Mr. Bob Perkins ("BP with the GM") — WRTI jazz host extraordinaire — turns 80 years old today. And for 50 of those years he's been on the radio to the delight of thousands and thousands of listeners. Happy Birthday BP! We love your GM ("Good Music") ... and you!
A Photo Album of Bob Perkins Through The Years
1 of
BP with Dave Brubeck in 1983 - backstage at the Academy of Music. Dave and Bob share the same birthday!
Courtesy of Bob Perkins
2 of
Bob Perkins, age 8. Who knows what lies behind that smile?
courtesy of the Perkins family
3 of
The late teen years. "You guys go home! All the girls belong to me!"
4 of
A young BP with his brother Joe. Bob says that it was Joe who first introduced him to jazz.
5 of
Bob in the mid '60s - a seasoned veteran on the job for one year at WGPR in Detroit.
courtesy of the Perkins family
6 of
About to host his talk show on WDAS in the mid '70s.
7 of
At WHYY hosting his jazz and standard pop music show that aired on Saturday nights for 20 years
8 of
Getting ready to write his daily editorial column at WDAS in the mid '70s
9 of
On the set of his jazz cable TV show at the old Greater Media Cable in South Philly in the early '90s with guest vocalist Paula Johns.
10 of
BP with the GM at WRTI in 2013
WRTI
11 of
Bob Perkins' first radio gig at WGPR-FM in Detroit, 1964
12 of
Mr. Perkins in 2006