Old Seattle Radio Saturday: Bob Hardwick

(Photo: thanks Bill Taylor)

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

[Seattlenerd]

What? No mention that he was best known as "Robert E. Lee Hardwick" when he was popular?

[Mike Barer]

His daughter Linda was in one of some of my broadcasting classes at WSU. I remember telling her that I had a Seattle DJ in my family,too.
Several years before Mr. Hardwick's passing, I read in the WSU alumni magazine (Hilltopics) that Linda had died. I never found out what had caused her passing.

[Coiler]

He was on one of the interview shows on King 5 in the early 80's, talking about walking away from his job.

[sam samuelson]

RIP RELHardwick.

But if he "ruled Seattle morning radio for over twenty years" it was with adults, not kids. Kids listened to KJR+KOL. This kid never missed Lan Roberts in the morning.

[kb]

I was listening to Jim French's show on KIRO when the word came about Hardwick's suicide. I really felt bad for French for having to deliver that news.

[Lisa Brooks]

I was working at KING 1090 the day Bob Hardwick's body was found. It was a terrible day. We all loved him, were very sad to see him let go, and were mortified to learn he shot himself. While I respect your right to run any photo you please with this article, I must say I believe it is in extremely poor taste to show him smiling, and holding a handgun. Surely there must be another photo.
R.I.P. Bob Hardwick.

[Mauny]

Gotta go with Lisa on this one. Extremely poor taste considering the details of his death. But ah, yes, this is Blatherwatch.

[BT]

Perhaps it would be worthwhile to note that the photo is of Hardwick AND Buddy Webber in 1963.

Their good-natured on-air rivalry was a carefully cultivated promotion, and helped propel them to enormous popularity while building KVI's position as a dominant station in the market.

No disrespect to Ms. Brooks, but her funereal focus on the circumstances surrounding the end of Hardwick's life degrades and dimninishes his life achievements.

(Mr. Webber, it's also worth noting, went on to a long gig at KOMO, where he was a top-rated afternoon drive air personality.)

The photo of Hardwick and Webber as the duelists came in a gentler era, and marked a bright period in KVI's history, and in Seattle radio. So, take it for what it is: A snapshot in time, something to enjoy, and remember fondly.

If you're going to insist on bringing it down to the level of sanctimonious mourning, mourn the fact that genuine air personalities like these two guys set a standard that few of today's "talents" can ever hope to achieve.

[dale from albuquerque]

Funny,I've always remembered Hardwick as the "Jack Paar" of Seattle radio...an extremely sensitive personality.Ironically it was when his personal vehicle, a hearse, was shot at in LA, he ended his 'four month sojurn' at KMPC and returned to Seattle.

[Dick T.]

The blog post and the Times article sited are about Hardwick's life. Some commenters seem fixed on his death. The picture is as I remember him -- poking fun of pomposity while acting hilariously pompous. I agree with BT. Keep the picture, Mike, it's more about his life than his death.

[Seattlenerd]

Sepia-toned, old-style radio promo photos were pretty common in the 1970s (I was in a couple myself when I was an air personality), so I took the photo with the humor of the era. And it's worth noting that Blatherwatch ran a totally different photo a year ago, when it did a similar Hardwick retrospective.

So while I don't personally share Lisa's concern, I understand her point, and suggest others might want to cut her a bit of slack as she worked directly with him at his last station. It must have been a shock to hear the news in those circumstances.

And I agree: Radio talent of Hardwick's caliber is rare today.

[KNHCradio]

I recall Jack Morton working at KIRO radio at the time of Bob's death.
When KING Radio did an afternoon
on-air special a few days after the suicide, I personally had to call Morton to remind him OF this special as he was working at 710 at the time.
If it weren't for me, Jack would've been heard on this radio special (which I have on tape somewhere)

[KNHCradio]

'wouldnt've' I meant...

[ed calvert]

Hardwick was the first radio voice when moved to Tacoma from Miami in '69 listened in the mornings till he left. I think the first time I heard the word "damn" or "hell" on the radio was his voice. Been a long time you know

[Marti]

I was 12 when I met Linda Hardwick and her family. She was my best friend. Her father always bought her "modern" clothes and gifts that were impressive to her peers. She always had the latest records and the first to have compact disks. We stayed best friends through our teens. She was funny and fun! But, she was always troubled by her parents divorce (before I knew them). Her father was God to her and she made life difficult for her mother. She was wild like her dad. Like her father, she had a need to be "cool" to stand out, and experiment with taboos. It seemed to escalate over time, and all though she and I stayed in touch by phone, we parted friendship in our twenties. There was a dark side to both of them. Mental illness was their cause of death. Linda died from hanging... suicide. It was sad, but a relief for those of us who loved her, and had to witness the demon that occupied her mind. And the same could be said for Bob. They both had become deplorable people, only Bob's demon was hidden from most. When I heard of his death, I imagined he just couldn't put up the facade anymore. I think this, because I knew her father, Bob; and over the years Linda had shared all her secrets with me. Bob had two daughters, Linda and Lori, which he made little reference to in his later years. He also had two natural sons named for famous early Americans. I guess there was an adopted son too, but I never met him. When i think of Bob or linda I don't remember the fun... just the darkness.