Bob Rivers

Bob Rivers is a well known American rock and roll radio on air personality in the Pacific Northwest 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 (now KXJM) "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".

WAAF "Bob and Zip"

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 "The Twelve Days of Christmas". "Twisted Christmas" was certified a gold record by the RIAA.

WIYY "98 Rock"

In the spring of 1988, at Baltimore radio station "98 Rock" WIYY-FM, as a lead morning show personality between 1987 and 1989, Bob Rivers gained national attention for an 11-day, on-the-air marathon during a Baltimore Orioles Baseball team losing streak. He vowed to remain on the air until the Orioles won the next game. He kept his vow and became a local celebrity among Orioles fans for his pledge.

During his time at 98 Rock, he and WIYY radio collaborated with Sheffield Recording Studios to continue his campaign of 'Twisted Tunes' (now http://www.sheffieldav.com/).

KISW "Twisted Radio"

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 Christmas-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.

KZOK "The Bob Rivers Show"

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. In 2007, Luciana Bosio and Pedro Bartes were added as associate producers.

Trivia

* 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. However, most of Bob Rivers' material is often more adult-oriented than "Weird Al"'s (such as "What if God Smoked Cannabis", "Asshole Son", and "Walking 'round in Women's Underwear").
* 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", a weekly U.S. music industry trade magazine.
* Bob Rivers' parody of the Aerosmith hit "Janie's Got a Gun", "Cheney'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.
* Once afraid of flying, Rivers earned his private pilot's certificate in 2002, and later, an instrument rating. In August of the same year, he participated in the Flight Across America event as host of the opening ceremonies at Paine Field in Everett, Washington. He's the owner of a Cessna single-engine aircraft and frequently flies in Western Washington.
* Bob Rivers appeared as an extra in two Star Trek Enterprise episodes. The first being "Zero Hour" along with KZOK contest winner Amy Ulen, filmed April 29, 2004 [ [http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/5355.html STARTREK.COM : Article ] ] . The other episode was the series finale in 2005, "These Are the Voyages..." [ [http://www.bobrivers.com/photos/startrekphotos0505.asp The Bob Rivers Show: Contact Us ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.bobrivers.com/ Bob Rivers / Twisted Tunes website]
* [http://www.kzok.com/ KZOK website]