KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Kalamazoo radio veteran Bob Salmon (Bob King) has died. The announcement of Salmons’ death was made on Tuesday, May 16.
Salmon spent 20 years in Kalamazoo on the radio and as a sales manager and general manager of WKMI, and was the leader behind some of the area’s time-honored and long-standing local promotions, including the Do-Dah Parade.
Salmon passed away at the age of 81 on Sunday, May 14 at his home in Modesto, California, with his partner of 30+ years, Sadhna Perez, and his younger sister, Ann Nichols, at his side.
A local Kalamazoo radio legend known as Bob King, he was a longtime on-air personality and half of the duo behind the Doc Holiday and Bob King Show.
Salmon was born and raised in Edina, Minnesota, and spent twenty years in Kalamazoo, Michigan, before he moved to Modesto in 1985.
After getting his start in radio at KDWB in the Twin Cities area, Salmon relocated to Spokane, Washington, where he met David Steere, beginning a decades-long professional partnership and personal friendship. Following Steere to Kalamazoo in 1964, he became the on-air talent, sales manager, and ultimately general manager of WKMI radio, where and Steere created and comprised the Doc Holiday and Bob King Show, a long-running morning drivetime program best known for its amusing antics and practical pranks.
In 1985 Salmon began his tenure as a station owner and operator with the purchase of KMIX Radio in California. His group acquired, turned around, and sold several stations in both California and Michigan, including WJFM in Grand Rapids, which he reformatted from classic rock to country.
Salmon retired in 2006 and, but began a new career as the publisher of Broker Agent Magazine.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Robert and LaVerne Salmon, and his brother and sister-in-law Stephen and Kay Salmon.
There will a private celebration of life in his Minnesota hometown at a later date.
