i grew up with wnew. it supported and validated my love of the “standards” of the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, which was uncommon, given that i was a child of the 50’s. i was a student at columbia college in the mid-1970’s and was very involved in their radio station, wkcr-fm. on saturday nights (actually, early sunday mornings) i would listen to bob jones while driving home from whatever party or concert i had attended. my understanding of how radio “worked” enabled me to appreciate just how talented he was. i remember one instance where, approaching the 2am news, he talked over a “back-timed” music bed for 90-120 seconds, never stumbling, maintaining his rhythm and perfect clarity of topic and ending with, “this is wnew in new york”, exactly as the music concluded and just before the hour chime sounded. i was transfixed in my car as i listened and exclaimed, “holy s**t” when it was over. he was an absolute master of technique coupled with intelligence, wit and an understanding of the music he was playing. this is a nearly lost art and certainly not known nor understood by our youth. enough said.
Bob Jones was an interesting persoanlity to listen to. I first discovered Jones on the Milkman’s Matinee on WNEW back in 1977. I had my clock radio set to 4AM to listen to WNEW with Jones on the air.
Bob Jones signed off his show every morning, and although to this day I never knew what his closing meant, but it was cute, “Of love be more careful than anything.
Bob Jones a great radio persoanlity that left us too soon. Rest in Peace, and prayers for the Jones family.
Thanks,
Kevin L. Seaqly
On 12/29/2012 Bob Jones passed away.
Bob was the host of “The Milkman’s Matinee” on WNEW-AM from 1975-1979. He also hosted an evening version of “The Make-Believe Ballroom”. Bob also worked at several other stations including WHN, WQXR and WQEW.
Bob was last in the tradition of all the great Milkmen, which it should also be noted was the first all night radio program ‘when the day begins, the music begins’, just like WNEW pioneered playing records (instead of live bands) as filler in between coverage of the Lindbergh kidnapping trial which morphed into the Ballroom when Martin Block moved it and himself from California to New York.
We (his family) are collecting stories, pictures, and audio from Bob’s life at: BobJones.Stories@gmail.com
Thank you for sharing this request.
Best,
George Weiner
The Clam Broth House had the best bouillabaisse on this side of the Atlantic. And if I remember correctly, women were not allowed into the bar until sometime late into the 1960’s, perhaps even into the ’70’s.
Thanks for everything you are all doing to keep the memories lingering on…
Bob and I worked together on the Milkman’s Matinee from 1975 to 1979. He was a truly delightful co-worker as well as a top-flight talent. He even loaned me his car when mine broke down one night. One of the sponsors of the Matinee was the Clam Broth House in Hoboken, NJ. With a gracious reference to my late wife, Bob would include this line in the live commercial: “The Clam Broth House makes the second-best linguine with white clam sauce in New Jersey. Sharon Fisher makes the best.” Of course, the restaurant had to have us all over for dinner one night to show off its linguine with white clam sauce! One night in 1978, Bob asked me if I knew what had happened to the old WNEW music library from the 1950s and early 1960s. “I’ve got about 45 albums from that library,” I told him. He asked me to bring some of them in. For a while, we would play one cut per night from the old albums during the 3AM-4AM hour of the Matinee. Then it was an entire album side, then an entire album. Eventually, WNEW returned its entire music programming to the standards that had made it great in the first place. If you will forgive the pun, Bob was first vocal and then instrumental in the station making the change.
I’ve been asking around for about 10 years, to no avail. We used to be friends, he was a great guy. I hope he’s okay.
