Bob Harris

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Robert Brinley Joseph Harris, OBE (born 11 April 1946), better known as "Whispering Bob" Harris, is an English music host and co-founder of Time Out, an English music website. Harris has been broadcasting on the BBC for more than 40 years, and has been recognized with the Americana Music Association of America Trailblazer Award, a UK Heritage Award, and a MOJO Gold Medal, as well as his OBE for services to broadcasting.

Early life

Harris first followed in his father's footsteps and joined Northamptonshire Police as a cadet for two years from April 11th, 1946. Harris's father was from Pontardawe, South Wales.

As co-editor, he helped create Time Out magazine. He still refers to himself as "a broadcaster who can broadcast" years later.

Personal life

Harris has eight children and six grandchildren. In 1991, Harris married Trudie Myerscough, who is also his boss, in Trudie Myerscough. She is the mother of his three youngest children. Harris lives in Steventon, Oxfordshire.

Harris was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2007, which was treated with hormone therapy and radiotherapy.

Harris would take a break from his BBC Radio 2 presenting for a while after suffering an aortic dissection while walking ten days earlier). On September 19, he returned to Radio 2 on September 19, 2019.

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Career

He began his radio broadcasting career in 1970, where he appeared on Sounds of the Seventies from 1970 to 1975. On Monday evenings, Sounds of the Seventies were originally an hour long, with television broadcasting from 6 to 7. It had grown to two hours and then to midnight on Mondays, just one hour later. Due to BBC cutbacks in January 1975, the programme was postponed.

Harris went on to host shows for Radio Luxembourg from 1975 to 1977. He appeared on Radio 210 for the first time in 1977, first hosting a Saturday afternoon sports show. He then performed many shows over the weekend, including Friday nights from 9 p.m. and Sundays, as well as Sunday nights from 9 p.m. to 1 am. In 1978, he left the station for a few months due to ill health, but 1979 he returned to perform a Friday evening rock show from 9 p.m. to 4 p.m. He was also in charge of music and presentation.

On BBC Two from 1972 to 1979, Harris performed The Old Grey Whistle Test rock music show. His first appearance on the show was as chair of a discussion on the Night Assemblies Bill, based on his work as a journalist and at the invitation of producer Richard Williams. He was invited to be the main host shortly after. His velvety voice and soft delivery earned him his enduring name. Eric Idle, a hippie-style beard and laid-back appearance made him his favored parody contestant, particularly on the 1970s BBC comedy show Rutland Weekend Television.

Harris later became known in the younger crowd for disparaging himself on air from Roxy Music's first appearance on the program and describing the New York Dolls as "mock rock." On a "Hates" list for 1974, Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood included Harris ("or the Sniff Whistler as we know him") on a "You're going to wake up one morning and find out which side of the bed you've been lying on" T-shirt. Sex Pistols' fan and subsequent bass player Sid Vicious threatened Harris in early 1977 at the Speakeasy (a London nightclub popular with rock stars of the day) and asked if the Pistols would appear on the Old Grey Whistle Test.

Harris moved to BBC Radio Oxford in 1981, a weekday afternoon featured 3–5 p.m. taking over from Timmy Mallett. He stayed there until 1984. He later joined LBC Radio Station in London, presenting a weekly half-hour music analysis and then joining GWR, where he appeared on Saturday lunchtimes and Sunday afternoons.

Harris appeared on Norwich's Radio Broadland, hosting a Saturday evening show, and on a Sunday afternoon show on Hereward FM in Peterborough, from October 1984 to present day. He was still working on his half-hour music analysis on LBC and was recording shows for GWR at the same time. He was given the Weekend Nightline phone call on LBC every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 10 a.m., which he hosted until 1989. He appeared on BFBS from 1986 to 1998, as well as on the UK Independent Local Radio sustaining service, The Superstation.

Harris first appeared on BBC Radio 1 in 1989 and stayed in for Richard Skinner on the weekday 12 – 2 am slot before being invited to his own weekly show on Sunday nights from 11 p.m. later this year. Harris took over the weekday 12 – 2 am slot from April 1990, which then became 12 – 4 a day when Radio 1 began broadcasting 24 hours a day on May 1, 1991.

Harris, along with several other Radio 1 DJs, was left out of the changes being made by new controller Matthew Bannister in October 1993. Lynn Parsons was given the opportunity at 12 – 4 a.m.

Harris moved to BBC Radio London in summer 1994, hosting a three-hour Saturday night show from 10 p.m. to midnight on Wednesday evenings. Later that night, he left the Saturday night show to concentrate on BBC Radio London's Monday-Wednesday evening shows.

