THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 7, 1996 TAG: 9601100614
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 116 lines
THE TASSELED loafers, pleated pants, leather suspenders, designer tie and digital pager say one thing: ``Bob Conwell, advertising guy.''
The nearly gray beard and shoulder-length ponytail say something else: ``B.C. here. This is `Blues on The Coast.' ''
It's a two-hat deal. Conwell's job is regional sales manager for WKOC-FM, WLTY-FM and WTAR-AM. But once a week, sometimes twice, he slips into a production room to tape his blues show, which has been airing on The Coast (93.7) Sunday nights from 9:30 to 11:30 for a little over a year.
Everyone wins.
Hampton Roads' undernourished fans get a shot of Vitamin B, a far-reaching playlist that includes Delbert McClinton, John Lee Hooker, Rory Gallagher, King Biscuit Boy, Lil' Georgie and the Shufflin' Hungarians, Keb' Mo' and teen-age guitar whiz Kenny Wayne Shepherd.
Conwell gets a chance to dabble in the medium that first hooked him when he was a Suffolk kid listening to Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett.
``I always wanted to be in radio,'' he said, ``I used to write Cousin Brucie, Dick Bionti, Joey Reynolds - all those deejays. My parents said, `What kind of ambition is that, to be a jock?' I let them talk me out of it.''
Given the tenure of most on-air nomads, it's probably good that Conwell, who lives on a five-acre spread in Suffolk with his wife, Terry, and their three kids, gravitated to radio's business end. Since the mid-'70s, he's worked at the old WOWI, WMYK and WOFM (twice), and WLTY. He sold ads for print and TV.
Conwell, 49, got his first shot behind the mike at K-94. One day, he was asked if he wanted to take over a weekly program that showcased rock's ``New Wave.''
``They knew I was into that, so I said, `Sure!' It was the blind leading the stupid,'' he said. ``It took hours to do a one-hour show. It was wild. We could do anything we wanted.''
As for his relaxed, on-air style - he calls it ``Franklin colloquial'' - Conwell learned by osmosis, listening to his longtime chums Art Williamson and Rollie Bristol when they were deejays at freewheeling WOFM. ``I'm just a radio groupie, I'm not a professional deejay. I don't spend a lot of time talking. People tune in to hear music, not me gabbing.''
He used that approach - plus doing it gratis - to sell program director Lauren MacLeash on a blues show for The Coast. There was just one problem: MacLeash left soon after for Minneapolis, and Conwell had to wait until her successor was named to make his pitch again.
He laughed when he recalled discussing air time with Mark Bradley.
``He wanted to give me one hour. I said, `One hour, Mark? By the time I'm getting started, it's over.' ''
Sometimes, Conwell will hit on a theme for a particular show, maybe cheating or drinking. Most weeks, though, he follows the anything-goes M.O. pioneered by WOFM. He might sneak in Jerry Jeff Walker, the Iguanas, Captain Beefheart or WOIZIOW, friends from high school who recorded an album in Smithfield.
The point is exposure - for the artists and the audience.
``A lot of people have this misconception about the blues,'' Conwell said. ``They think of an elderly black gentleman sitting on a porch and tapping his foot while he moans about how bad life is, that sort of thing.
``I was looking at a beach music magazine and saw Delbert McClinton in it. I used to listen to Eric Clapton and the Allman Brothers, and didn't realize then that they were playing the blues. They were just part of the '70s genre.''
Then he heard Howlin' Wolf's ``London Sessions,'' which featured Clapton, Steve Winwood and members of the Rolling Stones.
``Most people have to be introduced. If they're not exposed, they don't know what it is. There's no appeal. It's called the blues, but to me, it's just good toe-tapping music.''
Conwell popped on the new disc from Microwave Dave and the Nukes. ``With a name like that, you've got to go listen to it.''
Which pretty much sums up his idea of programming. Case in point: Lil' Georgie and the Shufflin' Hungarians. The Syracuse, N.Y., outfit had inundated him with fliers and phone calls. ``I said, `If you want me to play it, send me something.' ''
``If people bug me enough, and their product is good enough, I'll play it,'' Conwell said. ``The show doesn't have the greatest numbers, but I guess they're (the Coast management) happy. We have sponsors for it.''
There's one other measure of the show's success. Conwell, who looks a lot like comic George Carlin, has been asked to vote in this year's prestigious W.C. Handy Awards, the blues equivalent of the Grammys.
``I'm so into it,'' he said, ``I had two black cats named Rhythm and Blues.''
Until Rhythm died. Now he just has Blues. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
RICHARD DUNSTON/The Virginian-Pilot
``It's called the blues, but to me it's just good toe-tapping
music,'' says Bob Conwell.
Graphic
MORE BLUES BROADCASTS
WAFX-FM (106.9) - The syndicated ``House of Blues'' airs Sunday
nights at 11. If you're up early, or getting home late, the station
takes a ``Blues Break'' weekdays at 5:15 a.m.
WFOS-FM (88.7) - Richie Babb plays the blues from 4 to 7 p.m. the
third Sunday of every month. WFOS is operated by Chesapeake Public
Schools.
WHOV-FM (88.1) - The Hampton University station produces
``Nothing but the Blues'' Wednesdays from 7 to 10 p.m.
WHRV-FM (89.5) - Rollie Bristol's ``Really Rollie Radio'' (7-8:30
p.m.) and ``Jazz With Jae Sinnett'' (8:30-1 a.m.) include some
blues. Both air Monday-Thursday.
WNSB-FM (91.1) - Little Jimmy's ``Blues Alley,'' produced by
Norfolk State University, airs Sunday and Monday nights from 7 to
10.
WSVY-AM/FM (1350, 107.7) - The ``Sugar Shack,'' with Jammin' Jay
Lang at the board, is on weekdays from 3 to 6 p.m.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY RADIO by CNB