Bob Hawk (December 15, 1907 - July 4, 1989) was an American radio quizmaster and comic whose early work in radio set the standard for the "man in the street” interviews.

Early years

Born in

Creston, Iowa Creston is a city in and the county seat of Union County, Iowa. The population was 7,536 at the time of the 2020 Census. History Creston was originally settled in 1868 as a survey camp for the Burlington and Missouri Railroad. It was named ...

, Hawk began his career by reading poetry on the radio in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Hawk's mother was in part responsible for her son's eventual rise in broadcasting. When he won an

elocution Elocution is the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone as well as the idea and practice of effective speech and its forms. It stems from the idea that while communication is symbolic, sounds are final and compelli ...

contest at the age of nine, Marietta Hawk had big dreams for her son. She worked with him in poetry and dramatic reading as well as

oration Public speaking, also called oratory or oration, has traditionally meant the act of speaking face to face to a live audience. Today it includes any form of speaking (formally and informally) to an audience, including pre-recorded speech deliver ...

. Before he was a high school graduate, his mother had entered him in 20 state and local competitions; young Hawk won 19 of them.(subscription required)

Career

Hawk was one of the first people to use a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

format on radio when, in 1927, he began making jokes, commenting about records, and interviewing performers on the air at a station in Chicago. The approach became popular with listeners, resulting in more time on the air for him and a nine-year tenure at the station.

Camel cigarettes Camel is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in the United States and by Japan Tobacco outside the U.S. Most current Camel cigarettes contain a blend of Turkish tobacco and Virg ...

sponsored several of his radio programs, including ''The Bob Hawk Show'', a popular

quiz show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, sh ...

of the late 1940s and early 1950s. His programs included: * ''Foolish Questions'' (1936) * ''Fun Quiz'' (1936) * ''Quixie Doodles'' (1938) for the

Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Old-time radio, golden ...

* ''Name Three'' (1939–40) for Mutual, sponsored by Philip Morris * '' Take It or Leave It'' (1940–41) for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

, sponsored by Eversharp * ''How’m I Doin’?'' for

, sponsored by Camel * ''Thanks to the Yanks'' (1942–45) CBS, sponsored by Camel * ''The Bob Hawk Show'' for CBS, sponsored by Camel In 1949, ''The Bob Hawk Show'' moved to Hollywood from Chicago, then a central broadcasting hub with 22 radio stations. During its last years on the air, the program was recorded and edited down to 30 minutes. Hawk wrote the questions for his quiz programs, and he often devised clever ones. One such trick question: "Could a baseball game end in a six-six tie without a man touching first base?" Answer: "Yes, if the game was played between two girl teams." Hawk failed to make the move to television, and in 1952, he was quoted in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'': "Why should I beat my brains out in TV when radio is paying so well?" At the time his radio show was consistently rated in the top 12 radio shows nationally.

Death

Hawk died in Laguna Hills, California on July 4, 1989.

Recognition

His star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...

for radio is in the 6400 block of

Hollywood Boulevard Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Los Angeles, California. It begins in the east at Sunset Boulevard in the Los Feliz district and proceeds to the west as a major thoroughfare through Little Armenia and Thai Town, Hollywoo ...

on the north side of the street'

References

*''On the Air: the Encyclopedia of Old-time Radio'', John Dunning, Oxford University Press, 1998. *''Time'', ''Voice of the People'', Monday, February 6, 1939. *''Time'', ''Mother Knows Best'', Monday, September 29, 1952. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawk, Bob Radio personalities from Chicago 1907 births 1989 deaths Radio personalities from Iowa American game show hosts