Bob The Blade
Bob The Blade
3012 Highwoods Blvd
Raleigh, NC 27604
United States
ph: 919-790-9392
blade
Blade History
2007
WSFL-FM 106.5 Classic Rock Greenville/New Bern/Jacksonville
While I was exiled from Raleigh in 2007, due to non-compete from quitting the country station on the air, I was provided asylum in beautiful New Bern, NC working afternoon drive on WSFL 106.5.
WSFL is owned and operated by Beasley Broadcasting and they provided me with a one year deal from January 2007 to January 2008 and I had a blast in this beautiful town where the Trent and Neuse River meet to flow out to the Atlantic Ocean. It was a tough start because in my first real arbitron ratings period, the station dropped from a #3 rating in 12+ to about #6, so that sucked. By the time I left in January of 2008, we had gotten that thing back up to normal.
"This station always seems to be bigger that it's personalities."-Bruce Simmel GM Beasley Broadcasting Greenville/New Bern/Jacksonville
WSFL Video Aircheck
1984-1989
WRDU-FM 106.1 Rock Raleigh NC
WQDR-FM AOR went to a country format and I worked at a video TV station for about 6 months before I was hired to help start up 106.1 WRDU-FM rock.
The beginning of legendary Raleigh rock radio station WRDU started by Voyager Communications and felled by Clear Channel after 22 years. I started out at $17,000 hired by Dave Berry working the 10p-1am shift and I loved it...was moved to 9am-noon for $21,000 and then to nights from 6-10pm, I loved this shift because dayparts were lifted and I could practice doing bits and skits. In 1986 Stevie Ray Vaughan came to a station pool party that the PD Michael Hughes invited him to...I introduced band after band after band in the clubs when I got off after 10pm. At the station I interviewed in person David Coverdale, Chris Isaak, The BoDeans...livin' the dream man, livin' the dream.
1979-1980
WLOZ-FM 90.1 College Rock Wilmington NC
The first song I ever cued up on a Saturday morning at 2am was "Trans Love Express" off Enigmatic Ocean from Jean-Luc Ponty and I said something stupid like "that's Jean -Luc Ponty from the book of jazz..." and of course I was just about whispering.
This was when Joe Jackson, The Police, The Cars, Elvis Costello and guys like that were alll hittin' it big. I worked with the likes of Paul Jackson, Mark Bridger, Johnny Evans, Martin Brown and the infamous Paul Johnson...all college buddies of mine. The campus station was shut down in 1983 when the DJ's were caught dealing weed inside...the police station was right next door.
1990-2006
WRDU-FM 106.1 Rock Raleigh NC
I came back from Cali and went right to the nightshift on RDU, my favorite. The show was called The RDU Nightflite and it "took off". It was a theme based on jets, a sexy flight attendant and 'turbulence". Bob The Blade was the Captain of the RDU Nightflite and ALL seats are smokin."
What a run this was...I moved from nights to mornings with Kevin Silva, "Kevin & The Blade" from 1994 through 1996...and that is when Clear Channel took over and I was the only guy retained, they cleared house and I ended up in afternoon drive, I stayed there until 2006 taking a month off for rehab in January 2001. In 2002 Clear Channel turned WRDU to Classic Rock and in 2006 they changed over to a country format, , Clear Channel turned a 22 year old rocker to country and the backlash from the community was the likes of which you've never seen.
George Thorogood 1999
November 23-28 2006
WRDU-FM 106.1 The Rooster Country
Afternoon drive for three days after Clear Channel switched the rock station to a country station, they had asked me to stay on for afternoon drive and what was I supposed to say.
I gave it a shot and after playing Tammy Wynette "Stand By Your Man" and Sugarland I was done so I quit on the air and played "The Song Is Over" by The Who and left the building. I put the song on a different server so they couldn't find it, but they did. I was impressed. They found it after 90 seconds and resumed country programming.
Blade Resigns On-Air
In all the press and hubub after I did this, the article in the News & Observer came out on New Years Day 2007 and was a feature on "The People That Rocked 2006".
This Year WRDU Flipped & So Did Bob The Blade
1980-1983
WHSL 97.3 Wilmington NC
My first paying radio gig.
A rock-hybrid our PD Dave Foster called it....we played Al Jarreau "We're In This Love Together" and also "Rock You Like A Hurricane"...surf contests on the beach, in the bars for 25 cent draft beers and making 12k a year, if that. My paycheck was about $300.00 every two weeks and sometimes I couldn't even eat, but what a blast..1982 was so tough because my dad was real sick and died that year. He was 46.
1989-1990
KSJO Rock 92.3 San Jose CA
After 5 years in Raleigh I went off to San Jose/SF for afternoon drive
Market #4 and my first day on the air was a big one, everyone in SF and San Jose had heard about me because I was the new afternoon drive guy from North Carolina on the station that Perry Stone was on...Perry Stone had pissed off all of the Bay Area with his radio style but his ratings were really up there...he was one of the best I had ever heard. My first CD got stuck in this new CD player and I had dead air on my first break ever in SF/San Jose with everyone listening in anticipation...poor Lori Young had to come in and reset the CD player for me after what seemed like 20 minutes of dead air.
One day on the air I was speaking when an 5.4 earthquake came rumbling through, the carts fell off the wall and the venitian blinds were rattling, scared the shit out of me so I just stopped talking until it ended and then went into Peter Gabriel "In Your Eyes" because that was next.
The toot was everywhere in this town..."who's holding" was always the first thing out of someone's mouth...in this market you could go anywhere and see Eddie Money, Neil Schon, Robin Trower...and once, Brad Gillis of Nightranger showed up during my shift and was all fired up about their new CD..."Come on man!! We gotta play this thing on the air right now!". I sucked at this station, not because of no sleep and partying day and night, but because I didn't know how to act in a market like this. I left with my last $1,000 the day before the Giants/A's World Series earthquake in 1989 to meet my buddy Mark Dodd in Key West.
blademedia 2008Bob The Blade
3012 Highwoods Blvd
Raleigh, NC 27604
United States
ph: 919-790-9392
blade
