Old Seattle Radio Saturday: bob hardwick

Bob Hardwick, who described himself as a "professional smartass," ruled Seattle morning radio for over twenty years.

A story dated February 8, 1990 in the Seattle Times chronicled Hardwick when he was hired at KING1090 for what turned out to be his last job.

By Kit Boss

Robert Hardwick has always made his biggest splashes by leaving radio, not by jumping back into it.

There was hardly a ripple this week when Hardwick - once Seattle's most popular, publicity-grabbing radio personality - slipped back into the medium that has brought him both fame and frustration.

Hardwick joined KING-AM on Monday as co-host of the talk station's morning show. It opened another chapter in his rollicking radio career.

``Hey, yesterday's gone,'' said Hardwick, nursing a cup of coffee in the company cafeteria after his 5-9 a.m. shift Tuesday. "I do not carry pictures of myself around. My back is to the past.''

What a past, though. Some people would probably trade a dozen futures for it.

Hardwick worked at KVI-AM from 1959 to 1980. Those 21 straight years were interrupted only by a four-month sojourn at a Los Angeles station.

On his KVI morning show, Hardwick would sometimes play only two or three records an hour, when he ``ran out of something intelligent to say.'' The rest of the time was filled with jokes, skits, ad-libbed advertisements and promotions for his latest escapade.

And what escapades.

Hardwick piloted a tugboat to British Columbia to haul back Namu, the killer whale, for the Seattle Aquarium.

He jet-skied 740 miles from Ketchikan to Seattle, at about the same time that it was reported he had become the highest-paid radio personality in Seattle, hosting the highest-rated program on local radio. Later, Billboard magazine named him the nation's radio personality of the year.

He swam the Bremerton-Seattle ferry route.

Then, one day in 1980, he quit KVI.

True to his taste for drama, Hardwick did not give two weeks notice. Nope. He just left the studio in the middle of an 8 a.m. newscast and didn't return.

Hardwick was disgruntled with KVI's decision at the time to abandon its successful music format and switch to all-talk.

"I was so frustrated. Emotionally I was a wreck. I don't know what happened. I took my briefcase and walked out the door.

"That wasn't,'' he admits, "a businesslike way to do things.''

A few weeks later he popped up at KAYO. Several months passed. One Friday he called in sick and didn't return the following Monday.

"Seattle radio is a bore and I have been boring right along with it,'' he said in a statement read by his wife, who wouldn't reveal where Hardwick was hiding.

His two disappearing acts were not publicity stunts, Hardwick says, but "an emotional trauma in my life.''

There followed a stint at an AM station in Tacoma, another hitch at KVI, a failed venture to transmit computer programs via radio, and  a year-long spin at KIXI.

Then in 1987 the Seattle native left the medium altogether. He worked for a time as communication director at Pacific Institute, and helped several local drug and alcohol rehab centers market their programs.

The job offer from KING-AM (1090 kHz) came after Hardwick wrote program director Brian Jennings a letter "on a fling'' congratulating the station on recent ratings gains.

Jennings, in turn, asked Hardwick to lunch. Then he asked him to do a few fill-ins for afternoon host Mike Siegel and former morning show co-host Tony Miner, who becomes news director and morning news anchor at the station.

"I was impressed. Nice voice. Nice demeanor,'' said Jennings. "It wasn't a hard decision because I don't have any old baggage with Robert. His past is his past. We have a clean slate.''

By late January, with a suddenness that surprised some who worked at KING-AM, Hardwick was named the new morning show co-host, joining Deb Henry.

Jennings says Hardwick, even after a more than two-year layoff, is still ``well-known in this marketplace as a real personality.''

Hardwick, though, realizes that to some listeners, his is just another new voice on an old medium.

"I'm not counting on name recognition,'' he says. "I love the things I did. But today is the good old days.''

Hardwick, who turns 56 next month, said he signed a one-year contract with KING that will pay him "generously,'' though less than the $75,000 salary he earned during his heyday.

Other things have changed, too. Hardwick drives to the studio from his Federal Way home in a late-model Ford, not the 1952 hearse that once was his trademark.

Hardwick says his new bosses have given him complete freedom to do what he wants on the morning show. In an act of moving symbolism, Jennings scratched out the segments in each hour of the morning show clock devoted to interviews and substituted the word ``fun.''

On Tuesday, KING-AM morning show guests included an environmental activist, a Kent police detective who calmed Hardwick's fears that swap meets were selling scads of stolen goods, and a self-proclaimed UFO expert from California. Hardwick handled the UFOlogist as gently as a piece of overripe fruit.

"I am not a controversy creator,'' Hardwick said later. "I'm a professional smartass. I love to tease people. I love to make people laugh. I'm a communicator.''

Hardwick, 61, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot in a pickup off Highway 2 east of Stevens Pass on June 3, 1992. Poor ratings and a desire to draw younger listeners, KING officials said, caused his termination on April 7.

Comments

[Marsh]

These days of jocks like Glen Beck who call themselves comedians, I really miss Hardwick, a truly funny and crazy guy.

[Mike Barer]

Bob's daughter Linda was in a few classes with me at WSU.

[joanie]

I didn't listen to him but remember him well. Whether you were a listener or not you sure knew who Hardwick was! I remember reading of his death. I wondered if he were bipolar perhaps. It seemed selfish in a way. He had a family and so much to live for.

I wonder what Beck would do if Fixed News ever fired him?

[Bruce Zuehlsdorff]

Every morning my dad's clock radio went on just before 6am and I could hear it in my bedroom.

Hardwick's voice was a part of my daily routine.

I still remember to this day, when Hardwick's voice came on and he was nearly in tears and having difficulty getting his words out. I knew something was not right. I was 12 years old.

