Bob Walters

I worked with Bob Walters at WALT in the late 50's prior to going "Top 40". Bob had a great jazz sense and played alot of Mel Torme, June Christy, Dave Brubeck et al. When we went with the new format, he had trouble pronouncing "Modern Radio". It came out "Modren". A dry sense of humor and a very cool dude. Bob later joined the Rousanville group and was PD of their WCIN in Cincinatti. I lost track of him after that move.   -- by Dave Archard

The DJ's that worked at WALT radio were always very supportive and helpful with the Rockers during those early days of the band. They liked us because we played the same kind of music they played on the air.

Bob Walters was a DJ there during the late 50's and loved our band. We would go there almost daily to listen to the latest records that had just come out before they even hit the stores. We would hang out at the station and listen & compile the tunes we felt would click with our fans at the time. This way we would always have a head start on the newest tunes and learn them before our fans heard them on the radio.

Bob was very helpful and would advise us on which tunes he felt were going to be hits based on his experience as a DJ. He would even loan us the newest 45's that came in the daily mail and let us take them to our rehearsal hall so we could learn the tunes.

I remember sometimes he would call us at the rehearsal hall in a panic and say "Where the hell are all my records". He was about to go "ON AIR" and couldn't find some of his records and we would jump in the car and race back to the station with his 45's. It wasn't that far to the station and we would always make it just before airtime

He would come by our dances and hang out and so we became very fond of him and asked him to be our Manager. He managed our band from about the start of 1958 through the rest of 1959.

Then Rock Robbins (Robert Bernstein) appeared on the scene and Rock really loved the group. His enthusiasm was very contagious. He was always around the band and always at our rehearsals and would help us in any way he could. He would travel with us through all those little tank towns we performed in during those early days. I can't tell you how many times Rock helped me carry my drums in & out of hotels.

Both the band & Bob Walters realized that Rock would be better suited to be our manager. Bob's responsibilities at the station increased leaving him very little time for us and so Rock took over the job at the tail end of 1959 and was our manager until about 1961. Bob also worked at WDAE and WFLA.
  -- (As told by Tony Lopez, drummer of the Fabulous Rockers)