Bob Andrews Biography
WABR WFIV WBJW WORJ-AM WORZ-AM WROD WHOO WLOF WOKB WLBE
Dave Edwards has supplied some additional information on Bob. "Bob Andrews of WLBE(-AM
790), a true legend. I believe Bob is now 74, still on the air and sounding great. Bob worked and may have been the PD at WABR(-AM)
1440 ...which was country formatted and became WBJW, WNBE and then WPRD..." "...According to fellow veteran broadcaster Gabe Burton, Bob also worked (at) WORJ-AM when it was at one North Orange Ave (Orlando) possibly on 1270
KHz."Photos courtesy of Bob Andrews
Bob fills us in on a
60 year career
Bob at the WLBE studios in 2004
Bob is a native of Eustis, Florida. In 1947, when WEUS-AM 790, Leesburg first went on the air Bob was in college at Port Arthur Texas. WEUS went on the air as a 1,000 watt full time directional and was licensed to the city of Eustis. Later, Leesburg City Manager, Wilbur Harkness, put 1240 on the air from Leesburg with the calls WLBF-AM. In 1949, the Chicago owners of Liberty Magazine sold their magazine and came to Central Florida and purchased both radio stations. They shut down WLBF-AM 1240, but maintained ownership of WEUS and combined the call letters which became WLBE; Leesburg/Eustis. "...The call letters remain the same to this day. WLBE is one of the oldest set of call letters to be consistent with the facility." Bob left WLBE in 1951,went to Orlando, as he called it, “the big market” and went to work at WORZ AM 740. "...At that time WORZ was a 1,000 watt station, having water cooled output tubes, the only ones I had ever seen". Bob told us; “... it had a pump…the water would go through the tubes and then the water would be disbursed out into the ground system. Quite an interesting innovation.” During his time there he worked work with the duo of Gordon Town and Lou Kennedy, (whose real name was Lou Candido), who did a two person show in the morning on WORZ. Bob also worked with "Sammy and Marsha", who hosted a breakfast show from their home. While at WORZ, a program director by the name of Tony Chastain, was brought in from Miami. "The Tony Chastain Show", became the first talk show in Central Florida. Tony passed away in 1971. After Bob left WORZ, he traveled around the state, and became an avid sailor living aboard his boat. This led to jobs in Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Daytona, where he began a stint at WROD-AM 1340. WROD was built and managed by Edgar J. Sperry. Dick Fellows was the program director at that time. When Dick left and went to WPDQ in Jacksonville, as program director, Bob joined him in Jacksonville. In 1958, Bob returned to Orlando and went to work for WHOO-AM 990. The Bluegrass Corporation had just purchased the station from Ted Esterbrook. Under the leadership of Mr. Esterbrook, the format was “block programming”. Bluegrass Corporation, hired
Roy Nielsen and John Rutledge to make the switch to a “Top 40” format, similar to the Storz format (note: Robert Todd Storz, it's generally agreed, invented the "Top 40" format) and on August 17, 1958 they disbanded the old format and hired “Top 40” style DJs. Bob worked with several others including Rock Robinson. They played the record “Monkey Jive” (by Sheb Wooley also known for “The Purple People Eater”) for 24 hours straight. They were allowed to play this record, forwards, backwards, at any speed, but it had to be that one and only record. The curiosity factor grew an audience that was ready for the “Top 40” format, which began the next day. The survey company Hooper (C. E. Hooper Radio Audience Index. Hooper’s measurements of audience size were done by telephone, asking respondents to identify whether they were currently listening to the radio and if so the name of the program and sponsor) had been hired by Bluegrass to do a continuous survey, until WHOO was rated as the number 1 station in the Orlando market. WHOO kept the “Top 40” format for about ten years.
After a short stint at WLOF-AM 950 AM, Bob left to take over the management of WOKB-AM 1600. WOKB-AM 1600 began in Ocoee as a “classic” country station. John Cook, after hearing rumors of Bob's trying to get money together to put a radio station on the air serving the black population, John bought WOKB and converted it from country to Urban Contemporary. Bob ran the station and called it "... one of the more interesting and hair-raising experiences of my life". Later, John and Bob parted ways and Bob left WOKB to return to WLOF, where they were still going “head to head” with WHOO. John Rutledge was the General Manager at WHOO and Howard Kester was managing WLOF. Bob tells us "...WLOF still had the services of the "old home town boys" Bob Keith and Bocky Smith along with Ernie Leggie among others. Bob would leave WLOF to go down to Boynton Beach and build a radio station. Bob was in business with Edgar Sperry, who had sold WROD in Daytona, and asked Bob to build the station and become a part owner. Bob said "...It was a market we judged rather badly, we got it on the air, but it didn’t last. I came back up to Orlando. At that time, since there had been no country music station after WOKB, a void was filled by WHIY 1270 AM. They were operating out of the old Fort Gatlin Hotel. Doug Coombs and
Gene Cooke created a position there for me; copywriting, engineering and I worked there for many years, actually engineering the move from the Fort Gatlin, which was going to be torn down, into the Number One building. Country had been so successful with WHIY under program director Jack Gardener, that WABR-AM 1440 with Art Spector dad of Alan Spector,
Ray Beale and Andy Wilson went "country" and they were beginning to hurt us. I was offered a job at WABR. They were a 24-hour operation, not a sun up to sun down like WHIY. I jumped at the chance. WABR enjoyed the prestige of being the top country station for some time, until around 1968, when WHOO gave up “butting heads” with WLOF and went country. There by “wiping out” WABR. From that time on the market became a real "roller coaster" in the Orlando area..." Bob left WABR in 1972, ended up in the St. Petersburg area, and finally back to Leesburg at WLBE. Bob tells us "...I do a three hour show in the morning...It’s all nostalgic music and what is ironic is that I’m sitting here playing almost, and many times, the identical music that I was sitting here in the same building playing in 1949. Some other names I worked with like...my young buddies
Gabe Burton and Bill Barber or "Billy the Kid", Dave Edwards, Frank Reed and the list goes on and on. A lot of people who have touched my life during my career have made the past 58 years a lot more interesting than it would have been otherwise. It’s been quite an interesting experience.”
On April 2, 2008 Miss Scottie hosted a celebration for Bob Andrews on his 80th birthday and his 60 years in broadcasting. About 500 of Bob's "radio friends" also came by with donations of canned food for the Salvation Army.
Miss Scottie and Bob Bob, son Bobby, daughter Tina and brother Bill Bob and son Bobby
photos courtesy of Bill Andrews