10 Questions with ... Bob Pantano

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

SOCIAL MEDIA:
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Bob Pantano is the host of the Saturday Night Dance Party in Philadelphia on 98.1 WOGL, the first and longest running radio dance party in the nation, now celebrating 41 years. Pantano, a South Philadelphia native, started spinning at the record hops in the late '60s and then the nightclubs in the '70s. His professional radio career began on WCAM/Camden, NJ in 1971. Bob pioneered the live-radio broadcast, The Saturday Night Dance Party, in 1977, which airs every Saturday night live from 7p to 2a ET. Bob has hosted shows at the Wachovia Center, Trump Plaza, Wildwood Convention Center, Penn's Landing, summer concerts in the Philadelphia and South Jersey parks, Harrah's Atlantic City, Resorts Casino Hotel, and numerous corporate functions and charitable events. Bob hosts an annual radiothon on his Saturday Night Dance Party benefiting Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Bob, who is an honorary Deputy Police Commissioner, is the MC of the Hero Plaque Program in Philadelphia, which commemorates the heroism of Philadelphia Police officers who gave their lives serving in the line of duty. He's also the MC for the annual Hero Thrill Show benefiting the families of our fallen heroes (Police and Fireman families).

In 2007 Bob was inducted into the Temple Univ. School of Communications and Theater Hall of Fame and received a sidewalk plaque on the Wildwood Avenue of the Stars. In 2008, Bob was inducted into The Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame. On June 25th, 2014, Bob was honored with The Phillies' Gamble & Huff Community Partnership Award during the 11th annual Phillies African-American Heritage Celebration presented by The Sound of Philadelphia at Citizens Bank Park. On November 20th, 2015 Bob was honored as the Broadcast Pioneers' 2015 Person of The Year. And on October 4th, 2017 Bob was inducted into The Philadelphia Music Alliance Walk of Fame with a bronze plaque on Broad Street (in front of the Kimmel Center).

1) Congratulations on hosting the longest running Dance Party in the nation. The Saturday Night Dance Party has been getting Philly on its feet for 41 years. When you started the show, did you have any idea that it would last this long?

It was just an idea I had as the Disco era was starting to pop, but instead of doing the show in the studio, let's take it to the nightclubs. I'm from the DJ spinning world so I wanted to put it my environment. But honestly, I didn't know if it was going to last two weeks. Of course, I had no idea. It was a new generation of people, disco was the craze, the timing was right, the nightclubs were willing, and we did it. It was uncharted waters. There were no live broadcasts in nightclubs. The response was tremendous, and the ratings soared in the first ratings period in 1977, when we went to #1 18-34 and 18-49. So, both ends worked - the radio and the nightclub. And there's nothing different about that today.

2) To what do you attribute your longevity?

The ability to constantly, over time, reinvent myself. We started with Disco, because that was the hot trend, and we threw in some earlier music from the '60s and early '70s with that. Then, as we're getting out of the "Disco" era into the '80s and being known in genre of music that wasn't that favorable anymore, we start throwing in more oldies in, from the late '50s to the late '70s. So that was the next phase. And as we go on with the decades, the musical palate keeps expanding, so we have more dance music to work with. At the end of the day, you play the music that keeps the most people dancing, and we come up with killer mixes and pacing throughout the broadcast that continue to heighten the Dance Party experience to irresistible levels.

3) What led you to this career?

Watching Bandstand as a kid, getting my first record player with a microphone at age two, in the 1950s. Listening to the legendary Philadelphia DJs just attracted me. I started really thinking hard about pursuing this as a career at age 16. I seriously could have been a baseball player or a pro golfer, and I just chose this. I thought it was right for me. I love the action. And I was a quiet kid from South Philly.

4) What have been the most significant changes in your job -- and the business in general -- since the early days of your career?

Basically, I've done the same thing for 41 years on Saturday night. I did some full-time air shifts - nighttime, middays -- at a few junctures, but I really haven't done full-time since 1989. Maybe it's just not my thing. I live for Saturday night and bringing the Dance Party to the people in the nightclubs and venues.

