Bob Rivers is a well known
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rock and rollRock and roll is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States after World War II in the late 1940s, from a combination of the rhythms of the blues, from the African American culture, and from America's country music and gospel music scenes...
radioRadio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
on air personalityA disc jockey is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, dis
k referred to phonograph records, while dis
c referred to the Compact Disc, and has become the more common spelling...
in the
Pacific NorthwestThe Pacific Northwest is a region in the northwest of North America, bound by the Pacific Ocean to the west. There are several partially overlapping definitions of the region, but they generally include the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon, and...
as well as a prolific
producerIn the music industry, a record producer has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes...
of
parodyA parody , in contemporary usage, is a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
songA song is a metrical composition intended or adapted for singing, especially one in rhymed stanzas; a lyric; a ballad....
s, most famous for his Christmas song parodies.
Rivers' radio program,
The Bob Rivers Show, is broadcast on Seattle
rockClassic rock was originally conceived as a radio station programming format which evolved from the album oriented rock format in the early-1980s...
stationRadio broadcasting is an audio broadcasting service, broadcast through the air as radio waves from a transmitter to an antenna and a thus to a receiving device. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast common programming, either in syndication or simulcast or both...
KZOK-FMKZOK-FM is a commercial radio station located in Seattle, Washington, broadcasting on 102.5 FM. It is owned by CBS Radio and airs a classic rock music format.-History:...
.
The Bob Rivers Show current cast includes: Spike O'Neill; "Downtown" Joe Bryant; newswoman Maura Gallucci ; director Arik Korman; and producers Luciana Bosio and Pedro Bartes.
Previously, between late 1989 and
August 2000August 2000 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December-----Events:* August 8 - Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor....
, the show aired on Seattle, Washington
Active RockActive rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across Canada and the United States. Active rock plays current rock artists with a mix of classic rock songs.-Format background:...
radio station KISW-FM under the title
Bob Rivers Twisted Radio.
Bob Rivers is a well known
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rock and rollRock and roll is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States after World War II in the late 1940s, from a combination of the rhythms of the blues, from the African American culture, and from America's country music and gospel music scenes...
radioRadio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
on air personalityA disc jockey is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, dis
k referred to phonograph records, while dis
c referred to the Compact Disc, and has become the more common spelling...
in the
Pacific NorthwestThe Pacific Northwest is a region in the northwest of North America, bound by the Pacific Ocean to the west. There are several partially overlapping definitions of the region, but they generally include the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon, and...
as well as a prolific
producerIn the music industry, a record producer has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes...
of
parodyA parody , in contemporary usage, is a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
songA song is a metrical composition intended or adapted for singing, especially one in rhymed stanzas; a lyric; a ballad....
s, most famous for his Christmas song parodies.
Rivers' radio program,
The Bob Rivers Show, is broadcast on Seattle
rockClassic rock was originally conceived as a radio station programming format which evolved from the album oriented rock format in the early-1980s...
stationRadio broadcasting is an audio broadcasting service, broadcast through the air as radio waves from a transmitter to an antenna and a thus to a receiving device. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast common programming, either in syndication or simulcast or both...
KZOK-FMKZOK-FM is a commercial radio station located in Seattle, Washington, broadcasting on 102.5 FM. It is owned by CBS Radio and airs a classic rock music format.-History:...
.
The Bob Rivers Show current cast includes: Spike O'Neill; "Downtown" Joe Bryant; newswoman Maura Gallucci ; director Arik Korman; and producers Luciana Bosio and Pedro Bartes.
Previously, between late 1989 and
August 2000August 2000 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December-----Events:* August 8 - Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor....
, the show aired on Seattle, Washington
Active RockActive rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across Canada and the United States. Active rock plays current rock artists with a mix of classic rock songs.-Format background:...
radio station KISW-FM under the title
Bob Rivers Twisted Radio.
The Bob Rivers Show was also
simulcastSimulcast is a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast", and refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are...
on
Portland, OregonPortland is a city located in the Northwestern United States, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the state of Oregon. As of July 2008, it has an estimated population of 575,930, making it the 29th most populous in the United States. It has been referred to as the most...
