Bio of Bob Bunnell

Bob Bunnell then                           Bob Bunnell now

For 23 years (1958-1981) Bob Bunnell called KFXM home.  He began as a salesman but quickly moved on to the task of being KFXM’s Sales Manager.  But he didn’t stop there.  Bob became General Manager in 1962.  His 19 years as General Manager of a radio station isn’t a record, but close to it.

Bob’s education included Milliken University in Decatur, and Eureka College in Eureka, IL.  During his college years, Bob worked for a local newspaper.  He has a Bachelor of Arts in advertising and journalism. Like many who worked for Bob over the years he attended the Don Martin School of Broadcasting in Los Angeles.

Bob served in the United States Air Force and was stationed in Baltimore, MD.  His office had the responsibility of providing information on new aircraft being tested and developed to the press. He frequently briefed Edward R. Murrow of CBS.

Bob is the father of five sons and great grandfather eleven times over.

Bob’s Stories

Fresh out of the Don Martin School Bob was offered a job at a new radio station in Riverside, KACE.  After arriving, Bob learned the station’s debut had been delayed several months because of technical setbacks.  That didn’t stop Bob from finding something to keep him busy.  He convinced the owner to let him pre-sell advertising until the station went on the air.

In the late 50s, a meeting with KFXM’s General Manager, Norm Keats, led to an offer to join the more powerful, more recognized station at 590 on the dial.  Seeing the wisdom in Keats’ words, Bob joined the sales staff at KFXM.

In 1959, the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles and KFXM program director, Roy Cordell, thought the idea of carrying the Dodger games live of KFXM was good as gold.  Agreeing with Cordell, Bob Bunnell began selling air time on the future Dodger broadcasts.  However, Howard Tullis intervened with his belief that KFXM’s music was more important to listeners and play-by-play baseball might drive the audience away. 

Back in those days, concerts at the Swing Auditorium featuring popular rock and roll bands and singers were a regular occurrence.  However, those who ran advertising for those concerts – radio stations and newspapers – found they were frequently left holding the bag after the concert.  After KFXM ran advertising for a large concert – and wasn’t paid – the “cash in advance” rule – which most radio stations still enforce -- was implemented.

One of the first rock performers to test the new rule was Elvis Presley.  Presley’s advance team came to KFXM to purchase advertising.  When Bob heard Presley’s people wanted credit, he intervened and explained the new policy of cash in advance.

Soon after that meeting, Bob got a call from Colonel Tom Parker, manager of Elvis Presley.  The Colonel questioned KFXM’s policy.  Bob assured Parker that he wasn’t singling out the huge rock star and explained that the station had just been stiffed for over $2,000 and that was not going to happen again.  Parker didn’t care for the policy but he sent a check the very next day.

One reason for tremendous amount of respect Bob had among his fellow workers is that he stood up for them.  One famous story involved Maury Bernstein of Black’s For Men, an Inland Center Mall clothing store.  Maury was as gruff as any advertiser could be.  And Bob was the first person to sell advertising to Bernstein.  Over the years, however, Bob had to reassign the account several times as his own situation changed and because of the natural turnover in radio sales.  It was not unusual for Bernstein to ignore KFXM sales people who came to see him… or to simply be rude to them.

One day, the current AE for Black’s called Bob to say he had waited a couple of hours for Bernstein and wanted to know what to do.  Bob called Maury Bernstein and told him he couldn’t treat his sales people that way.  If he didn’t treat them better, Bob said he would cut off advertising for Black’s.

Bernstein, outraged, told Bob it was illegal to deny him advertising time.  He then threatened to call Howard Tullis and have him step in and force Bob to accept his advertising.  Bunnell simply gave him the phone number for Tullis and told him to go ahead.

When the Christmas selling season rolled around, Bernstein knew he had to get back on KFXM or lose business.  He called Bob to plead for the ability to buy air time.  In exchange, he agreed to treat the KFXM reps with respect.