For us NPR nerds, Bob was the voice we woke up with until he was fired from Morning Edition in 2004. With me, I’d say I got hooked on NPR completely in 1993 because the FM stations in Central IL sucked donkey balls yet my addiction had started in drips and drabs around 1991 with the Gulf Distraction. What a cool, deep voice he had. Bob was certainly a way better host than the stenographers and flaks corporate radio employs.
When he announced his “retirement” 20 years ago, I thought it was crap. In their defense, all his successors are qualified people in their own right, except Juan Williams who got his just desserts for giving Darth Cheney softballs. The assholes who thought Morning Edition needed a new and/or younger sound are the usual MBA morons promoting change for its own sake. For crying out loud, this is NPR! It’s public radio! You know, radio for nerds and people who prefer to be informed about the world, not the crowd hanging on every word or lame fart joke from the local zoo show! Even fictional character Lisa Simpson tunes in.
Bob was Morning Edition much like Johnny Carson was The Tonight Show! He molded it into something that was not a clone of All Things Considered, the first syndicated NPR show for weekday afternoons. If they wanted to test other stuff, give him a co-host and/or let Bob “fade out” as host emeritus until he could retire on his own terms. Losing him, was equal to losing a great, close friend and co-worker who suddenly disappeared one Monday morning. In his case, they did let him announce his departure and it felt more like seeing this same person I described earlier, packing up his desk. Such a New Coke move.
A couple years later, the truth made its way out when Bob finished his career with his own talk show on Sirius/XM. He probably made a ton more money and enjoyed not having to participate in the annual panhandling drives.
Thank you for everything Bob! You were a class act! You set the standard for dozens. You made even my worst mornings in Central IL and Austin slightly better with your calm, rich kind voice. Best of all, you were the anti-Howard Stern! If there’s an afterlife, I hope you have a talk show, getting the scoop from Historical figures both great and evil.