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Bob Bittner, easy-listening king of the AM band, dies

By adamg on Fri, 05/26/2023 - 11:46pm
Bob Bittner

Somerville City Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen reports that Bob Bittner, owner of WJIB, 740 AM, and four other ad-free stations on the Cape and in Maine, died today.

I’m heartbroken to learn that Bob Bittner passed away. He ran the indescribably great local radio station WJIB AM740, “The Memories Station.” What a beautiful life bringing this wonderful music into our homes, never playing ads, and reading his own PSAs. Thank you, Bob.

Bittner did not just own the stations, he was also the music director and DJ, with an easy-listening format of songs from the 1930s through the 1960s. Instead of accepting advertising, he relied on non-deductible donations from listeners.

In 2012, the Boston Phoenix profiled him:

Bob Bittner, the last auteur of terrestrial radio, presides over an 11-by-11-foot room in a Cambridge storage facility near Fresh Pond Mall. His U-shaped desk is cluttered with hundreds of hand-addressed envelopes - the fruits of his annual summer fund drive - bundled into thick, uneven parcels held together with rubber bands. ...

It's the only station whose outspokenly progressive DJ would speak out in favor of the Occupy movement or rant against the evils of the credit card industry to an audience largely comprising aging Republicans, then follow it up with an Andy Williams cover of "Impossible Dream."

H/t Ron Newman.

Neighborhoods: 
Cambridge
Topics: 
Entertainment
Free tagging: 
WJIB


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Comments

By Frog on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 3:12am.

bob was an amazing human with a beautiful voice that reached the hearts of so many in our area. i am so grateful for what he gave to all of us with his chutzpah. thank you bob! rise higher!

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By Suldog on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 7:17am.

One never knew exactly what Bob Bittner might put on the air. He threw in a Black Sabbath track here and there, many of his listeners unaware of the artist as he never announced who the artists were. In the case of Sabbath, the mellow "Laguna Sunrise" was one he played.

He also had some surprising PSAs, admired by this libertarian, for classical liberal concepts of freedom of expression, and conservative damning of overextended credit.

Great voice, untiring, an oasis of lovable weirdness in a desert of corporate bullshit.

Thank you, Mr. Bittner.

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By Ron Newman on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 6:52pm.

was Taco's 1982 cover of "Puttin' on the Ritz".

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By Tory Gates on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 1:17pm.

I learned this morning that Bob had passed away. So many thoughts have passed through, I hardly know where to begin.

Bob hired me when WJIB was still Earth Radio back in 1992. I had been in the business about eight years and was ready to quit. We were two very different people, which is why I think he liked me.

I became the guy who stuck around, and I can honestly tell you I learned more about radio, and "the business" from Bob than I did anyone else. He was quite a character; he didn't brag about how great he was, almost always laid back, and unafraid to tell you what he thought about things. All the same--he clearly thought about a subject before he spoke.

He was the great exponent of "think outside the box." Bob found ways to run music, hours at a time in ways no one could have imagined, and yet when you look back at it, some of his ideas were simple and yes, logical.

I managed two of his stations, and even after I left in 2000 we remained friends. I have a number of ties to Maine, where he settled with his wife Raisa, and I always tried to make sure I dropped in.

I saw them last December, and they seemed much as always, themselves.

We've lost a person who loved music, loved radio, and wanted to see that it made a difference in people's lives, even in a small way. I cannot thank Bob enough for giving me a chance, putting up with me when I was not at my best, and being my friend.

Every person, my late mother, my sister, and a former boss (among others) all marveled at what an interesting man Bob really was. Let's remember him as that, for Bob was the most interesting person I've ever come across in this business.

Thank you, Bob, for everything.

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By Sean Smyth on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 5:46pm.

I hung around WJIB in that same general time frame. I stopped by enough asking to do something on the station. I’m 16 or 17 then. So he let me work the board on Sunday mornings and host a sports show on Sunday nights that was listened to by like four people, including Tory when he occasionally ran the board out of the goodness of his heart. I threw a tantrum of some sort one day because Bob wouldn’t let a 17-year-old do what a 17-year-old wanted to do, so I quit. Did I mention that I was (still am) an idiot? I screwed up a lot, yet Bob let me do my thing for about a year. Not to get overly deep; but he was an adult figure I needed at that time in life. And he was a true professional. Haven’t spoken to Bob in 20-plus years. Always meant to drop a line and say thank you. Of course I didn’t. Sorry for the novella. RIP. Tory, are you stopping in at any central PA Targets?

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By Connie H. on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 7:08am.

Getting Bob's radio, music programming and quotes, all that, has been such a joy in my life, especially during the isolation of COVID. What a gentleman and scholar!

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By Michael on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 7:47am.

I used to always leave my Zipcar tuned to his station to help educate the next renter. RIP to a real original.

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By BostonDog on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 8:01am.

But I leave all the presets in my Zipcars set to WMBR. It's the least I can do.

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By Come on on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 8:42am.

…that you like WMBR better than the station of the guy people are here lovingly mourning? What do you keep where your heart would be?

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By BostonDog on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 11:50am.

