Radio was saturated into me like a sponge thats put in water, Perkins said. Fivedays a week, on WRTI, BP with the GM (thats Bob Perkins with the Good Music), plays jazz with a connoisseurs ear and an infectious sense of joy. After a longtime gig at WHYY, he joined WRTI in 1997. It was a small station. Music, said BP about the GM. Anybody who wants to hear jazz on the radio, you have to tune to WRTI and theres Bob Perkins. He also champions local musicians and music. 1 photo. I think because of them, thats where my love of jazz music was solidified.. But at age 88, Perkins is signing off passing the ball to the next era of jazz lovers. Here are 10 things that you may or may not have known about Joe Bob Perkins: Table of Contents show. (Photo by WRTI). They don't think that it's accessible to younger people. The radio station was owned by the Black Masons of Detroit. [citation needed]. Bob Perkins is a Dj at Wrti based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On this show he would play a record by Dick Haymes or Doris Day or Rosemary Clooney. I know Ive been very blessed. "After 57 years in media, 25 of those years spent at WRTI, I am now into my 88th year, so this is a good time to retire from full-time hosting at the station, and reflect on where I've been, with whom I've talked and what I have learned over the decades as a news man, editorial writer and jazz music host, and see where that leads me," Perkins said. He will continue to host his Sunday program. He has earned well over forty different honors and awards from major government, artistic, journalistic and community organizations. Fifty-seven years after his voice first graced the airwaves, Perkins, best-known for his weeknight jazz show at WRTI, is entering semi-retirement after 25 years at the station. Temple Now:The official source for Temple news.Copyright 2015, Temple University. He loved radio programming, and since I was the last kid at home, we listened together to all the great voices John Facenda and Edward R. Murrow anything that was on the radio, from Jack Benny to the Philadelphia Athletics games. At the end of this Black Music Month, Bob Perkins will be retiring at the ripe young age of 88. A lot of people, at least in my experience as an artist, associate this music with their grandparents' music or their parents' music. But he played the radio, that was his only salvation from the pain. But it seems like the longer I stayed out, [chuckles] the more positive response I got. My dad was my radio school, the 86-year-old remembered. I never knew exactly how my father came to love radio so much, but he was an avid radio listener, Perkins recalled. They had hired me for all the wrong reasons in the first place. In 1969, WDAS offered him a news and editorial position and asked if he might be interested in moving back to Philadelphia. He has a very comforting presence on the air. During his short life, he became one of the, Mr. Bob Perkins ("BP with the GM") WRTI jazz host extraordinaire turns 80 years old today. All rights reserved. My father just loved to have the radio on. He was known for his laid-back and mellow style. A Philadelphia man has become an institution by keeping the sounds of Philly and American Jazz alive for decades. It's kind of an honor when you are played on his program., For Lovett Hines, Artistic Director and Founder of the Music Education Program of the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz & Performing Arts, BP represents a sense of history. I enjoy it. I like melody. They were very kind at WDAS, and they also allowed me to moonlight at WHYY-FM. Meaning "Bob Perkins with the good music. Bob has always taken that part of his life very seriously and gives credit where credit is due. I remember saying, I dont know how to write editorials. LeBaron Taylor said [to me], You take the job and if you mess up, well get somebody else. I did that for 13 years pretty good. I had WDAS and WHYY, doing all of those things simultaneously for about 10 years. Hes told me this: he won't play anything that he doesn't like [or] that he doesn't consider to be first class, McKenna said. Perkins wandered into the station at WGPR-FM and got a position as on-air DJ and Announcer. [citation needed], Perkins started his radio career in Detroit over five years, from 1964 to 1969. Bob Perkins has been a fixture on Philadelphias airwaves for 50 years. Jazz radio legend Bob Perkins, 88, will retire in June from his full-time role as a host at Philadelphia's WRTI-FM. You can make 20 times as much working down here. But I told him, I want the job in radio. That was my start in radio back in November of 1964.. He currently hosts from 6 pm to 9 pm Monday through Thursday, and from 9 am to 1 pm Sundays. Domain Insight 2/27: The First Audacy Atlas Divestiture Will Go To. Maybe its one of the high points in their life.". Managing Editor Teresa A. Emerson - [emailprotected] He is a gentleman, a kind soul, and every bit as nice in person as you hear on-air. He announced his retirement from weeknight shows in April. Things change, he said, but there's always someone that's going to keep us on the right track., We're not a fatherless community. Lance Venta is Owner and Publisher of RadioInsight.com. Perkins then moved to public radio station WHYY to host a weekend jazz music show before joining WRTI. He got his first job in radio during a trip to visit his two brothers in Detroit in 1964. Perkins is currently engaged for the annual Cape May Jazz Festival Concert Series and the Tony Williams Jazz Festival Concert Series. [citation needed], Perkins is also a first-call jazz MC. Not doing anything heroic. I