Pierre Robert
Encyclopedia
- For the French composer, see: Pierre Robert (composer)Pierre Robert (composer)Pierre Robert was French composer and early master of the French grand motet.Pierre Robert was educated at the boys choir, or maîtrise, of Notre-Dame de Paris under the direction of Henry Frémart, Jean Francois, and Cosset Veillot before being appointed master of music at the Cathedral of Senlis...
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William Pierre Robert (born August 1, 1955) is a radio disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
who, since 1981, has been a highly popular on-air personality for 93.3FM WMMR
WMMR
WMMR is an active rock radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, broadcasting at 93.3 MHz FM. The station is owned by Greater Media....
in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, one of the nation's most recognized rock music stations.
He is known as WMMR's most identifiable personality, and is often described as a hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
by many locals. Robert is also famous for addressing his listeners as "citizens", as well as saying "Great day in the morning!".
Robert also holds significant stature in the American rock music industry, where he is held in high esteem by many rock musicians and groups, many of whom have granted Robert rare interviews and appeared in person on his program.
Radio career
Pierre Robert began his radio career at 94.9 KSAN-FMKSAN-FM
KSAN is a commercial radio station licensed to San Mateo, California, with its transmitter located on San Bruno Mountain. It broadcasts to the San Francisco Bay Area...
, one of the country's first progressive rock
Progressive rock (radio format)
Progressive rock is a radio station programming format that prospered in the late 1960s and 1970s, in which the disc jockeys are given wide latitude in what they may play, similar to the freeform format but with the proviso that some kind of rock music is almost always what is played...
stations, in his hometown of San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. When KSAN changed its format to an Urban Country & Western style in the early 1980s Robert assumed the on-air name "Will Robertson" for a brief period of time.
Not long after, Robert moved to Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
where he joined WMMR.
Robert has had many positions at WMMR, which include mornings, overnights and middays. His current time slot is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. though his program frequently runs longer (an anomaly explained as "Pierre Standard Time.")
Features of his show include the "Coffee Break Music Marathon", "Pierre's Planner" and the Work Force Blocks where he plays 3 to 4 song blocks of a particular artist based on listener requests.
Robert also features the "Vinyl Cut", where he plays a track from one of the many vinyl records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
in the WMMR archive.
He is also known to play all 18 minutes and 20 seconds of Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant
Alice's Restaurant
"Alice's Restaurant Massacree" is a musical monologue by singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie released on his 1967 album Alice's Restaurant. The song is one of Guthrie's most prominent works, based on a true incident in his life that began on Thanksgiving Day 1965, and which inspired a 1969 movie of the...
" multiple times during his annual Thanksgiving Day broadcast.
Robert has admitted that he does not follow Philadelphia sports. He typically refers to all Philadelphia sports teams as "The Boys in Blue" regardless of the actual team colors.
Throughout the first 25 days of November 2006, WMMR paid tribute to Pierre for his 25 years of service to the station.