Bob Dearborn

Just the FAQs

2011-11-05T15:52:00.005-04:00

Entered November 5, 2011

Frequently Asked Questions about
The Olde Disc Jockey’s Almanac

Q: Why don’t you stick to music and pop culture instead of
including all that other historical stuff?
A: It provides context.

Q: How come your celebrity birthday listings aren’t confined to
actors and musicians?
A: TV & radio personalities, high-profile politicians, sports stars,
and leaders in various other fields are also celebrities.

Q: Why isn't this more youth-oriented, catering to young people?
A: Because everything else is! Youth is served here, just not first and foremost. More importantly, what's "mature" is not ignored.

Q: How come many of your music trivia questions seem really easy?
A: They’re not designed solely for the minority of those among us
who are trivia experts.

Q: Will we ever be able to access random dates?
A: Someday. Maybe.

Q: Are you making a ton o’ money from this site?
A: Nope.

Q: Why are some of the names in red?
A: It indicates they are Canadian.

Q: Why are some of the names in blue?
A: That indicates she’s the day’s Birthday Babe (unless she’s Canadian, then it’s in red).

Q: For the birthdays, why do you show only pictures of women?
A: It’s my site, and nothing gets my heart working overtime like the sight of a beautiful woman! And really, aren’t they all??

Thanks for visiting this site and my Almanac.

2011-06-23T22:27:00.001-04:00

Entered June 23, 2011

Hi!

Didja think I got lost?

Nah. I’ve just been devoting most of my online time to The Olde Disc Jockey’s Almanac. If you haven’t visited that site yet, there’s a link near the top of this page (right beneath where it says 'click the link below') that’ll take you there.

Not much new to report. We got through winter and spring. Those seasons were not as pleasant here this year as they’ve been in the past but I’m sure not gonna whine about it when so many have suffered through worse things like floods, wildfires and tornadoes.

We’re all in good health. Soon the population of this house will be reduced by half as our daughter and her daughter leave us after four years to move into a place of their own. Sure is gonna be quiet around here!

I still miss being on the air but the satisfaction derived from putting out the Almanac every day and seeing the steady growth in readership sorta makes up for it.

Hope all is well in your world.

Take care, and have a wonderful summer!

Bob

2010-12-21T16:00:00.010-05:00

Entered December 21, 2010

Remember what I said about it being unseasonably warm here? Well, never mind.

What is warming, and exceptionally gratifying, is the number of warm holiday wishes coming this way from former listeners, even though I’ve been out of the “public earhole” for going on two years! Some of these lovely, thoughtful folks remember my on-air work from as many as 40 years ago. I can barely remember what I had for dinner last night!

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for remembering and caring enough to reach out with your Christmas greetings.

Many people have included good wishes for Mary Ann, who spent parts of the last two years dealing with breast cancer. She continues to be amazed by your kind support. All her checkups in recent months have shown her to be cancer-free. This is the gift we prayed for during the uncertainty of last Christmas, the gift we celebrate this Christmas.

I hope you have found lots of good reasons to be happy this holiday season, and that joy and prosperity visit you regularly in the New Year.

Cheers!

Bob

2010-09-22T06:00:00.029-04:00

Entered September 22, 2010

Hello, again!

I hope you had a lovely summer. The weather here has been mostly spectacular ... for months! It started in early May and continues through this week. Oh, it got up around 90 degrees (F.) a few times and we had maybe two week’s worth of humid days altogether, but the rest – all five months of it – has been outstanding, with just enough rain to keep everything green without needing to use the sprinkler system very often. Today’s high temperature was in the upper 70s with lots of sunshine. And I’m writing this on September 21! In Canada! Does that shatter your image of this part of the world?

