Smart Rock Is Ready To Roll

In Cedar Rapids, the owners of KZIA have launched a new radio station for Eastern Iowa called “ROBfm.” For years, a version of this station has been heard only on HD Radio receivers at 102.9-2. Now it will be heard on translators at 98.5 in Iowa City and 95.1 in Cedar Rapids. The company says the station has been in development since 1974 and “is finally fit for public consumption, having just received its shots for distemper.” Here’s what they mean…

General Manager Julie Hein said, “While this project is the brainchild of Rob Norton, our CEO, it wasn’t his choice to name the station ROBfm. Rob Norton would always want something in the style of Animal House or Airplane. The image for the station is off the wall and wacky. The rest of us have called it ‘Rob’s Record Collection’ or ‘Rob’s station’ for years. Despite hours of brainstorming for a jaunty new name, we didn’t come up with anything we liked better than ROBfm, so Rob Norton eventually relented to using his name.”

Program Director Ric Swann commented, “We’re tanned, rested, and ready to deliver Eastern Iowans smart Rock radio programming. Listeners will recognize a lot of the titles and artists, but there’s more depth and breadth here than in your typical Rock radio library. If ROBfm were a car on I-380, people would describe us as ‘all over the highway.’”

ROBfm’s namesake, official Big Kahuna Rob Norton, had this to say: “I heard this voice say, ‘If you build it, they will come.’ I immediately sprang into action. Then I realized I’d nodded off in the middle of Field of Dreams on TV, so I had a snack and put the idea on the shelf for another 11 years. At last, it finally seemed time to launch the thing for real, so here we are.”