe do some local volunteering but that's the extent of my work plans. I had a wonderful career in broadcasting during an era when it was more possible to do that and I'm extremely grateful for every moment of it and the lovely people I got to meet along the way because of it." ... Bob Dearborn  |
Bob Dearborn
Through The Years. . .
 |
 |
|
WCFL Aircheck  3/15/76
courtesy of www.reelradio.com |
WTAE Aircheck
courtesy of 1250wtae.andmuchmore.com |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
in Toronto in 2003 |
in 2007 |