Y’know, I’ve had a feeling for several years that the day will soon come when a lot of people who moved south because of weather are gonna feel like they made a mistake. Climate change is having a wonderful effect on places like southern Ontario but not so much in the southern U.S. People who couldn’t stand two or three months of winter with its colder temperatures and periodic snowfall up north are now down south trying to cope with the annual half-year of continuous, oppressive heat and humidity. What a bargain! They’ve traded three months of unlivable weather for six months of unlivable weather!

In the meantime, our pleasant, comfortable summers seem to be getting longer while the winters are getting shorter, less severe, easier. Other forms of severe weather are something we watch on the TV news. We don’t live with the threat or reality of hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes or flooding.

Can you tell I like it here?

Good thing, too, because this is where we’re going to stay. I looked over the radio landscape during the past year and saw nothing of interest, nothing I fit or that fits me. Nobody cares about the audience that's over the age of 45. Well, I do, but most advertisers do not and, as a result, neither do advertising-supported businesses like radio, especially music radio stations. If an opportunity arises to do some liners or shows from here for a station somewhere, that would be something to consider, but we’re not moving again. I calculate that I’ve moved 38 times during my 50-year radio career. That’s about enough, doncha think?

Mary Ann continues to gain back her strength and energy. We had a couple of little scares and setbacks over the summer but nothing of lasting consequence. She’s even got enough hair now that she can blow-dry it! That may not mean much to you, but it felt like a great achievement to her. She is so very appreciative of all the support and prayers she's received from family, friends and my former listeners -- terrific people like you who she doesn't even know. Thank you for helping her through this ordeal.

I’m still not sure what I want to do with this blog and, frankly, the Almanac has been keeping me plenty busy on a daily basis. It’s been well received and continues to slowly grow a loyal following. Also it keeps me from thinking I've given in to the dreaded "R" word, retirement.

Not much else to report. I just wanted to say hello and bring you up to date while wishing you a beautiful autumn.

Bob

2010-07-05T10:26:00.002-04:00

Entered July 5, 2010

Hi!

Thanks for checking back. I hope you’re having a great summer!

Thank you for all the e-mails of support and encouragement during my wife’s run-in with cancer. It’s been a difficult 7-8 months for Mary Ann, for the whole family, while she’s endured surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments. But now she’s feeling much better, regaining her strength, her energy … and, yes, her hair. The doctors say she’s healing well and, best of all, there’s no further evidence of cancer.

I’m thinking about resuming this blog, perhaps as early as next month. In the meantime, you might be interested in my new blog – OldeDiscJockeysAlmanac.blogspot.com – that was first developed as an alternative to this one during that recent period when it was having technical issues. It has since evolved into what could be a helpful service for my fellow broadcasters who, like me, have been frustrated by not having a trustworthy, reliable, accurate source for this type of information.

You can access the new site by copying and pasting into your browser the URL in the previous paragraph, or just scroll down to Links in the right-hand column of this blog where you can click on a direct link to The Olde Disc Jockey’s Almanac. The site is updated daily. I hope you’ll bookmark it and visit often.

Bob

2009-08-01T00:01:00.011-04:00

Entered August 1, 2009

For immediate release

Another One "Beached!"
Contract of radio vet Dearborn not renewed

Too many of radio's most talented and experienced people are “on the beach” these days. Now broadcast veteran Bob Dearborn has joined them in the ranks of the unemployed.

After two years as morning host of Gold-based Soft AC CKWR-FM, Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, doubling the audience share in the first ratings period and increasing it substantially again in the most recent Book, Dearborn has left the building and the community radio station's newly-elected Board of Directors says his contract will not be renewed.

They have received hundreds of e-mails from disappointed fans pleading for a reversal of their decision. Board members acknowledge the quality of Dearborn's work, his contribution and professionalism, but say economic circumstances have rendered him “out of our league.” The station is experiencing a level of financial distress that is forcing them to put aside earlier, loftier ambitions while they consider a new direction for FM 98.5.