lived on the same block as the famous Heath Brothers in South Philadelphia growing up, he said. He began his career at WGPR Detroit. And for 50 of those years he's been on the radio to the, Our very own "BP with the GM" shared his story, going back to childhood, with a large audience at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia on Feb. 22, 2019. Bob Perkins' first radio gig at WGPR-FM in Detroit, 1964, WRTI's own jazz legend Bob Perkins sat down with Kile Smith in December, 2012 for a wide-ranging interview about Dave Brubeck the man, his music, and his, A true jazz legend - vocalist Gloria Lynne - passed away on October 15th in Newark, New Jersey of a heart attack. PublishedDecember 6, 2013 at 5:49 AM EST. Scroll down to see recent playlists. TN: People staying at home have been listening more to the radio and less to streaming services. Radio was drilled in my head.. I guess along with fast food came fast everything fast cars, fast thoughts, fast relationships. Robert Bob Perkins (born December 6, 1933) is an American radio personality. He had his own antennae that he had drilled into his table model radio. The mission of WRTI public radio is to broadcast the very best classical music and jazz recordings, and produce innovative, entertaining, and informative content that enriches the daily lives of our audience and the cultural life of Philadelphia and the tri-state region. His show appeals to me in that way. Please remove or replace such wording and instead of making proclamations about a subject's importance, use facts and attribution to demonstrate that importance. BP with Dave Brubeck in 1983 - backstage at the Academy of Music. Perkins was born on December 6, 1933. Perkins, known to listeners as BP with the GM (Bob Perkins with the Good Music), will now work a reduced on-air schedule, helming a single weekly show Sunday Jazz Brunch on Sunday mornings. Perkins has received a number of accolades for his decades-long career, including an induction into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame in 2003. My gerontologist tells me, Keep moving.. Jazz host Bob Perkins in his office at WRTI. He also hosts concerts at jazz clubs and at regional festivals. Bob Perkins will retire from his full-time position hosting nights at Temple University Jazz 90.1 WRTI Philadelphia. BP: Yes, it really did. Michael Tanenbaum Liked by Joe Bob Perkins. Language: English Contact: WRTI-FM 1509 Cecil B. Moore Avenue, 3rd Floor Philadelphia, PA 19121 Website: http://www.wrti.org/ Email: Bob@wrti.org Episodes Once Mom made transition, I decided to go for it, and so I packed my bags, and I was off to Detroit. Particularly for older listeners, he gives them the comfort of something familiar, and makes them remember that this music that he's playing was the soundtrack to a lot of their lives. The music Perkins plays can summon Proustian recollections of a first kiss, a dance at the Savoy Ballroom or a joyful reunion after a long absence. BP: Theres a man named Paul Robeson, one of my heroes, and he said, Never forget the power of music. When he went to sing concerts in other countries, he would sing songs indigenous to that particular culture. Since I turned 65, he reports with a tone more of irony than self-pity, its been one thing after another. It has to be accurate. He credits his love for radio to his father who repaired radios as a hobby when he was young. If theres any good thing about thisand theres very little good about itits the fact that maybe families are getting together again and eating at the dinner table again, in the kitchen or living room, and doing things together again. Maybe its one of the high points in their life. Perkins, 88, has been at the station since 1997 and has a media career that has spanned nearly six decades. He's introduced thousands, if not millions, of listeners to this music over the course of his career, delighted young and old with his signature sound, and been a tireless advocate for jazz appreciation and education," said WRTI general manager William Johnson. Am I going to capture their imagination today? Jazz radio host and South. In this new age of music streaming, where a service like Spotify uses neural networks, big data language analysis, and artificial intelligence machine learning techniques to winnow songs that are channeled down a high-tech digital assembly line to listeners, Perkins relies on a soft, squishy computer that he admits is a bit more unreliable since his stroke and which he refers to in his characteristic parlance as the old noggin. In other words, he plays what he knows and likes. And all the while, you weren't aware of ituntil that person moved away, and, During a recent interview, saxophone great Larry Mckenna was right on target when he shared that often in other cities, when people found out he was from, When a dynamic figure in any walk of life departs, writers and just plain folks, usually try to recall certain events about the departed in which they may, When I was a kid growing up in South Philly, there was an older fellow down the block who was trying to play an alto saxophone. Classical music and jazz public media. WRTI's legendary jazz DJ Bob Perkins retires at age 88 For nearly six decades, Philadelphia has been a unique voice in jazz music. "You guys go home! Im the only one thats doing this thing on regular radio and I enjoy very much what Im doing, and the feedback that I get from people who enjoy it. Bell Building But dont fret, you can still lend him your finely tuned ears every Sunday from 9 AM to 1 PM for Sunday Jazz Brunch on WRTI 90.1. 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