SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO -- He's spent most of his career in major markets like Pittsburgh, Detroit and Chicago, to name a few... but radio listeners and employees with a good memory may remember Bob Dearborn's involvement with some Utica-Rome stations. Now, Dearborn is helping broadcasters worldwide with a daily show prep blog.
Dearborn was the host of the RKO-syndicated Night Time America from 1981-1984, which was carried locally by the former KG-104 (WKGW). He recalls for CNYRadio.com, "they even had me come in and do the show from the mall in New Hartford for several nights."
Dearborn recalls returning to the market in 1985, to orchestrate a major format flip across town: he was brought in to replace 98.7 WIBQ's automated "beautful music" with the live CHR format branded as "New York's Z" (WNYZ). The following year, Dearborn spent five months as the GM of WNYZ and WIBX. When he left Utica, he was promoted to VP/Programming for those two stations and eight others owned by the same parent company.
More recently, Dearborn has moved back to his native Canada, and he's helping radio personalities the world over with his blog, The Olde Disc Jockey's Almanac. Each day, a new post is packed with date-sensitive content radio hosts can work into their shows.
There's the usual roundup of celebrity birthdays and significant events from "this day in history." But that's just the beginning. Each day's post includes a music-related trivia question, inspirational quotations, obscure facts and a joke of the day. Of course, everything is radio-appropriate (no language that would cause the FCC to take notice) and it's not format-specific, so there's a little something for everyone.
Dearborn recently told PBRTV.com he started the prep service as "an alternative to existing sources [he] found to be lacking in accuracy, inclusiveness and reliability." Dearborn said he has several databases full of information he accumulated over his own radio career, and spends anywhere from 20 minutes to four hours assembling each day's blog post.
He also tells PBRTV, "Make no mistake, I'd rather be prepping a show for myself than disseminating stuff for others to use, but in today's youth-obsessed radio there aren't too many places that welcome someone of my age and appeal despite all the major-market experience and success I've enjoyed." So Dearborn figures, rather than let his treasure trove of information sit dormant, he'll share it with others to use for themselves.
If you missed the link earlier, the address is http://oldediscjockeysalmanac.blogspot.com/ and each day's post goes live at 4:00am.