Dearborn is not the only casualty. The station is now without a General Manager, General Sales Manager, Program Director, News Department, Promotions Department, receptionist, and the Sales staff has been reduced to two people because of the cuts.

“The few survivors are nice, dedicated people,” says Dearborn, “who are hanging on by a thread, trying to keep the place functioning while suffering the consequences of what some think was financial mismanagement by the previous Board and a lack of leadership (the Board doesn't manage, it oversees), then the problems were compounded by the economic downturn.”

A long, successful career on legendary radio stations

Before returning to his native Canada, Dearborn made a name for himself in the U.S. at radio stations including WPRO-Providence, WPTR-Albany, WRTH-St. Louis, WIXY-Cleveland, WDAE and WPLP-Tampa, WTAE-Pittsburgh and WKNR-Detroit. He spent 16 years on the air in Chicago with stints, spread over four decades, at WIND, WFYR, WJJD, WJMK and, most notably, six years at WCFL during its 1970s glory days as a Top 40 giant.

It was while at WCFL that Dearborn famously analyzed and distributed his interpretation of Don McLean’s “American Pie.” More than 100,000 copies of the written analysis were sent out and a recorded version was syndicated to stations around the world.

Additionally he was the host/producer of the first live, daily, satellite-delivered music show in radio history, “Night Time America,” which for four years originated in New York City and was carried by 154 stations on the RKO Radio Network. Dearborn was also the first host/producer of the network’s syndicated program, “Countdown America.”

In the late 1990s, after half a dozen years bouncing back and forth between Oldies and Nostalgia stations, Dearborn spent five years as the program director/music director/morning host of KIXI-Seattle where he created a new Soft Oldies format that earned the station consistent Top 10 ratings, once reaching as high as #3 overall, #1 Women 18+ ... on AM! It is an approach that was quickly emulated by other stations and networks looking to modernize their Nostalgia formats.

“I'd still be there loving it to this day,” according to Dearborn, “but my parents were at death’s door and this only child had to do what was right, what was needed. So I left a great company (Sandusky) and a great city to take care of my folks during the time they had remaining -- just weeks for my mother, two years for my dad -- and have never regretted it.”

At Home In Either Country

Dearborn hosted the morning show on Nostalgia CHWO-Toronto for a year after his parents died but the stay was cut short by the station’s financial woes and its decision to jettison a few salaries and expenses to stay afloat. He would like to remain in Canada and thinks it may be more likely now since the Canadian-American radio playing field has leveled somewhat in recent years.

“I originally left Canada for the U.S. because there were so many more radio opportunities there. I'd learned all I could in more than three years at my hometown station, CKOC-Hamilton. There were long lines around the block of people waiting to get into stations in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver,” recalls Dearborn. “I was young, hungry, eager to grow, and just couldn't wait.

“The U.S. still has more stations, more good-sized markets,” he continued, “but the economy there and radio consolidator's elimination of many live, local personality positions have sharply reduced the number of opportunities to almost Canadian levels. That's not to say that everything is completely rosy in Canadian radio, but the hole they've dug for themselves here looks like a very shallow pot-hole in comparison.

"They're both great countries and I'm at home in either one," says the dual citizen. "As always, I'll go where the great radio opportunity is. Maybe next time I'll find a home that's stable, on sound financial ground.”

Retirement?

Retirement is the goal for many people, but Dearborn isn't one of them.

“Not on your life! I tried it and found out I'm no good at it,” says Bob. "We moved to southwestern Ontario with that idea in mind. Then this morning show opportunity fell into my lap and served as a reminder of just how much I love being on the radio. The people in this area are so wonderful, I would've stayed here for the rest of my life if circumstances had allowed."

While admitting that his appeal has "graduated" to the 40+ audience, he notes that most younger listeners are elsewhere today having chosen other technologies over radio, and he speculates that older listeners may become the medium's "bread 'n' butter" in the decades ahead, especially if radio doesn't figure out how to appeal to younger ones.