Harris returned to the national airwaves in spring 1997, this time on BBC Radio 2, where he took up an 11 p.m. slot on Saturday night. He continued to appear on GLR, but at this point, he changed from Monday to Wednesday evening shows and opened a Saturday afternoon display from 2 to 6 p.m.

Harris eventually left GLR in late 1998 after taking over another show for Radio 2, Bob Harris Country (previously David Allan's Country Club) from 8 to 8 p.m. on Thursday evenings, from 8 p.m. to 1 am, and his Saturday night show then went from 10 to 1 a.m. His Saturday show shifted to an 11 p. 2 am slot from 4 April 2010, meaning it aired early Sunday mornings from midnight to 3 a.m., beginning in April 2006. On Sundays, from October 2014 to January 2017, the display ran from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. In February 2017, his Sunday show went from midnight to 3 a.m. However, Harris' last weekend on Radio 2 on Sunday, and he appeared on Sunday early morning due to major changes to the weekend's schedule. Max Bygraves' final song was When You Come To The End Of A Lollipop. Bob Harris Country is still at 9 p.m. on Thursday, as it continues on Thursday.

Harris began a weekly show on Boom Radio, sponsored by Find My Past, which explored how songs linked to other tracks on January 9th, 2022. From 9 p.m. to repeat on Wednesdays, the hour-long show was on Sunday nights, beginning at 9 p.m. and ending on Wednesdays. On February 27, the series came to an end.

Harris announced on January 10, 2022, he was returning to the Sounds of the 1970s program after more than 50 years by sitting in for Johnnie Walker on the episodes that were broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on the 16th and the 23 January.

In 2002, Harris became the first presenter on the newly launched digital radio station BBC Radio 6 Music, hosting a Sunday-evening show from 5 to 8 p.m. in addition to his Radio 2 programs. In 2004, he founded 6 Music. He then went on to host a new show on Radio 2 which aired on Friday nights/Saturday mornings from midnight to 3 a.m. on Friday nights/Saturday mornings. Mark Lamarr was brought to this role by Mark Lamarr, but he returned to it briefly after Lamarr left the BBC at the end of 2010. Harris has been able to rely less on one-off shows such as the Maple Leaf Revolution under the auspices of the Whispering Bob Broadcasting Company since its conclusion on Friday.

When Michael Aspel at BBC Broadcasting House surprised him in 2003, he was the subject of This Is Your Life.

Harris was seen on Radio 2 drivetime during the holiday season 2007-08 and 2008-09.

Since its inception in 2013, Harris has hosted the C2C: Country to Country festival in London and simultaneously broadcasts over BBC Radio 2 Country, which was first established in 2015, the same year where Harris was given his own stage to attend the festival. The Under the Apple Tree stage at this point paved the way for his own Under the Apple Tree festival, which will take place in 2016.

Harris has been praised by John Thomson as the inspiration for his The Fast Show character Louis Balfour, who comperes "Jazz Club" and whose softly spoken delivery echoes Harris' "unshakeable excitement" on The Old Grey Whistle Test.

Harris made a cameo appearance in Tom Harper's Country Music Drama Wild Rose in 2018.

In 2018, Harris appeared with 26 others at Metropolis Studios to perform "Rock With Rudolph," Grahame and Jack Corbyn's original Christmas song written and produced. The song was produced in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital and was released digitally on independent record label Saga Entertainment on October 30, 2018. The music video premiered exclusively with The Sun on November 29, 2018 and gained its first television appearance on Good Morning Britain on November 30, 2018. On the iTunes pop chart, the album debuted at number two.

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Awards

• Honorary Fellowship from the School of the Arts, Northampton University.
• Sony Radio Academy Awards 2009 – Silver for The Sandy Denny Story: Who Knows Where The Time Goes
• Sony Radio Academy Awards 2008 – Silver for The Day John Met Paul
• CMA International Broadcaster of the Year 2004.
• 2011 ]Mojo Medal
• Harris was awarded the Trailblazer Award by the Americana Music Association in 2011.
• Harris was appointed Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to music broadcasting.
• On the red carpet of the 2012 CMA awards, Harris was awarded the CMA Wesley Rose International Media Achievement Award by Little Big Town.
• In 2013, Harris won his second CMA International Broadcaster of the Year Award.
• On the last day of the 2016 Country to Country festival, Harris was awarded his second CMA Wesley Rose International Media Achievement Award by Kacey Musgraves.
• On Day 2 of C2C 2017, Kristian Bush surprised Harris with the CMA International Broadcaster of the Year Award.