The
"original" Bob Raleigh (Rolle Ferrar) and I started at WPGC the
same day in March of '63. He was working in West Palm Beach -
I was in Frankfort, KY. He and I became best friends, and we still
are to this day - he is my son Bill's godfather. Bob left WPGC
(was forced out), went to WWDC, then WEEL in Fairfax, VA and then
to WBZ in Boston. He just retired after 20 years there. I have
really lost track of the other Bob Raleighs - there were several
"Dean Griffiths", too. Last
I heard, Bill Miller was in Frederick, MD at a country station.
He
adds, "Bob Howard (GM) was
big on nicknames...Big Ol' Fat
Ol' Dino...Loveable Jerry G....Tiger
Bob Raleigh....Pee Wee Reese...I
always said he hired me because of my nickname - in Frankfort,
KY I was using Harv Moore "The Boy Next Door. Another
Bob Raleigh was Paul Carmen".
"Bob
Raleigh" #1 (Rolle Ferrar)
|
At
WWDC in mid '60's.
|
When
Rolle Ferrar went to Boston he spent the first few years doing
middays (10- 2) at WHDH under PD and later GM, Al Brady Law. Bob
worked the same shift when he joined WBZ in July of 1975. Bob
later worked overnights, middays again, and back to overnights
in 1986 until he retired from WBZ on his 65th birthday a few years
ago.
#2
Dale Tucker
Dale Tucker
assumed the 'Bob Raleigh' name at WPGC in 1964, despite the fact
that Rolle Ferrar continued to use the name at WWDC at the same
time!
#3
(Todd T. Taylor)
|
Todd
T. Taylor today.
|
'Triple
T' writes:
I
was the umteenth Tiger Bob Raleigh and was so disgusted
when I had to assume the name that I always signed 'Tiger Bob
Rolli'. I did the 10-2pm show by request as I had a gig to
do in both MD and VA. I had connections with each fire dept. and
we held dances at their firehouses which were larger than high
school gyms. This is really where I would make all my weekly income.
Because
I had the privilege to M.C. most all the soul shows, Motown Revues,
at the Howard theatre, I would request each group coming in to
make a small cameo appearance at one of my weekly dances. I had
a limo pal who would pick up Smokey and his crew and race them
to the firehouse in Bladensburg and they would do 2-3 songs.....(lip
sync) and then then we would speed them back to the Howard theatre.
I
figure I had every Motown group plus James Brown at least
twice in a 9 month period. Also the Real McCoys, the Vogues
etc.....I used to really break a ton of records for Bill Gavin
for more than 8 years.....Neil Bogart was a super friend as were
many other respected honest promoters. The honest ones were hard
to come by.....
Today,
I am President of the
Radio/Television
Broadcasters Hall of Fame of Ohio. We have a state of the
art brochure and induction ceremony. It's first class and I am
proud to say we operate on zero funding. It's called begging......
"Bob
Raleigh" #4 (Paul Carmel)
Skip
McCloskey, (The Great 98 WRC
site) contributes this story:
The
original "Bob Raleigh" (who was also known as Tiger) came to WPGC
about the same time Harv Moore
did in 1963. The jingle "Tiger on your radio" was actually
Jerry G singing in the studio.
Bob was only there maybe a year to year and a half before moving
onto WWDC. He always hated management...no matter what station
he was at and he always admitted this. He was a believer
that they were always out to screw the DJs.
Bob
Howard who was GM
at WPGC (Mr Soundoff) was
at the top of Raleigh's list as hated GMs....and probably with
good reason. That aside, Bob left WPGC after asking for
a raise and went to WWDC.
There he made more money, played music he was more in tune with
and, most important, became a member of a union (AFTRA).
At least there he was protected somewhat in pay structure and
security.
He later worked at WEEL as
my PD in the early 70s (late 72-73). I'm not sure if he
actually worked anywhere in radio between WEEL
and WBZ / Boston since Bob did numerous voice overs and TV commercials
as a freelancer. But WBZ was his next radio stop.
Now
as far as the name goes: Bob Howard
liked to keep the same names on air even though the person changed.
The guy who eventually inherited the "Bob Raleigh" air name was
Bill Miller in 1966. He did some fill in DJ work and weekends
but mostly did news during the week as I recall. I know
he went to WPOC (country) in Baltimore after being fired from
WPGC (after the strike
in '77).
"Bob
Raleigh Sr." #5 (Bill Miller)
BUT
WAIT....THE PLOT THICKENS! While Bill was using the "Bob
Raleigh" name, WPGC hired a mid-day guy to replace Bob
Peyton #2 (Bob Burian). His REAL name was ....you guessed
it....Bob Raleigh. He would not let Bob
Howard change it. Howard must have really wanted
this guy because he allowed him to use the moniker Bob Raleigh,
Jr while the other name changed to Bob Raleigh, Sr.
It all got very messy.
Ken
Mezger writes:
Bob
Raleigh (Bill Miller) was filling in for Harv
Moore one morning and locked himself out. As his record was
ending, he jumped up into the ceiling (drop ceiling) and pushed
himself over and fell down into the lobby and broke many fingers!
Then he called Dino Del Gallo
at home (lived close) and begged him to "bring a vacuum
cleaner quickly" to the station. Then they robbed some
drop ceiling tiles from other parts of the building and replaced
the broken ones. When Dino told me about this I couldn't stop
laughing ... every time I saw Bill Miller with splints on most
of his fingers!
BD
Howard writes:
I
remember hearing about that episode when Bob Raleigh (Bill Miller)
crawled through the roof after locking himself out of the studio.
After that, my dad (General
Manager, Bob Howard) always
liked to call him Tiger Dumb Raleigh.
Bob
Raleigh #6, aka 'Jr.' (Dewitt Robert Raleigh)
WPGC
Air Personality, 'Mergatroid' remembers:
Bob
Raleigh #6's real name was Dewitt Robert Raleigh. I was there
when he was hired. It was really funny to see what Ho-Ho (our
pet name for Bob Howard) was
going to call him. Obviously he used 'Bob Raleigh' on the
air at his previous stations. Ho-Ho I think wanted to call him
"Johnny Danger" or something equally as insipid,
but came up with the brilliant idea of keeping Bill
Miller as Bob
Raleigh, Senior, and the new Bob
R. Dewitt as Bob
Raleigh, Jr. Meanwhile over at WWDC, the original Bob
Raleigh (#1 - Rolle Ferrar) was billing himself as the real
Bob Raleigh. It was hilarious!
Roddy
Freeman adds:
Bob
Howard was indirectly responsible for Rolle Ferrar's very
successful run at WBZ, first as the midday jock and then as the
overnight talk host. One day while he was PD at WEEL, Bob
Howard walked in to check out the place. That was when he
was shopping for a station after being outbid for WPGC, before
he bought WYSL in Buffalo. When Rolle spotted Howard, just the
possibility of Howard's buying the station prompted him to put
together a tape to send to WBZ that very day! And the rest is
history.
Photos
#1
Rolle Ferrar
#2
Dale Tucker
#4
Paul Carmen
#5
- Bill Miller
#6
- Dewitt Robert Raleigh (aka 'Jr.')
