A Radio Experience moves west

On Wednesday morning, I sat in front of a microphone in the 600 WMT radio studio, across the desk from Bob Bruce.

His show has officially been called the Bob Bruce Radio Experience, or BBRE. But I prefer Radio Russian roulette.

I am fairly experienced when it comes to The Experience. I've been on many times since arriving here in 2007. But only on very rare occasions have I sat down at that mic with more than a faint idea what we're going to talk about.

Bob hands me a hot cup of coffee. I put on headphones. What happens next is anyone's guess. City Hall? The Statehouse? Foreign policy? Nuclear physics? My thoughts on Nickelback?

So I'm going to miss that thrill of the unknown now that Bob is taking his Experience, and maybe even musical director Artie the One Man Party, west to KOIL 1290 AM in Omaha. His last WMT broadcast was on Friday, so my Wednesday stint was my final chance to spin that chamber and hope for the best, a career-ending gaffe just a mangled, hurried phrase away. No net.

It was a fitting finale. He tossed out a headline about a legislative effort to raise the minimum wage. I mumbled on like a dithering print pontificator, with my nattering nuances, hopeless howevers and 80 shades of gray. Terrific radio.

Bob is more blunt. He says raising the minimum wage is fine with him. But he's sick of raise-backers whining about mandating a living wage and about all the adults working for peanuts. If you're an adult making minimum wage, Bob says, it's because you've made lousy choices in your life. It's not the government's job to bail you out.

Well, it seems more complicated than that, I'm thinking while he talks. If only we could pause while I consult a white paper.

As with all the other times we've talked about this issue, the callers are on his side. He knows his audience.

So it makes you wonder why WMT moved his show earlier this year from its longtime drive-time slot at 4 p.m. to the far less prime 9 a.m. slot. Even on his way out the door, Bob is reluctant to criticize his corporate Clear Channel, excuse me, iHeartMedia, overlords.

'I don't know why they did what they did,” Bob said before our Wednesday get-together. 'They're in the business of trying to collect the most revenue they can.”

WMT now airs something called Drive Time 380 in the afternoon. And you don't have to be a radio executive to notice the new format has more ads. That's the media biz.

Maybe you loved the BBRE, a 'P1” perhaps, or maybe it made you cringe and beat your steering wheel. Regardless, the show put mayors, county supervisors, state lawmakers and other newsmakers on the air at a time when a lot of folks were listening. Sure, some of the issues Bob brought up were the audio equivalent of shallow Internet clickbait. But on many more occasions his show took on issues people talk about and care about.

When I first came to town, I flipped around the radio dial as I tried to get a feel for the place. I came across the BBRE and heard callers talking about whatever the local issue of the day was at that time, selling a portion of Twin Pines Golf Course, redeveloping Westdale Mall, whatever. I didn't have to listen too many times before I heard him taking issue with something the screwy new Gazette columnist wrote. Who is this guy anyway?

He says, oddly enough, it was bicyclists and ethanol that got his audience the most fired up over the years. He also riled his listeners by insisting that the city's 'unmet needs” program providing cash to flood-affected residents was really an unnecessary 'unmet wants” program. Bob dubbed critics of big recovery projects 'CAVE men,” citizens against virtually everything. He stirred things up.

I'd argue that's what local radio is supposed to do. Basically, if you needed to know what's going on around here, Bob's show had to be on your media menu. Often, my columns provided fodder for him. His show returned the favor many times.

Now he's going back to Omaha, where he came from 12 years ago. KOIL is run by Cedar Rapids-based NRG Media, owner of many stations across the Midwest. So the folks he'll be working for are people he knows well. It's a 'fresh opportunity,” he says.

'There is really no way I would have made this move if I didn't know the people as well as I do,” he said.

His Cedar Rapids stint was the longest of his 'nomadic” career.

'It's really been a thrill for me to be on the radio station I grew up listening to,” he said, allowing him to work with hall of fame legends such as Leo Greco and Ron Gonder.

'It was a good run,' he said.

His Omaha show also will be called the Bob Bruce Radio Experience. My advice to his guests is to drink plenty of coffee, stay alert and hope for the best.

' comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@thegazette.com.