"1980s Rock Hits" radio station
KVMX (now KXJM)KXTG is an all-sports radio station licensed to Portland, Oregon, USA, and serving the Portland area. The station is currently owned by Alpha Broadcasting.-History:...
"Mix 107.5" from 20 March 2006 until 5 October 2006, when the station dropped the morning show and switched to a
Rhythmic Adult ContemporaryRhythmic adult contemporary is a format used on stations in the United States and Canada. Like many adult contemporary radio stations, rhythmic AC stations often would not play rap. It usually gears toward an older audience, ages 25 to 54...
format under the new branding "Movin' 107.5".
WAAF Bob and Zip
Bob Rivers spent almost 6 years at
WAAF-FMWAAF is a Boston, Massachusetts, area commercial Album Oriented Rock/Active rock radio station that mixes music that is popular in the modern rock, heavy metal and classic rock genres....
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 songA novelty song is a comical or nonsensical song, performed principally for its comical effect. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music. The other two divisions...
s, 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
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
radio stations. One of the first parodies he produced was "Breakin' Up Is Hard On You", about the
lawsuitA lawsuit is a civil action brought before a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have received damages from a defendant's actions, seeks a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
and the resulting
Bell System divestitureThe breakup of AT&T was initiated by the filing in 1974 by the U.S. Department of Justice of an antitrust lawsuit against AT&T. The case, United States v. AT&T, led to a settlement finalized on January 8, 1982, under which "Ma Bell" agreed to divest its local exchange service operating companies,...
, the
court orderA court order is an official proclamation by a judge that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying out of certain steps by one or more parties to a case...
ed split up of U.S. telecommunications company
AT&TAT&T Inc. is the largest provider of local, long distance telephone services in the United States, and also serves digital subscriber line Internet access. AT&T is the second largest provider of wireless service in the United States, with over 77 million wireless customers, and more than 150...
's
Bell SystemThe Bell System was the AT&T monopoly that provided telephone service in the United States from 1877 to 1984 when it was broken up into separate companies by a Federal mandate....
. The song was sung to the tune of
Neil SedakaNeil Sedaka is an American pop singer, pianist, and songwriter often associated with the Brill Building...
's #1, 1962 hit "
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do"Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" is a song recorded by Neil Sedaka and described by Allmusic as "two minutes and sixteen seconds of pure pop magic". It is considered to be Sedaka's signature song. It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 11, 1962 and was a good hit all over the world,...
" and peaked at #69 on the
Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday; while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
pop musicPop music is a music genre that developed from the mid-1950s as a softer alternative to rock 'n' roll and later to rock music. It has a focus on commercial recording, often orientated towards a youth market, usually through the medium of relatively short and simple love songs...
chart.
In 1987, Rivers released
Twisted ChristmasTwisted Christmas is a humorous Christmas album recorded by Bob Rivers and his Comedy Corp.- Track listing :# The Twelve Pains of Christmas...
, which contained the
Christmas musicChristmas music comprises a variety of genres of music normally performed or heard around the Christmas season, which tends to begin in the months leading up the actual holiday and end in the weeks shortly thereafter.- Content :...
radio hit "Twelve Pains of Christmas", a parody of the holiday standard
"The Twelve Days of Christmas""The Twelve Days of Christmas" is an English Christmas carol which enumerates a series of increasingly grandiose gifts given on each of the twelve days of Christmas, ultimately leaving the singer with 364 gifts from her "true love." First published in England in 1780, however, textual evidence may...
. "Twisted Christmas" was certified a gold record by the
RIAAThe Recording Industry Association of America is a group which represents the recording industry distributors in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors, which the RIAA say "create, manufacture and/or distribute approximately 85% of all legitimate sound recordings...
.
WIYY "98 Rock"
In the spring of 1988, at
BaltimoreBaltimore is an independent city and the largest city in the state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore City in order to distinguish it from surrounding...
radio station "98 Rock" WIYY-FM, as a lead morning show personality between 1987 and 1989, Bob Rivers gained national attention for an 11-day, on-the-air marathon during a
Baltimore OriolesThe Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , the Orioles have played their home games at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The "Orioles" name refers to the official state...
losing streak. He vowed to remain on the air until the Orioles won a game. He kept his vow and became a local celebrity among Orioles fans for his pledge.
