'Bob Rivers' is one of the best-known
rock and roll radio on air personalities in the
northwestern United States, as well as a prolific
producer of
parody songs.
Rivers' radio program, ''The Bob Rivers Show'', is broadcast on
Seattle rock station KZOK-FM.
''The Bob Rivers Show'' cast includes: Spike O'Neill; "Downtown" Joe Bryant; Kaci Aitchison; director Arik Korman; and executive producer Mike Jones.
Previously, between late
1989 and
August 2000, the show aired on Seattle, Washington
Active Rock radio station
KISW-FM under the title ''Bob Rivers Twisted Radio''. ''The Bob Rivers Show'' was also
simulcast on
Portland, Oregon "1980s Rock Hits" radio station
KVMX "Mix 107.5" from
20 March 2006 until
5 October 2006, when the station dropped the morning show and switched to a
Rhythmic Adult Contemporary format under the new branding "Movin' 107.5".
WAAF ''Bob and Zip''
Bob Rivers spent almost 6 years at
WAAF-FM in
Boston as part of their successful ''Bob and Zip'' morning show with fellow on air personality Peter "Zip" Zipfel.
During his tenure with WAAF, Rivers started producing parody and
novelty songs, both for the station and for the KATZ/Newcity "American Comedy Network" a
radio syndication service that provided comedy material to local U.S. and
Canadian radio stations. One of the first parodies he produced was "Breakin' Up Is Hard On You", about the
lawsuit and resulting
court ordered split up of U.S.
telecommunications company
AT&T's
Bell System by the
United States Department of Justice. The song was sung to the tune of
Neil Sedaka's #1, 1962 hit "
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" and peaked at #69 on the
Billboard Hot 100 pop music chart.
In
1987, Rivers released ''
Twisted Christmas'', which contained the
Christmas music radio hit "Twelve Pains of Christmas", a parody of the holiday standard "
Twelve Days of Christmas". "Twisted Christmas" was certified a
gold record by the
RIAA.
Bob also has a
Christmas Rock n' Roll song named
I am Santa claus, it resembles a song by
Black Sabbath called
Iron man
WIYY "98 Rock"
In the spring of
1988, during a brief stint at
Baltimore radio station "98 Rock"
WIYY-FM, Rivers gained some notoriety for an 11-day, on-air marathon during the
Orioles losing streak.
KISW ''Twisted Radio''
After arriving at KISW in Seattle in
1989, Rivers released a second album of humorous holiday-themed music in 1993 entitled ''I Am Santa Claus'' (the title track was a parody of
Black Sabbath's song "
Iron Man"). Since then, three other holiday-themed albums have been released, including: ''More Twisted Christmas'' (1997); ''Chipmunks Roasting On an Open Fire'' (2000); and ''White Trash Christmas'' (2003).
Bob Rivers and his ''Twisted Radio'' show have also produced a countless number of regular, non-holiday parodies covering anything from
pop culture to
politicians, to the various
sports teams and players in the Seattle area. These "Twisted Tunes" can be heard for free on his website.
CD compilation albums are also available.
KZOK ''The Bob Rivers Show''
In
2001, the cast and show moved to KZOK. The cast includes Spike O'Neill, "Downtown" Joe Bryant, Kaci Aitchison, director Arik Korman and executive producer Mike Jones.
Trivia
★ Many tracks recorded by Bob Rivers are commonly misattributed to
"Weird Al" Yankovic due to similar-sounding vocals. This misattribution has been common due to the wide circulation of his tracks on
P2P music-sharing services. However, most of Bob Rivers' material is often more adult-oriented than "Weird Al"'s (such as "What if God Smoked Cannabis", "Asshole Son", and "Walking Around in Women's Underwear").
★ Rivers was twice voted "Major Market Rock Personality of the Year" by ''
Radio & Records'', a weekly
U.S. radio and music industry
trade magazine.
★ Rivers was once voted "Billboard's Radio Personality of the Week" by ''
Billboard'', a weekly U.S. music industry trade magazine.
★ Bob Rivers' parody of the
Aerosmith hit "
Janie's Got a Gun", "Cheney's Got a Gun", was submitted on the music parody website
Amiright in
February 2006, followed by three other separate "Cheney's Got a Gun" parodies.
★ Once afraid of flying, Rivers earned his private pilot's certificate in 2002 and later an instrument rating. He's the owner of a
Cessna single-engine aircraft and frequently flies in Western Washington.
★ Bob Rivers appeared as an extra in two
Star Trek Enterprise episodes.
External links
★
Bob Rivers / Twisted Tunes website
★
KZOK website