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Bob Rivers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bob Rivers is one of the best-known rock and roll radio on air personalities in the northwestern United States, as well as a prolific producer of parody songs.
Rivers' radio program, The Bob Rivers Show, is broadcast on Seattle rock station KZOK-FM.
The Bob Rivers Show cast includes: Spike O'Neill; "Downtown" Joe Bryant; Kaci Aitchison; director Arik Korman; and executive producer Mike Jones.
Previously, between late 1989 and August 2000, the show aired on Seattle, Washington Active Rock radio station KISW-FM under the title Bob Rivers Twisted Radio. The Bob Rivers Show was also simulcast on Portland, Oregon "1980s Rock Hits" radio station KVMX "Mix 107.5" from 20 March 2006 until 5 October 2006, when the station dropped the morning show and switched to a Rhythmic Adult Contemporary format under the new branding "Movin' 107.5".
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Bob Rivers spent almost 6 years at WAAF-FM in Boston as part of their successful Bob and Zip morning show with fellow on air personality Peter "Zip" Zipfel.
During his tenure with WAAF, Rivers started producing parody and novelty songs, both for the station and for the KATZ/Newcity "American Comedy Network" a radio syndication service that provided comedy material to local U.S. and Canadian radio stations. One of the first parodies he produced was "Breakin' Up Is Hard On You", about the lawsuit and resulting court ordered split up of U.S. telecommunications company AT&T's Bell System by the United States Department of Justice. The song was sung to the tune of Neil Sedaka's #1, 1962 hit "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" and peaked at #69 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop music chart.
In 1987, Rivers released Twisted Christmas, which contained the Christmas music radio hit "Twelve Pains of Christmas", a parody of the holiday standard "Twelve Days of Christmas". "Twisted Christmas" was certified a gold record by the RIAA.
In the spring of 1988, during a brief stint at Baltimore radio station "98 Rock" WIYY-FM, Rivers gained some notoriety for an 11-day, on-air marathon during the Orioles losing streak.
After arriving at KISW in Seattle in 1989, Rivers released a second album of humorous holiday-themed music in 1993 entitled I Am Santa Claus (the title track was a parody of Black Sabbath's song "Iron Man"). Since then, three other holiday-themed albums have been released, including: More Twisted Christmas (1997); Chipmunks Roasting On an Open Fire (2000); and White Trash Christmas (2003).
Bob Rivers and his Twisted Radio show have also produced a countless number of regular, non-holiday parodies covering anything from pop culture to politicians, to the various sports teams and players in the Seattle area. These "Twisted Tunes" can be heard for free on his website. CD compilation albums are also available.
In 2001, the cast and show moved to KZOK. The cast includes Spike O'Neill, "Downtown" Joe Bryant, Kaci Aitchison, director Arik Korman and executive producer Mike Jones.
- Many tracks recorded by Bob Rivers are commonly misattributed to "Weird Al" Yankovic due to similar-sounding vocals. This misattribution has been common due to the wide circulation of his tracks on P2P music-sharing services.
- Rivers was twice voted "Major Market Rock Personality of the Year" by Radio & Records, a weekly U.S. radio and music industry trade magazine.
- Rivers was once voted "Billboard's Radio Personality of the Week" by Billboard magazine, a weekly U.S. music industry trade magazine.
- Bob Rivers's parody, "Cheney's Got a Gun," a parody of the Aerosmith hit "Janie's Got a Gun" was submitted on the music parody website Amiright in February 2006, followed by three other separate "Cheney's Got a Gun" parodies.