It was the morning of June 5, 1968. About 5 or 6 hours before, Robert F Kennedy was shot in Los Angeles.

Another memory was a song that he used for years as a lead in for the news. He would often only play 10 or 20 seconds, it was an instrumental called "The Horse", a snappy tune with trumpets and a bass. Our high school band (and many others as well) played it as part of their pep band offerings at school sports events.

Wow. Robert E Lee Hardwick. Powerful memories for me.

[KS]

" I wondered if he were bipolar perhaps. It seemed selfish in a way. He had a family and so much to live for.

I wonder what Beck would do if Fixed News ever fired him?"

Hardwick was piece of work, provacative at times.
Actually, I wondered if you are bipolar, Joanie.

[KS]

jeez, we no LOL! I will admit I'm not a great typist.

Posted by: KluelesS, chunks & PutzS = tres assholes | January 30, 2010 at 11:40 AM

I never thought you were Joanie. I know who you are - you were banned by Bla"M and have gone underground and are the Mole or an avatar - as some have noted. You are a disturbed individual who has too much time on their hands. Dude, start taking your Thorazine or whatever meds you were prescribed.

We know that your posts indicate that you are a bonafide A-hole even without your screen name.
If you had anything of substance, you would be able to tone it down, but you are showing your transparency as a bomb throwing prohibitionist (aka progressive) sycophant with little substance.

[Ryder]

A post designed to honor a man who brought a ray of sunshine. Yet some of you have to turn it into an attack on Joanie. I did not depict an attitude of arrogance in her post. Just an expression of sadness of the human condition.

[Ray]

I remember talking to some of Hardwick's peers during his time at KVI. Each of them said that he was the best adlib artist in the business, not to mention one of the best pitchmen for almost any product.

I also remember some of his live one-minute commercials going on for almost five minutes.

[KS]

Posted by: KluelesS, chunks & PutzS = tres assholes | January 30, 2010 at 01:42 PM

ROFTLMAO..

[Karl Maylin]

Jack Morton (of KVI and recently of KIXI) was Hardwick's best friend really

[Corporate Suit]

Brian Jennings really valued "name recognition" to build ratings. That's why when he left KING to go to KVI, he brought Seigel, then picked up Laura Lee, scooped up Ed Hume...and then tried to build the best line-up of big names around Rush Limbaugh who anchored the station. There was Michael Reagan (live), Steve West (another Steve West), Morton Downey Jr, Freddie Mertz--and it was no coincidence he had Dick Curtis doing news to keep that going because their names had value. Jennings was not really into developing talent, but more of using already-established names and veterans. Ruth Walsh and Deb Henry, too!

I was there when Brian got the news about Hardwick's suicide. I am trying to remember HOW we got the news. I think we got a phone call from someone and the person told me, "Tell Brian that Hardwick is dead"---and when I told him, Jennings was like "WHAT?!?!" Then it started picking up on the news wires.

[sparky]

KS you have gone off the rails. I am using your avatar, so I guess that means I'm really you!!

[Duffman]

Thanks for the insight CS. I was a fan of KVI back then and an avid Hardwick listener. He made radio 'interesting' with his continued antics and I think folks tuned in (to some extent) for the build-up and continuity of his many stunts. It was like comic-book reading ala radio. Was really shocked at his death and have always wondered if it was either drug and/or alcohol related?
Thanks for the nostalgic topic Bla'M.

[Jaynie Dillon Jones]

I had left KOMO and broadcasting in October of '90, but decided after about an 18-month hiatus to give it another whirl. June 3, 1992 I emerged from a promising interview for a news job at Channel 11, Tacoma, when I flipped the radio on in the car and heard a breaking news bulletin that Hardwick was dead...not just dead, but that he had killed himself. Numb with shock, I retreated to home, and decided that I might not ever want to return to the air. Hardwick's death profoundly affected me. He was phenomenal and to think that the whims of this industry crushed the life out of him was truly sorrowful; such a loss and a waste. Hardwick was and always will be a legendary figure.

[roy k. matthies]

What information doo you have on the old Palace Hotel on 1st ave in Seattle. My parents managed the hotel from 1949-1958.
Also the bar in the basement, that had a large dance floor and massive bar.
Roy K. Matthies

[Debbi Thayer]

Buddy Weber, Robert E Lee Hardwick, Jack Morton, Lan Roberts...(Roall Erickson, too!) radio made a huge impact on my life! I started my day with KVI and often fell asleep late at night after "DXing" with my little pink plastic GE radio! Later it was Mark Saven, after the move to talk radio. A great world of discovery. They were not just radio personalities... they were like friends, part of our lives. Hardwick was a judge at a contest I entered. He was so incredibly kind. (((Speaking of contests... Jack Morton, where's my KVI t-shirt? I wrote a poem about slugs that won a contest you had on-the-air!)))

[Bob Edwards]

I really miss Bob Hardwick. He was a BIG part of morning drive time radio. At work we were always cracking up about something he said or did that morning.

He couldn't have known that satellite radio was coming. But, wish he had waited for it.

[Janet Gehrmann]

I remember Bob and how crazy he was for the song "Popsicle Toes".
Forty five years later and I can still hear his voice(in my head).
What a guy.

[BJ]

I was a student of Bob's at National Broadcasting School. It was a priviledge and a pleasure to know him personally. Recently, I found a hand written recommendation he wrote for me for my first air gig, and it brought a tear to my eye. I miss my friend

[Mike Hoon]

Late 50's, early morning, I'd crawl into bed with my Mom & Dad who'd read the funnies to me and we'd listen to Hardwick & Webber. That was as good as it got, back then.

Does anyone have an air-check of Robert E Lee Hardwick?

[Amerisleep adjustable beds]

when a government finally understands it is better for more people to pay less in taxes than for a very few people to pay a lot more...