I too would like to get in touch with Bob Jones. I first met Bob in 1962 in New Haven when Bob was working at WAVZ Radio. I was a kid in high school (not much younger than Bob) working at WHAY Radio in New Britain, Ct. A colleague of mine, Jeff Sprung, was a close friend of Bob’s. Sprung used to take me down to WAVZ to watch Bob work. Jones was a consumate pro at a very early age. His dream, like many of us, was to work at WNEW. He made it. I listened and learned. Bob Sirkin
i grew up with wnew. it supported and validated my love of the “standards” of the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, which was uncommon, given that i was a child of the 50’s. i was a student at columbia college in the mid-1970’s and was very involved in their radio station, wkcr-fm. on saturday nights (actually, early sunday mornings) i would listen to bob jones while driving home from whatever party or concert i had attended. my understanding of how radio “worked” enabled me to appreciate just how talented he was. i remember one instance where, approaching the 2am news, he talked over a “back-timed” music bed for 90-120 seconds, never stumbling, maintaining his rhythm and perfect clarity of topic and ending with, “this is wnew in new york”, exactly as the music concluded and just before the hour chime sounded. i was transfixed in my car as i listened and exclaimed, “holy s**t” when it was over. he was an absolute master of technique coupled with intelligence, wit and an understanding of the music he was playing. this is a nearly lost art and certainly not known nor understood by our youth. enough said.
Bob Jones was an interesting persoanlity to listen to. I first discovered Jones on the Milkman’s Matinee on WNEW back in 1977. I had my clock radio set to 4AM to listen to WNEW with Jones on the air.
Bob Jones signed off his show every morning, and although to this day I never knew what his closing meant, but it was cute, “Of love be more careful than anything.
Bob Jones a great radio persoanlity that left us too soon. Rest in Peace, and prayers for the Jones family.
Thanks,
Kevin L. Seaqly
On 12/29/2012 Bob Jones passed away.
Bob was the host of “The Milkman’s Matinee” on WNEW-AM from 1975-1979. He also hosted an evening version of “The Make-Believe Ballroom”. Bob also worked at several other stations including WHN, WQXR and WQEW.
Bob was last in the tradition of all the great Milkmen, which it should also be noted was the first all night radio program ‘when the day begins, the music begins’, just like WNEW pioneered playing records (instead of live bands) as filler in between coverage of the Lindbergh kidnapping trial which morphed into the Ballroom when Martin Block moved it and himself from California to New York.
We (his family) are collecting stories, pictures, and audio from Bob’s life at:
BobJones.Stories@gmail.com
Thank you for sharing this request.
Best,
George Weiner
The Clam Broth House had the best bouillabaisse on this side of the Atlantic. And if I remember correctly, women were not allowed into the bar until sometime late into the 1960’s, perhaps even into the ’70’s.
Thanks for everything you are all doing to keep the memories lingering on…
Bob and I worked together on the Milkman’s Matinee from 1975 to 1979. He was a truly delightful co-worker as well as a top-flight talent. He even loaned me his car when mine broke down one night. One of the sponsors of the Matinee was the Clam Broth House in Hoboken, NJ. With a gracious reference to my late wife, Bob would include this line in the live commercial: “The Clam Broth House makes the second-best linguine with white clam sauce in New Jersey. Sharon Fisher makes the best.” Of course, the restaurant had to have us all over for dinner one night to show off its linguine with white clam sauce! One night in 1978, Bob asked me if I knew what had happened to the old WNEW music library from the 1950s and early 1960s. “I’ve got about 45 albums from that library,” I told him. He asked me to bring some of them in. For a while, we would play one cut per night from the old albums during the 3AM-4AM hour of the Matinee. Then it was an entire album side, then an entire album. Eventually, WNEW returned its entire music programming to the standards that had made it great in the first place. If you will forgive the pun, Bob was first vocal and then instrumental in the station making the change.
I’ve been asking around for about 10 years, to no avail. We used to be friends, he was a great guy. I hope he’s okay.
I too would like to get in touch with Bob Jones. I first met Bob in 1962 in New Haven when Bob was working at WAVZ Radio. I was a kid in high school (not much younger than Bob) working at WHAY Radio in New Britain, Ct. A colleague of mine, Jeff Sprung, was a close friend of Bob’s. Sprung used to take me down to WAVZ to watch Bob work. Jones was a consumate pro at a very early age. His dream, like many of us, was to work at WNEW. He made it. I listened and learned. Bob Sirkin