18 Year Anniversary of Bob & Marianne in the Morning

18 years ago today - April 7,1997 - a new radio show was introduced to Monmouth and Ocean Counties called "The Bob Levy Show with marianne" (yes tiny little letters). A new company had taken ownership and they needed to do something with their AM station. At that time, General Manager Don Dalesio called Bob and asked if he was interested in doing a morning show, which was smart on their part because Bob Levy was basically a household name in Ocean County from doing Topic A on our sister station for the last 19 years. Here's how it went (or something really close):

Bob: What do you have in mind?

Don: A 2 person for a morning drive show for Adult Standards, do you have anyone in mind?

Bob: Yea my wife

Don: Okay, what's her experience?

Bob: Well, right now she's a very good hostess in a very busy Chinese restaurant.

Don: Go for it!

So it began. We started out in our building located in Howell, which we called "The Cornfields of Howell". The first day was HORRIFIC! I had never done radio and all Bob knew how to do was a call in show. At 10am Kevin faxed us (no computers back then) and said "well it can't get any worse" and Bob said "Great, my name is ruined and my career over". The next day we went in and it was much of the same until I blurted out on air "this is really STUPID" - then we just started acting ourselves and listeners related. In the beginning I was only supposed to go "Ha ha ha" and "yes dear", but about 2 weeks into it Don said "give her more to do" and all Hell broke loose, hence Bob and Marianne in The Morning!

Now it's 18 years later and the memories are flooding back: the friends we've made, the friends we've lost. Through all those years we laughed and we cried with them. We've done 21 cruises with our listener friends, weekend trips, day trips to Atlantic City, oh and BINGO - lots and lots of bingo, and everything in between.

There is so much more I could share, but it would be 20 pages long so I'll narrow it down to this: the only hard part about this job is getting up at 4am. I was blessed to do something that comes naturally to both of us: talking and being ourselves. Not one show in 18 years was ever scripted (although they tried), but we just kept falling back into being Bob and Marianne. People that know us say that when they listen it's just like being in our kitchen. So I'm going to wrap this up with saying what I say at the end of each show:

Remember to Count Your Blessings and Not your Troubles, If You See Someone Without a Smile Give Them One of Yours and Have a Nice Day!

Bob & Marianne