Боб Браун: Звезда американского телевидения и радио

American broadcaster

Robert E. Braun (April 20, 1929 – January 15, 2001) was an American local television and radio personality, best known for a program originating in Cincinnati, Ohio, named The Bob Braun Show. The show, which he hosted from 1967 to 1984, had the highest Arbitron and Nielsen ratings of any live entertainment/information program in the Midwestern United States. Originating at WLWT, the 90 minute live telecasts originally were syndicated to three other cities in the Midwest. Eventually, more television stations joined the line up. Braun's show featured a live band, singers, and special guests including Bob Hope (a frequent guest), Lucille Ball, Johnny Carson, Paul Lynde, Red Skelton, Phyllis Diller, Dick Clark and NFL star Jim Brown. Politicians including Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, John Glenn, and Ted Kennedy were also guests.

Bob Braun began his career at the age of thirteen with WSAI Radio, hosting a Saturday morning Knothole Baseball sports show. He joined WCPO TV in 1949. In 1957, after winning the $1,000 top prize on television's Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts talent show, Braun was immediately hired by WLWT and WLW AM. After cutting a handful of unsuccessful pop vocal recordings for labels such as Fraternity and Torch, Braun signed to Decca Records and charted his only Top 40 hit, "Till Death Do Us Part", in 1962. Braun later recorded for United Artists, but most of his subsequent recording efforts were released on small independent or vanity labels. He also hosted a weekly show on WLW T called "Bob Braun's Bandstand". Similar to Dick Clark's American Bandstand when it began, i. e., a local show that showcased local teens dancing to the top 40 hits of the day and sometimes having guest singers or groups that were passing through Cincinnati. Locals from the tri state area wrote in to the host station to secure tickets. This coincided with the time he was appearing on Ruth Lyons' 50 50 Club weekdays noon to 1:30. personal experience of watching and appearing on the show

The local Cincinnati television show titled The 50 50 Club had occupied the time slot that Braun eventually filled. The 50 50 Club hostess, Ruth Lyons, retired in 1967 due to declining health. Braun had appeared regularly on The 50 50 Club show since 1957, and frequently had been a fill in host. On his own show, Braun heavily promoted and supported Lyons' charity, "The Ruth Lyons Christmas Fund", each Christmas season. (The charity, now known as "The Ruth Lyons Children's Fund", remains in operation to this day.) Some years after Braun took over the show, the title was changed from The 50 50 Club to The Bob Braun Show. (An ad in a 1969 issue of TV Guide identifies it as Bob Braun's 50 50 Club.) Toward the end of its run in the 1980s, it was renamed Braun and Company. Regular cast members on The Bob Braun Show included Rob Reider, Mary Ellen Tanner, Nancy James, baritone Mark Preston (member of The Lettermen), and announcer/weatherman Bill Myers. Beginning with the telecast on the daytime schedule of Friday, June 7, 1968, an entertainment critic for a Columbus, Ohio newspaper, Ron Pataky, visited Cincinnati every Friday to discuss on Braun's television show which movies were playing in cinemas that weekend. who later produced and marketed a recorded interview with O. J. Simpson. Braun also had a part in the Bruce Willis movie Die Hard 2.

In 1993, he was inducted into the Cincinnati Radio Hall of Fame. In March 1994, Braun left Hollywood and returned to WSAI Radio (by then featuring an adult standards musical format) as one of "The Sunrise Boys", working as the morning host alongside his nephew, "Bucks" Braun (himself a successful radio personality in nearby Dayton, Ohio) and newsman Don Herman. In June 1997, Mayor Roxanne Qualls and the entire City Council honored him with "Bob Braun Day in Cincinnati".

Braun retired on November 24, 1999, after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. His show business career had spanned a half century. He was replaced on WSAI by Nick Clooney. Braun died of Parkinson's and cancer in 2001 and was buried in Cincinnati's Spring Grove Cemetery. He was survived by his wife, Wray Jean, and three children: Rob, Doug, and Melissa. Rob later worked at WKRC TV as its primary news anchorman.