During his time at 98 Rock, he and WIYY radio collaborated with Sheffield Recording Studios to continue his campaign of 'Twisted Tunes'
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 SabbathBlack Sabbath are an English rock band, formed in Birmingham in 1968 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple lineup changes, with a total of twenty-two former members...
's song "
Iron Man"Iron Man" is a song by British heavy metal band Black Sabbath from their second studio album Paranoid released in 1970. It was later included on their initial greatest hits compilation We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll , as well as all subsequent greatest hits compilations...
"). Since then, three other Christmas-themed albums have been released, including:
More Twisted ChristmasMore Twisted Christmas is the third Christmas album by Bob Rivers. It was released in 1997, four years after I Am Santa Claus, and three years before Chipmunks Roasting On an Open Fire...
(1997);
Chipmunks Roasting On an Open FireChipmunks Roasting On an Open Fire is the fourth Christmas album by Bob Rivers. It was released in 2000, three years after More Twisted Christmas, and two years before White Trash Christmas.-Track listing:# The Twisted Chipmunk Song - 2:01...
(2000); and
White Trash ChristmasWhite Trash Christmas is the fifth Christmas album by Bob Rivers. It was released in 2002, two years after Chipmunks Roasting On an Open Fire...
(2002).
Bob Rivers and his
Twisted Radio show have also produced a countless number of regular, non-holiday parodies covering anything from pop culture to
politicianA politician or political leader is an individual who is involved in influencing public decision making. This includes people who hold decision-making positions in government, and people who seek those positions, whether by means of election, coup d'état, appointment, electoral fraud, conquest,...
s, to the various
sportSport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. Sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the competitor are the sole or primary determinant of the outcome , but the term is also used to include activities such as...
s teams and players in the Seattle area. These "Twisted Tunes" can be heard for free on his website.
CDA Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store sound recordings exclusively, but later it also allowed the preservation of other types of data. Audio CDs have been commercially available since October 1982...
compilation albumA compilation album is an album featuring tracks from multiple recording artists, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, source or subject matter...
s are also available.
KZOK The Bob Rivers Show
In 2001, the cast and show moved to KZOK. The cast currently includes Spike O'Neill, "Downtown" Joe Bryant, newswoman Maura Gallucci, director Arik Korman and producers Luciana Bosio and Pedro Bartes.
Studio albums
| Year |
Album |
Chart Positions |
Label |
| US Holiday |
US The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling new music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
|
US Heat Top Heatseekers is a weekly albums chart introduced by Billboard in 1993 whose purpose is to highlight sales by new and developing musical recording artists. Albums appearing on Top Heatseekers may also concurrently appear on the Billboard 200....
|
US Country |
| 1992 |
Twisted Christmas |
|
|
|
|
Critique |
| 1993 |
I Am Santa Claus |
23 |
106 |
1 |
|
Atlantic |
| 1994 |
Twisted Tunes |
|
|
|
|
| 1997 |
More Twisted Christmas |
|
|
13 |
|
| 2000 |
Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire |
|
|
|
|
| 2002 |
White Trash Christmas |
|
|
|
42 |
Compilations
| Year |
Album |
US Holiday |
Label |
| 1994 |
Twisted Christmas |
19 |
Atlantic |
| 1997 |
The Best of Christmas Tunes, Vol. 1 |
|
| The Best of Christmas Tunes, Vol. 2 |
|
| The Best of Twisted Tunes, Vol. 1 |
| The Best of Twisted Tunes, Vol.2 |
Film appearances
- Bob Rivers appeared as an extra in two Star Trek Enterprise episodes. The first being "Zero Hour
"Zero Hour" is the title of an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise; it was the season finale for season three. The episode was the end of a season-long story arc in which the crew of the Enterprise try to stop the Xindi-Reptilians from destroying Earth....
" along with KZOK contest winner Amy Ulen, filmed April 29, 2004. The other episode was the series finale in 2005, "These Are the Voyages..."These Are the Voyages..." is the series finale of the UPN television show Star Trek: Enterprise. The 22nd episode of the fourth season and the 98th overall, it first aired on May 13, 2005, in the United States...
"
External links