[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 11 (Wednesday, February 9, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S521-S522]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        THE DEATH OF BOB COLLINS

  Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. President, later this afternoon a resolution 
sponsored by Senator Durbin and I will be sent to the desk. That 
resolution expresses the sense of the Senate regarding its sorrow upon 
the passing yesterday of one of the Nation's leading radio 
personalities, Bob Collins from WGN Radio in Chicago.
  Yesterday afternoon, Bob Collins, who was one of the Nation's leading 
radio personalities, who had a listening audience of over 600,000 
people, after finishing his radio program, drove to his home in Lake 
County, IL, and decided to go out and fly his airplane. He apparently 
had a friend with him in that airplane. While that airplane was 
attempting to land at Waukegan Airport in Waukegan, IL, another small 
aircraft hit it. Ultimately, it drove Mr. Collins' plane into a 
building. It later was confirmed that he died as a result of the 
accident. It was a horrible tragedy.
  In the last 24 hours, all of Chicago and many people throughout the 
Midwest have been mourning the death of Bob Collins.
  Mr. Collins was a personal friend of mine, somebody I thought very 
highly of. It is with particular sadness that I rise upon this occasion 
of his untimely death.
  Bob Collins was known affectionately to his Chicago audience as Uncle 
Bob. He had the main drive time-radio program at WGN Radio since 1986. 
He had by far the largest audience. In fact, his rating points for the 
last 10 years showed that his audience was twice the size of his next 
closest competitor. He was very much loved all around Chicago by people 
who for the past 13 or more years, every morning when they awoke, heard 
on the radio the voice of Bob Collins.

  His show ran from 5 a.m. until 9 a.m., and so hundreds of thousands 
of Chicagoans, as they were driving to work in the morning on congested 
expressways, would be listening to him day in and day out.
  Some have described Bob Collins as the narrator of events in Chicago 
and in the Midwest over the past decade or more. He talked about 
everything from the local and national news to current political 
topics. In fact, he was a very devoted Republican in a very Democratic 
city. But notwithstanding his political views, he still had wide 
popularity. He had guests from all walks of life on his radio show 
every day. Senator Durbin and I on at least one occasion were guests of 
Bob Collins on his radio show.
  Bob did everything during his radio show. He would announce the 
weather. He would talk the whole 4 hours. He even read his own 
commercials. And being on from 5 in the morning until 9 in the morning 
and thinking about how you hold that audience's attention for that long 
of a time when you are talking is very difficult. It is even tougher to 
do it and remain interesting. But Bob was always interesting. Yet he 
didn't grate on people, and he retained and built his audience over the 
years. He really had a gift of talking. People enjoyed what he was 
saying and found him entertaining.
  He never stooped to the methods we are seeing increasingly with the 
shock jocks, the rude and obnoxious talk radio we so often hear.
  He never resorted to cheap tricks to maintain the interest of his 
audience. I think that is the reason people never tired of him and that 
he went on for years as a popular radio guy.
  Bob was very folksy and unpretentious. In fact, he was the exact same 
person on the radio as he was off the radio. I saw him many times in 
relaxed, amicable circumstances, and he was just the same regular old 
Bob Collins who grew up in Lakeland, FL, who liked to ride motorcycles 
and fly airplanes, with a very sunny and cheerful personality at all 
times. He had a zest for life and always had a sunny disposition. On 
his show, he was always very polite and agreeable. Even when he 
disagreed with his guests, he was always very affable.
  I want to read from a column that appeared this morning in the 
Chicago Tribune by Mary Schmich. She wrote about Mr. Collins' life. It 
is a wonderful article. I will read a couple of paragraphs about how 
she described Mr. Collins:

       As a radio guy, he was both a master and a freak. In the 
     age of screechers and squawkers and shock jocks, in a time 
     that has elevated the obscenity to art and rewarded it with 
     megabucks, Bob stayed Bob.
       He earned his big bucks the old-fashioned way and still 
     seemed as down-to-earth as the guy one row behind you in the 
     bleachers. He was blunt but never crude, amusing but rarely 
     rude, opinionated but not obnoxious. It was a formula that 
     made him the most popular morning radio guy in one of the 
     world's most cutthroat radio towns. He walloped the 
     competition as easily as if he were sunbathing.
       That's the mark of an artist--he makes the difficult look 
     easy.

  Uncle Bob, who for so many years in Chicago, to so many thousands of 
listeners around the Midwest, always

[[Page S522]]

made the difficult look easy, I am going to miss you; we are all going 
to miss you. Thank you for all you have done for Chicago and for our 
community. May God comfort your wife Christine and your mother and 
father, and may God rest and keep your soul.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

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