The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia

Former Local Sales Manager for WFIL, Robert Ballantine (now General Sales Manager of Infinity's WLIF Radio in Baltimore) informs us that Bob Winters has passed away at the age of 57. Robert Morris Winters, better known to everyone as Bob died at his Philadelphia home on Tuesday evening, December 9, 2003.

Broadcast Pioneers member Jay Meyers (Senior VP for Clear Channel) reports that "Bob was General Sales Manager at WFIL and Power 99 when I was there (in the eighties) and went on to become COO of Faircom in the late eighties before becoming a station owner and creating country WXTA in Erie, PA. He sold it in the late nineties. ...Bob Winters was at WFIL from 1981-1984. He came to town as a member of the sales staff at WIBG when Fairbanks bought the station and also worked at WCAU-FM, and I think WSNI (the original). (He)... contracted cancer about three years ago and it spread to his brain."

FYI, Fairbanks Broadcasting agreed to purchase WIBG in 1975 and took control of the station on April 1, 1976.

Of Bob, Jay Meyers said

Bob Winters was a good broadcaster, a better human being and a great family man. Unlike many of us, Bob was not born and raised in Philadelphia..., but he came to call our hometown his home. He came originally ...(as) an account executive at WIBG as part of the original team from Fairbanks that came in from Indianapolis after they purchased the station. He was there when the legendary calls were replaced by WZZD and then was hired by Jim Keating to become GSM of WCAU-FM.

From there he became GSM at WFIL and Power 99 in the early eighties. It was there that Bob and I met and a twenty year friendship began. From our time together, Bob went on to manage stations in Charleston, eventually running that small group called Faircom, and in 1989 succeeded in living his dream of ownership, buying WXTA in Erie, PA.

Bob and Connie never moved from Philly in all that time, Bob would get up Monday mornings and fly or drive to Erie and come home Friday night. Connie bought and restored old homes and they worked them together on the weekends. Great kids, great family, and a great old house on Walnut Lane that they bought in the early eighties, totally restored and still the Winters family home. Those of us who knew him will miss his humor and candor. It was an honor to know him.

The e-mail address of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com