There has become less and less personality radio as the years have gone. I'm one of the last of the Philly personality jocks, in terms of legends. Personality radio is dead. And it's a shame, because people connect with a personality. That's a big part of how I've been able to increase my base over years. And, of course, there's technology, which has changed for the better, from records to CDs, to digital files. But I still play CDs on the Dance Party, because I still like to read the liner notes and the credits.

5) You've worked with a lot of Philly personalities over the years. Who are some of your favorites?

I've had the honor or working with all of them. Butterball, Georgie Woods, Hy Lit, Joe Niagara, Jerry Blavat. Jocko, Ed Hurst, George Michael ... I learned something from all of them. They played their roles. My favorite were the ones who gave me the breaks, which I'll get to later in this interview.

6) What was your favorite station to listen to when you were a kid?

WHAT, WDAS, WIBG, and then later WFIL in the mid-'60s. I'm an R&B guy at heart, and I got most of that from WHAT and WDAS. And then, of course, WIBG and WFIL ruled Top 40 into the early '70s.

7) Who were your mentors? Who would you say has influenced your career the most?

George Michael inspired me to get going in my high school years. He put me on WFIL in 1967 doing a teen spotlight at night. And Pat Delsi, who gave me the opportunity to begin what later became the Saturday Night Dance Party, in Camden in the early '70s. And then there's The Geator, Jerry Blavat. I was Jerry's spinner in the early '70s, when he expanded from the record hops to the nightclubs. That's basically what I wound up doing, too.

8) Looking back, which years hold the best musical memories for you and who were your favorite acts at that time?

No doubt it's the Disco era. That's what sprung me into the limelight. Being able to be the first one to play the music of Gloria Gaynor, The Village People, Donna Summer, KC and the Sunshine Band, and of course, the Sound of Philadelphia. Robert Bell from Kool & The Gang would come to the disco where I was spinning. Felipe Rose from The Village People, he would come by. I was the first one to play "I Will Survive." The label wanted to play the other side of the record, but I told them "I Will Survive" was the hit and I flipped it over and played the track. I broke all those songs on the Dance Party. That's what we did. I remember emceeing the first concert in Philadelphia starting Donna Summer's first world tour, and The Village People's first concert ever at Valentino's in Cherry Hill, NJ. They were a studio group before that. And of course, they made an appearance on the Dance Party.

9) Tell us about the cruise that you have coming up in February.

The Ultimate Disco Cruise is really exciting, because we get to go back to one of the greatest eras in music and have all the groups that made it happen and become a part of that all over again. It's a giant '70s reunion, and I get to be the music host, with KC & The Sunshine Band, Kool & the Gang, the Spinners, Gloria Gaynor, The Village People, Tavares, Rose Royce, Evelyn "Champagne" King, Thelma Houston, The Trammps, Yvonne Elliman, cruise host Deney Terrio, and a whole bunch more. Most of the groups on the cruise have hit songs that I played first, so it means a lot to me. And I get to spend it with my followers at the same time. I have so many listeners who are buying cabins just so we can all party together. We're going to be hosting dance parties right on the ship, and hopefully, we'll be broadcasting the Saturday Night Dance Party live from the high seas, thanks to the magic of technology. That's in the works right now. I'll be able to re-live some of the greatest days of my career with the people who continue to make it great. And if anyone reading this wants to join us on board, by all means go to www.ultimatediscocruise.com/bobpantano and enter the promo code for an exclusive discount, courtesy of me.

10) What's one thing that would surprise many people to learn about you?

That I was a very quiet kid in grade school and high school. A real studious type, an honors student. I graduated fifth in my class in high school. If I told people in high school I was going to be a DJ, they couldn't have imagined that. But that all changed in my senior year, when people started hearing me on the radio. Radio changed me. Every teenager in school was listening to WFIL and suddenly, I was a popular guy who came out of my shell.

For someone vacationing in your market, what one thing would you say they "must see?"

The Rocky statue. Because I was the MC for that great event at the Philadelphia Art Museum, when they unveiled the statue in its new permanent home at the bottom of the "Rocky" steps, and Sly Stallone was on hand. We made national television and beyond. Visiting the Rocky statue is the most popular thing in Philly, no doubt. There are always people lined up getting their picture taken with each other. Sometimes you may even see Stallone himself there!