WA Radio: Classy Bob Massey America's Oldest DeeJay

Bob Massey

Approaching his 90th birthday, “Classy” Bob Massey may well be the oldest active on-air radio announcer in the country, and KSQM 91.5 is celebrating the senior radio host's entry into his 10th decade of life.

Massey, a 13-year resident of Sequim, WA has been in radio since 1945 — a career spanning 70 years that has seen the rise of bebop, rhythm and blues, rockabilly, rock and roll, pop, disco and rap; and the transitions from radio tubes to transistors to microchips.

Massey's current radio show, “The Best Music Ever Made” runs from 9 a.m. to noon, Mondays through Fridays on Sequim-based KSQM, streaming live on www.KSQMFM.com.

KSQM 91.5 FM (2.05 Kw) Red=60dBu Local Coverage

On Monday, the show was followed by Massey's in-studio 90th birthday celebration.

According to the Peninsula Daily News, there are no known active broadcasters older than Massey currently on the air in the U.S., according to Bruce DuMont, founder and president of the Museum of Broadcast Communications and Radio Hall of Fame in Chicago.

Bob Wolff, a 94-year-old Washington, D.C., sportscaster, still makes guest appearances but no longer has a regular broadcast schedule, DuMont said.  Len Goorian, 95, a broadcaster in the Cincinnati area, recently departed from a show he co-hosted with his daughter, Viva Goorian.

Massey was born in Rutherford, Tenn., on March 9, 1925, just five years after the first U.S. commercial broadcast station, KDKA, came on the air Nov. 2, 1920, in Pittsburgh, Pa.

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