“Most radio stations today are spending a fortune they don't have, all chasing the same ever-shrinking sliver of the audience,” observes Dearborn. “In the meantime, generations that have grown up on radio and still consider it important in their lives are begging for programming that appeals to them. Yes, it’s a more difficult demo for radio to sell and, yes, the ad rates for the demo are lower, but all that can be offset by the reduced expense of competing in such an uncrowded field for a well-heeled audience that is so starved for attention.

“Somewhere out there is a station and audience for the kind of thing I do, that will value the experience and varied skills I bring to the table," says Dearborn listing qualities that have helped make his career longevity possible. "I hope they'll be impressed by my ability to adapt -- to any audience, format, management style, city, region or country -- and sense my enduring passion for radio, unwavering since starting my career as barely a teenager, that's kept me in the business for more than 40 years.”

And counting.

For more information, contact: TheMagicOfRadio@aol.com

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

2008-02-09T12:13:00.020-05:00

Enjoy the sunshine today!

Celebrity Birthdays

If today is your birthday, you're celebrating alongside actress (Six Feet Under) Lauren Ambrose, 30. Actress (Six Feet Under, Ransom) Lili Taylor, 41. Model/TV hostess Cindy Crawford, 42. Actor (3rd Rock From The Sun) French Stewart, 44. Former NBA forward Charles Barkley, 45. Former Washington Caps head coach/former goalie (Canucks, Rangers, Red Wings) Glen Hanlon, 51. Model/actress (Summer of ’42) Jennifer O'Neill, 60. Actor (Rich Man Poor Man) Peter Strauss, 61. Actress (A River Runs Through It) Brenda Blethyn, 62. Actress (The Hogan Family) Sandy Duncan, 62. Former NHL center (Blackhawks, Bruins, Rangers)/former Rangers head coach/Hockey Hall of Famer Phil Esposito (Sault Ste. Marie, ON), 66. Singer/songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie, 67. Fleetwoods singer Barbara Ellis, 68. Actress (Two For The Road, Cry Freedom) Judy Cornwell, 68. Actor (West Side Story, The Longest Day) Richard Beymer, 70. Singer Nancy Wilson, 71. Actress (MacArthur, Clambake) Marj Dusay, 72. Auto racer Bobby Unser, 74. Actor (To Sir With Love, Lillies Of The Field, Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner) Sidney Poitier, 81. Fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt, 84.

Greatest Music Question

What’s the name of the group that first charted in 1961, but didn’t score big hits until lead-singer Phillippe Wynne joined them in 1972, after which they had five Top 5 hits and two more after his departure? The answer follows today's Heart & Soul.

An Amish woman was driving her buggy to town when a highway patrol officer stopped her.

"I'm not going to cite you," said the officer. "I just wanted to warn you that the reflector on the back of your buggy is broken and it could be dangerous."

"I thank thee," replied the Amish lady. "I shall have my husband repair it as soon as I return home."

"Also," said the officer, "I noticed that one of the reins to your horse is wrapped around his testicles. Some people might consider this cruelty to animals, so you should have your husband check that, too."

"Again, I thank thee. I shall have my husband check both when I get home."

True to her word, when the Amish lady got home she told her husband about the broken reflector, and he said he'd put a new one on immediately.

"Also," said the Amish woman, "the trooper said there was something wrong with the emergency brake."

... as heard at 8:20 this morning

"Bill Gates' Speech"

To anyone with kids of any age, or anyone who has ever been a kid, here's some advice Bill Gates recently dished out at a high school speech about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality, and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1:

Life is not fair -- get used to it!

Rule 2:

The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3:

You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice president with a Lexus until you earn both.

Rule 4:

If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss.

Rule 5:

Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping -- they called it opportunity.

Rule 6:

If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7:

Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8:

Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9:

Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you "find yourself." Do that on your own time.

Rule 10:

Television is NOT real life. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to a job.

