Bob Burford
Public Relations Director
Since elementary school, Public Relations Director Bob Burford knew he wanted to work in radio. Fittingly, his first radio job was at WMUB-FM, a public radio station at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Burford began work as a student intern, hosting news and jazz programs. He continued to work at the station after graduation, hosting a daily morning show called
Morning Magazine. “I lost my job when NPR launched a little national program entitled
Morning Edition, and the station opted to carry it. But if you’re going to lose your job, that’s not the worst way for it to happen,” Burford says.
Following the stint at WMUB, Burford worked at a number of commercial stations—and a wide variety of formats. “My first commercial radio gig was at an AM/FM combo in Hamilton, Ohio,” Burford says. “The FM was ‘beautiful music’—which at the time was completely instrumental, Percy Faith-type instrumentals—and the AM was a gospel station,” Burford explains. “It was a very strange pairing, but a good education.”
In 1983, Burford moved to Connecticut to take a job as program director for WINF-AM, a big band and standards station near Hartford. He also served as the station’s morning host, using the name “Bob Ford.”
In 1989 he joined WKSU as Public Relations Coordinator. “I was excited because on my first day at Kent I got to use a fax machine,” he says. “That was a big deal!” In 1991 he was promoted to Public Relations Director, and became responsible for the station’s marketing, advertising and promotions. In this position, he works closely with Marcus Thomas LLC, WKSU’s advertising agency based in Cleveland. “Working with Marcus Thomas is a real joy,” he says, “and I really appreciate what they do for us.”
Burford also enjoys collaborating with many of Northeast Ohio’s arts and cultural organizations, and he contributes to FolkAlley.com, the station’s internet radio station and folk music web site, as well as the Kent State Folk Festival.
He is current President of the Akron Press Club and serves on the board of the Akron Area Arts Alliance. Burford enjoys going to concerts, and collecting rock and roll memorabilia, especially Beatles items. He is also an award winning Elvis impersonator, who has shared the stage with John Hartford, the Coasters, the Drifters and the Platters. Burford has a son, who is currently a sophomore at Northwestern University.
Burford sums up his experience at WKSU with glowing acclaim. “I really believe in the mission of WKSU, and it continues to be exciting to be here!”
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