I wonder if Bob set the clock today? Believe it or not, that was my first thought, when MY clock went off at 3:15 Monday morning. After 34 years of getting up early, I wondered if Bob DelGiorno set his alarm for the usual time so he could turn it off, roll over and get some well deserved rest?
Sometimes it’s funny how life works out. I was in high school at Archbishop Shaw, planning to major in accounting, when I heard this “Bob Ruby” guy on WWL in the morning. I thought he was amazing and really wanted to meet him to ask him about a career in radio. After hearing him, it seemed like something I would like to pursue. As luck or destiny would have it, one afternoon when I was working after school at the Firestone store in Gretna, who should drive in...Bob Ruby in his white Sedan de Ville, needing a headlight.
As I replaced the rectangular low beam, I summoned up the courage to tell him what a fan I was and asked about earning a living in radio. “Don’t do it kid,” Ruby said. “They’re too many people trying to get too few jobs. Stick to accounting. It’s safer.” I thanked my radio idol, finished the job and continued to listen.
Bob Ruby left WWL and somebody else took his place. Bob DelGiorno. I liked listening to him, too, and even called his office one day to ask about his “when radio was radio” feature. While we were speaking I also took the chance to ask him about job opportunities. “It’s real hard,” Bob said. “I’d do something else if I were just starting out.”
So, as my bio on WWL.com says, I did. I started as an accounting major at UNO. That didn’t work out so well...I’m more right brained than left...and I bounced around from job to job. Along the way I won a radio call-in contest to see the Saints play the Falcons in Atlanta. My host for the trip? A popular radio personality known as “Scoot!” He was a great host and very gracious. While on the trip, I thought I’d asked him about a career in broadcasting. His response? Let’s just say, if we were playing Family Feud, it would have matched those of the two Bobs.
But I was persistent, followed my heart, went back to school for a degree in communication, worked hard and here we are.
I hear Bob Ruby is alive and well somewhere in America pursuing the wanderlust that made him uniquely him. Scoot returns to the home he loves and becomes the permanent host on WWL’s almost nationwide nighttime show. Bob DelGiorno begins his retirement, after working so very hard to entertain so very many people for so many years. He’s told me he’s taken up golf (a game I love), so I’ll keep him in my prayers. And that kid who was changing Bob Ruby’s headlight back in 1975? He gets the chance of a lifetime hosting the morning show on WWL. Sometimes it’s funny how life works out.
Host of WWL First News