Rule 11:

Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

After airing this on my morning show in Toronto in 2003, I learned that Bill Gates was NOT the author of this speech, and that this piece has been making the rounds on the Internet and elsewhere for several years -- attributed to several different authors.

This list is, in fact, the work of Charles J. Sykes, who is also the author of the book, Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, Or Add.

Many versions of the original list omit the last three rules:

Rule 12:

Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic. Next time you're out cruising, watch an 11-year-old with a butt in his mouth. That's what you look like to anyone over 20. Ditto for "expressing yourself" with purple hair and/or pierced body parts.

Rule 13:

You are not immortal. (See Rule 12.) If you are under the impression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse is romantic, you obviously haven't seen one of your peers at room temperature lately.

Rule 14:

Enjoy this time while you can. Sure parents are a pain, school's a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you'll realize how wonderful it was to be a kid. Maybe you should start now.

Greatest Music Answer

The Spinners

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

2008-02-09T12:13:00.019-05:00

I hope you're enjoying this new blog of items from my daily radio show. If you have comments or questions, write to me at TheMagicOfRadio@aol.com and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Have a great day!

Celebrity Birthdays

If today is your birthday, you're celebrating alongside actor (Sin City, Traffic, The Usual Suspects) Benicio Del Toro, 41. Actress (Family Ties, Men Behaving Badly) Justine Bateman, 42. Former NHL right winger (Leafs, Flames, Habs) Gary Leeman (Toronto), 44. Tennis Hall of Famer Hana Mandlikova, 46. England’s Prince Andrew (Duke of York), 48. Actress (Dynasty, The Godfather: Part II) Kathleen Beller, 52. Actor (Terms Of Endearment, Dumb and Dumber, Something Wild) Jeff Daniels, 53. Comedian/actor (Growing Pains, Just The Ten Of Us) Bill Kirchenbauer, 55. Novelist (The Joy Luck Club) Amy Tan, 56. Actor (The Rookies, Knot’s Landing) Bruce Fairbairn, 61. Actor (Dynasty, Beach Blanket Bingo) Michael Nader, 63. Singer (Lightning Strikes, I’m Gonna Make You Mine) Lou Christie, 65. Singer/songwriter/producer/record company executive/Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Smokey Robinson, 68. Actress (Continental Divide, Sixteen Candles) Carlin Glynn, 68. Actress (Monty Python’s Life Of Brian) Gwen Taylor, 69. Actor (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Ghost Busters, All That Jazz) David Margulies, 71. Singer (original Lettermen member) Bob Engemann, 72.

Greatest Music Question

Who’s the singer/songwriter who first recorded in 1960, wrote songs in New York’s legendary Brill Building and for the Monkees TV show, then racked up 36 Top 40 hits, including three number ones, between 1966 and 1983? The answer follows today's Heart & Soul.

Two old ladies sat on a park bench outside the local town hall where a flower show was in progress.

One leaned over and said, "Life is so boring. We never have any fun anymore. Why, for five dollars, I'd take my clothes off and streak through that stupid flower show."

"You're on!" said the other old lady, holding up a five dollar bill.

As fast as she could, the first little old lady fumbled her way out of her clothes and, completely naked, streaked through the front door of the flower show.

Waiting outside, her friend heard a huge commotion inside the hall, followed by loud applause. Then suddenly the naked lady burst through the door surrounded by a cheering crowd.

"How did you do?" asked her waiting friend.

"Great! I just won first prize as Best Dried Arrangement."

... as heard at 8:20 this morning

Sand And Stone

This story tells of two friends walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The guy who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, he wrote in the sand:

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE

They kept on walking until they saw an oasis where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but his friend saved him. After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone:

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now you write on a stone. Why?"

The friend replied, "When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness in time will erase it. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."

LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN SAND ... AND TO CARVE YOUR BENEFITS IN STONE

Greatest Music Answer

Neil Diamond