LO C A L R A D I O T H E “ H A R D E R ” WAY
By Janis V. Bers
They used their joint talents for cre-
ating successful projects in a market
they were both familiar with and had
many points of contact within.
But that old radio bug bites deeply,
and eventually Rob was missing the
thrill of live broadcasting. Fortunate-
ly, being back on home turf, it didn’t
take too long until he was snapped
up by KJRB and given the prestigious
live afternoon drive slot.
For the following 18 months this
partnership flourished, then, just as
had happened so many times before,
another opportunity came knocking
at Rob’s door. This time Spokane’s
KHQ radio wanted Rob’s expertise to
convert its automated format to a live
personality profiled output.
All the right ingredi-
ents were on the ta-
ble: a high quality ste-
reo FM output, a local
station owned by the
celebrated
Cowles
family, and an offer
for Rob to not only
be the new Program Director but to also become
the new morning drive DJ. It didn’t take Rob long to elevate this
seemingly dormant radio station to a popular live top 40 format
signal that Spokane eagerly adhered to. As the station grew and de-
veloped, Rob flipped the format to adult contemporary and the call
letters were changed to KISC, today better known as KISS 98.1.
This was to be Rob’s longest, and indeed most accomplished ten-
ure in broadcasting and radio management. He had dedicated a full
quarter of a century of his expertise and encouragement to this rap-
idly expanding organization, which was now adding more stations
to the group. Rob raised KISC to the number one station in Spokane.
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