About Bob Burnham
Broadcasting, audio, electronics and music are my life. I live and breathe it every waking moment. I live a crazy life but I'm generally a stable person. I have both a methodical and creative side. Music is my biggest creative outlet. I know a lot about it from both working in radio and listening and playing it my whole life.
Broadcast Engineering is my full time work and passion. In 1999, I became Chief Engineer of the Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts in Southfield, Michigan, where I have been ever since.
I didn't really plan to be a broadcast engineer, but looking at everything else I did in my childhood and teenage years, it was a logical path. I have served as chief engineer, on-air talent, production director and consultant to 20 radio stations in the Detroit area, Southeast Michigan and some stations in the south as well.
Old Time Radio & More
For my entire adult life, I've been actively involved in the preservation, restoration, promotion and marketing of old-time radio shows.
I have complete broadcast runs of shows like Jack Benny, Suspense, cop shows, drama, etc. I have roughly 15,000 broadcasts in my library. I have written three books, notably, "A Technical Guide to Old-Time Radio Collecting" first in 1984. Subsequent volumes came out in 1986 then 2001.
For my work, I’ve received the Allen Rockford Award in 1984 at the Friends of Radio convention in New Jersey. Again in 2006, I received another award: The Stone-Waterman Award in Cincinnati for my work in preserving classic radio. It was presented to me by my friend of over 30 years, Bob Burchett, who had also worked with me on Collector's Corner back in the 1980s.
I was co-editor of Collectors Corner/National Radio Trader magazine in the late 1970s and 1980s. This was the largest circulating magazine of its kind back then. The Old Time Radio Researchers Group has preserved all of the issues. I was also editor/publisher of Listening Guide Newsletter in the 1990s, and Radio Forum Newsletter for broadcast engineers, and also lauched an electronic version. In 1991, I was also one of the first old-time radio dealers to provide an electronic "store" via dial-up computer modem.
In the mid 1980s, I was one of the Founding hosts of the Dallas-based Yesterday USA Superstation, hosting the Radio Vault and Big Band Classics feed via satellite. The show later moved to Detroit area radio stations and new versions of the show were syndicated.
I was the subject of a newspaper column about old-time radio syndicated by Knight-Ridder in 1987. I was also a featured guest on WRIF's weekend talk show in Detroit hosted by Peter Werbe.
The 1990s also saw the launch of my syndicated talk show service produced/based in my Detroit-area studio. I originated shows like Wild About Broadway from New York, The Jerry Klein Show from Charlotte, NC, The Dr. Aiello Show from Detroit and also from Detroit, Fiegertime with legendary Attorney, Geoffrey Fieger.
In my spare time...
As if the above info wasn’t enough! I write articles, I play music (and listen), and I design & build radio broadcast studios. I am also an old-school broadcast production dog who has learned lots of the newest tricks. I have been employed in radio in some form or another for almost 30 years. I was on-air in Ann Arbor and elsewhere for some of those years.
Musically, I'm currently playing lead guitar in a band called WHEREZ MY LIMO? Also, I am the original bass player for IMPACT 50, just back on the circuit with some new talent. Between guitar and bass, if the band has a great drummer, I enjoy playing bass the most.
