Former Syracuse radio DJ Don Bombard, whose career eventually took him to the legendary WCBS-FM in New York City, has died. His wife made the announcement on Facebook on Wednesday afternoon. Bombard's radio career started in 1962 when he was 15, when he won a guest DJ contest on WOLF 1490. The DJ who introduced Bombard to the airwaves: Marv Albert.
According to his Wikipedia page, Bombard's other teenage ventures included experimenting with radio transmissions from his home, and publishing his own weekly "top 50" music chart. Upon enrolling at Syracuse University, Bombard became active with campus station WAER and would eventually pick up some weekend shifts at WNDR. The following year, he'd take his first full-time job at WOLF. Over the next few years, he would bounce between the two rivals, eventually moving to Pittsburgh's WKTQ.
By 1981, Bombard made it to WYNY in New York City. It wouldn't be long before Bombard caught the attention of the legendary 101.1 WCBS-FM. Because WCBS already had another jock named Don, the program director had Bombard use the name "Bobby Shannon" on the air; he'd eventually shorten it to "Bob Shannon," and that's how millions of people knew him, especially once he started launching nationally-syndicated programs like "The Oldies Countdown" and "Behind the Hits."
In 1986, Shannon took over the afternoon drive shift at WCBS-FM, remaining there until the station flipped to the jockless "Jack FM" format in 2005. When that format didn't pan out, Shannon was brought back to host middays when the original WCBS-FM format re-launched in 2007. He remained in the timeslot until 2012.