R.I.P.: Former Radio Newsman Bob Benson Has Died

Bob Benson

Former radio newsman Bob Benson (Real Name: Robert Gustav Bengtson) died Sunday January 29, 2017 at the age of 74.

Bob was born December 15, 1942 in Streator, Ill, where his love of radio started at WIZZ while a student at Streator High School.

He was later a staff member at WIRE in Indianapolis, Indiana where he attended Butler University. He went on to KOIL in Omaha, Nebraska to become the National News Director for Star Stations. In 1966 he joined ABC to become News Director of WLS in Chicago, Illinois until 1968 after which he became News Director and later Program Director of KGO Radio, in San Francisco.

In 1974 Benson left ABC and joined the Associated Press where he was the founder and first Managing Editor of AP Radio in Washington, DC. He returned to ABC in New York as Vice President of ABC News where he had a long career in charge of News and Sports for the Radio Networks.

Bob’s career spanned many areas of Radio from disc jockey to covering news and sporting events to management. Of all the national and international events he attended and covered, he often said his most memorable moment was a private audience with Pope John Paul II. Bob moved to Punta Gorda in 1994.