R.I.P.: Michigan Radio Broadcaster Bob Dyer

Bob Dyer 1998

For a whole generation of Michigan baby boomers, Bob Dyer was a cultural icon.

Dyer, a WKNX-AM Saginaw, disc jockey, was one of the first in the country to introduce The Beatles to the airwaves. And with Dick Fabian, he brought the music home, hosting dances throughout the region with performers including Simon and Garfunkel.

Dyer, who with Fabian was named in June 2013 to the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends’ Hall of Fame, died Sunday morning, according to mlive.com.

He was 85.

“Bob was very special to me,” said Fabian, who came to WKNX from Lansing because he loved the Beatles. “He welcomed me in, and we became instant friends. We were more than business partners; we had a lot of respect for each other.”

Born in Toledo, Ohio, Dyer came to Saginaw in 1950, back when Little Jimmy Dickens’ Down Home Boys was the house band in the second-floor WKNX studios.

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