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Bob "Twisted Christmas" Rivers Retires


jimswinder

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I'm pretty sure everybody at one time or another has used one of Bob Rivers songs in their display...I have several in my rotation.

 

Longtime morning DJ Bob Rivers to retire

After more than 33 years on morning drive-time radio, KJR-FM’s Bob Rivers is stepping away from the mike.


By Nicole Brodeur

Seattle Times staff columnist

 

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Bob Rivers

 

He messed up the call letters to the radio station. His voice cracked. And for a moment, it sounded like Bob Rivers — who has filled morning-drive radio time in Seattle for 25 years — was at a loss for words.

“It’s been a long time and a lot of rock ’n’ roll,” Rivers said from his seat at KJR-FM at 7:45 Monday morning. “I am stepping away from the microphone.”

In other words, he’s retiring.

“The one thing that has happened is that I am about to become a grandfather myself and I no longer want to be running from thing to thing so much,” Rivers explained. “I want to have time with my family, I want to have time with my friends, I want to study music. My bees feel so neglected.”

Rivers, 58, made the announcement on the air Monday morning while KING 5 reporter Mimi Jung stood beside him doing a live broadcast.

“I did want to retire before I got stale,” he joked to his listeners. “But that was 20 years ago.” Ba-dum-bump.

His last day on the air will be Aug. 8 — 25 years to the day after he first signed on with Clear Channel Communications.

“It was just an accident, and a happy one,” Rivers said of the anniversary, “but I think it signifies that it was time. I didn’t want to be in a 12-by-12 room every day, five days a week, forever.”

Rivers, a native of Connecticut, was just 6 when he called into a radio station and — with the help of his grandfather — answered a question that won a contest.

“I was hooked,” he said. “The moment I was on the radio, I was inseparable from radio.”

He moved to Seattle with his family in 1989. He did morning radio at KISW for 11 years, then moved to KZOK for 10 years before joining KJR four years ago.

On the phone as he drove home to North Bend after the announcement, Rivers was still taking it all in.

“It was surreal,” he said of the announcement. “The thing about this kind of decision is that it’s a long time coming, but it’s difficult because there is so much good in my day-to-day life that I love.”

And yet, he has dreams to fulfill.

He wants to improve his keyboard playing, something he started with his popular Twisted Tunes song parodies and parlayed into playing with two bands, Heart to Heart and Spike and the Impalers.

He started taking formal piano lessons five years ago and wants more time to practice and study. He also wants to write and do a podcast that would allow him to present in-depth interviews with musicians. And he will continue to produce Twisted Tunes.

“Some people hoard junk in their garage,” he said. “I hoard new experiences.”

For now, though, his goal is to get ready for the end.

“I’m actually very relieved that I got the initial announcement out and now I am going to focus on the same thing that I always focus on,” he said. “Make people laugh, have great guests and reminisce.

“I have to commend our management for giving us a two-week party,” he added. “Because that’s what it is going to be.”

Edited by jimswinder
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I also have many of his parodies in my rotation.  I feel your pain losing an icon.  I still remember hearing the devastating news that Cousin Brucie was leaving his microphone at 77 WABC many decades ago.  At least now Bob will have time to write many more songs and keep your/my playlist happy for years to come.

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I also have many of his parodies in my rotation.  I feel your pain losing an icon.  I still remember hearing the devastating news that Cousin Brucie was leaving his microphone at 77 WABC many decades ago.  At least now Bob will have time to write many more songs and keep your/my playlist happy for years to come.

You can still hear Cousin Brucie on XM 60s.

 

I am planning on using The Twelve Pains of Christmas. I wanted to in the past, But too busy to add extra songs.

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I am lucky, I know Bob personally, have been on his radio show twice. He plugs my display every year, and he has been out to my display many times. He asked me to incorporate "Decorations" several years ago, and I asked him to customize it for my display, and he did. We actually had a great moment with Judy Pancoast in her first concert at my house back in 2010. She knew I knew him, and was trying to get him to come. Judy loves Bob. The band he plays in do a Christmas gig every year and had to practice. Bob even surprised me when he showed up at my elbow in his hoodie, and it was right as Judy was asking for volunteers for "Candy". I tossed Bob out to help and about mid way through the bit, Judy realized who was there with her, and she just about went to pieces. It was a great bit all the way around. Judy still talks about it.

I talked to him about this decision last year (he could not make it out to my house due to schedule conflicts) and he was giddy thinking about bringing the Grandkids to see my display in the future once he retired. He may still get more involved in decorating himself now that he will not have his radio show to tie him down.

He (and his wife) is about as down to earth as you can get for a celebrity. He will still be doing his Twisted Tunes however.

Edited by zman
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I am lucky, I know Bob personally, have been on his radio show twice. He plugs my display every year, and he has been out to my display many times. He asked me to incorporate "Decorations" several years ago, and I asked him to customize it for my display, and he did.

 

I tried to contact Bob last year to see if he would host my Lighting Ceremony since I was doing his "What Did The Fox Say" parody, "What Does The Hawk Say".

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3_EmF8ZimM

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