I very much like WJIB too. I find it somewhat fitting Bob died right around the time auto makers announced they were killing off AM radio in cars. (Although I think some of his Maine stations are FM?)

I have an AM radio at home and the only AM station I listen to is WJIB. I'm always pleased when I see a WJIB bumper sticker and I think about WJIB whenever I see the transmitter tower in Fresh Pond.

When it comes to radio, there is the independent, freeform variety (WJIB, WMBR, WHRB, etc) and everything else. When I get in a rental car and it's tuned to any of those, I smile. Ban Clear Channel, not books.

(Boston's NPRs are better then the commercial crap but I'd take one of the music stations over an NPR any day. My heart sunk when WGBH switched formats.)

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By Hillary on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 12:24pm.

At 101.3 on your dial.

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By cybah on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 1:47pm.

but I wish I had. A long time ago I wanted to be a radio disc jockey. Play music, talk all day. I even had a scholarship to a school to go. I found computers in the meantime.

And in a way its fitting because by 2000 many radio stations are pre-programmed and the DJ comes in on weekends to do voice overs and promos for the week. Then an engineer (or often a live DJ from another station hosted in the same facility) will make sure it stays running, maybe cut into it if there's an newsworthy emergency or if that station has 'traffic' or 'news updates'. But other than that its automated.

I gather after reading about Brittner last night and this morning, he too automated much of it. And he was the sole guy running the stations, so you'd hafta automate much of it. But the thing I gathered was his programming was his own, and not what "will play well" or 'whats hot on some chart list' or 'owner says you must place six barry manilow songs a day' kinda stuff. This kinda programming is what has ruined radio tbh.

Its Brittner's kinda radio is what I wanted to get into. Not to just be a voice that has virtually no say in what gets played. I gathered he would cut in and talk, or switch songs when he felt like it. True independent radio.

So yeah I wish I had known and listened... Beautiful music is fun at times. (and soothing, which I could use).

Anyways makes me wonder what will happen to his stations, if he was the sole programmer.

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By Ron Newman on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 6:46pm.

Full list at https://www.thememoriesstation.us/

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By necturus on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 7:50am.

He ran his radio network from WJTO in Bath, Maine, and he gave my girlfriend and me a tour of the place a few years ago. Bob was an innovator who found a way to defy the economics of the radio business and keep independent radio on the air with music that had long been absent from the airwaves.

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By Hillary on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 12:23pm.

I love this station and always enjoyed Bob’s hominies in place of ads. What will become of the station? Is it even still broadcasting without him? (I only have a radio in my car, which I drive infrequently.)

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By Ron Newman on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 6:47pm.

I don't know what the long-term or even short-term future is for these stations, but you can listen to WJIB right now, and hear some of Bob's recorded announcements in between songs.

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By Newbie-ish on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 1:33pm.

The Memories station has been one of my bright spots here, introducing me to so many great songs. I’m glad songs were still playing on the station today, but who knows for how much longer.

Rest in peace, Bob

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By Ann on Sun, 05/28/2023 - 8:47pm.

I discovered WJIB in the throes of insomnia. Bob's soothing voice and playlist was a refuge during the 3AM battles with mental demons that kept me awake. Thanks Bob.

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By EC on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 3:59pm.

Sadly I haven’t listened to radio in over a decade, but WJIB was the station I tuned in to when I ran a small vintage home decor shop. The music Bob played was eclectic and never inappropriate for an audience of any age. I remember calling him to ask why he played what was referred to as Muzak or elevator music from time to time -I thought it was a dreadful mistake! Although he somewhat agreed with me, he explained that some of his listeners actually really enjoyed it! He made an attempt to please everyone, regardless of musical tastes and I thought he was kind to do so.

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By Ron Newman on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 6:49pm.

That was the format of the original WJIB-FM, the one with the ship's bells. When Bob Bittner brought the call letters back for his AM station many years later, he started with that music but gradually evolved the format into what you hear today.

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By JB on Sat, 05/27/2023 - 7:11pm.

My favorite radio station. Thanks for all the great music, Bob. Where else could you go from Karen Carpenter to Tommy Dorsey to Lionel Richie to the Hokey Pokey? I couldn't put together a Spotify playlist half as great if I tried. I am always bummed that it starts to break up when I reach home in Roslindale. But when I'm near work in Cambridge I always listen. God Bless America is played every morning at 9:00 a.m. and I know if I hear it, I'm late for work. I hope the station is able to continue somehow, it really is the only one worth listening to on the dial.

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By Stan Franzeen on Sun, 05/28/2023 - 4:21pm.

Bob Mehrman had an illustrious career at WJIB thanks to Bob Bittner. Bob was also a generous and compassionate soul.
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/bostonglobe/name/robert-mehrman-obi...

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By Will LaTulippe on Mon, 05/29/2023 - 9:43am.

Loved the populist legal ID's and the soft beachgoing music as a soundtrack to my shower routine on a summer's day.

I don't know what the plan of succession is, but if the automation keeps rolling, this might be the impetus to finally acquire one of those smartphone speaker devices.

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By adamg on Sat, 06/03/2023 - 1:20pm.

By Bob Bittner.

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