Bob Arbogast (b. April 1, 1927) is an American radio broadcaster, voice actor, and television host. Born in Bellingham, Washington, the only child of Lewis and Christine Arbogast, Bob went to John Marshall High School in Los Angeles where he studied, was on the tennis team, and entertained classmates. Upon graduation he enlisted in the navy during which time his unit was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for a multi-ship raid into Tokyo Bay. When the war ended, he attended Los Angeles City College and then the University of Arizona. A radio program director from WHB in Kansas City heard Arbogast's nighttime show on the university's radio station and hired him immediately. Bob went on to Chicago's WMAQ where he worked with Pete Robinson from 1951-53 (using, as a theme song, a charming version of Sicilian Tarantella played on an ocarina) before moving to Los Angeles for a spell and returning to Illinois where he worked at WEAW in Evanston. Then it was off to New York where he wrote for two shows, one featuring Tom Poston and another Peter Marshall. Next it was on to San Francisco's KSFO and KFRC and, finally, many stations in Los Angeles among them KMPC from 1962-67, KLAC in 1967, KFI in 1968, and KGBS in 1969. At KMPC, he wrote for Dick Whittinghill and Gary Owens, and he wrote with and was the partner of Jack Margolis at KLAC and KGBS. Their radio talk show at KLAC had the highest rating of any radio program in LA history up until that time (and perhaps still), with a 14.5 percent share of the audience. Due to a concentrated letter-writing campaign, they were fired for their objection to the Viet Nam war and their pro-choice stance. It has been postulated that Arbogast and Margolis were the last to be blacklisted as a result of the McCarthy dealings of the '50's. The pair also hosted a television show on KTTV for a while. Arbogast created the Question Man in Kansas City in 1951 and used it on the Poston Show in NY where it eventually ended up on the Steve Allen Show, much to the surprise of both Bob and Steve - as Allen acknowledged in his book, "The Question Man." The concept lives on in Johnny Carson's Carnac the Great and Jeopardy. In 1958, Arbogast teamed with Stanley Ralph Ross to write and perform the hit 45rpm single "KAOS," which when it came out (on Liberty Records), sold 10,000 copies in three days and then was banned from radio play on the fourth day - when stations realized that it satirized "Top 40" radio. Dr Demento has kept "KAOS" alive.
Arbogast has numerous screen credits for cartoons and commercials, and has appeared on television shows and in movies. He did frequent uncredited voiceovers for Sesame Street segments. He was the voice for the original "What would you do for a Klondike Bar?" advertising campaign and of the animated Granny Goose for the Granny Goose potato chip campaign (What is Granny's secret, I won't say...") Among hundreds, Arbogast is perhaps most famous for his voicings of General G.I. Brassbottom, Noodles Romanoff, and Ma Ramjet in the Roger Ramjet cartoon, Jack Wheeler in the Hot Wheels cartoon, and Snogs on the Hanna-Barbera animated series Monchhichis. He also voiced several characters in the classic Hanna-Barbera series The Jetsons. Not to be forgotten were Arbo's stylings of Barry Bear and Drummy Drummer, popular seventies pull-string toys - "I'm Barry Bear, like to meet my paw?" "I'm Drummy Drummer. I went to school at the school of hard knocks" - and his renditions of hamburgers in early McDonald's commercials. Let's not forget the famous Hamburglar! When asked by his kindergarten teacher what his father did his son John replied "My father is a bear." Bob was promptly called into Franklin Avenue school by the Principal demanding a recant by the child so Bob went home brought back the bear pull toy and demonstrated it. The family settled out of court for an undisclosed number of free hot dogs on the school's hot dog day. One of his most popular schticks was his portrayal of little old lady Emily Norton for KMPC. Among his many TV and radio commercial partners were Pat Harrington, Harry Morgan, Doris Roberts, Joanie Gerber, Edie McClurg, Bob Elliot, Albert Brooks, Shelly Berman, Tim Conway, Lorenzo Music, and Gene Moss. Arbogast won an Emmy as a writer for Stars of Jazz in 1958 and a Clio in the '70's, for the Highland Appliance Co. out of Detroit. He wrote for Sesame Street and the Pat Paulsen Show. He also has the dubious distinction of writing for the shortest lived TV show ever.."Turn On", which was cancelled after one night. He co-starred (had 6 minutes on camera) with Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn in the Falcon and the Snowman. Bob, is a jazz aficionado, Chicago Cub and UCLA Bruin fan, and animal lover. He and his wife, Jan, live in Mariposa, California where they enjoy country living, tending to their garden, caring for their pets, and the pleasures brought by the internet and their satellite dish. With his previous wife, Joanna, he had three sons, Peter Arbogast now a sportscaster who is the radio voice of USC Trojans football, John, a USC honors grad, retired LA city park ranger, history teacher, Los Angeles city champion pole vault coach and decorated global war on terrorism commissioned officer, and Jerry, like John, a teacher and LA City Champion Tennis Coach, a UCLA grad at John Marshall High School in Los Angeles. His daughter, Paula, recently retired in June 2006 from her position as a teacher's union representative. With his first wife, Tobi, he had a son, Robert Jr.(Ted), the technology coordinator for Terlingua High School in Texas.
