Bob Wilson (sportscaster)

Robert Henry Castellon (March 9, 1929 – January 15, 2015), known as Bob Wilson, was an American radio personality and hockey broadcaster who served as the longtime play-by-play announcer of the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League. In 1987, Wilson was honoured with the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award, enshrining him in the broadcasters' wing of the Hockey Hall of Fame.[1] He was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcaster's Hall of Fame in 2007.[2] Wilson's booming baritone voice and his ability to articulate for radio listeners the dynamic flow and possession changes of ice hockey distinguished him from his peers.[3] He also was noted for his detailed descriptions of hockey fights,[4] which pleased his fans but sometimes gained him disapproval from critics.

Bob Wilson
Born
Robert Henry Castellon

(1929-03-09)March 9, 1929
Stoneham, Massachusetts
DiedJanuary 15, 2015(2015-01-15) (aged 85)
Laconia, New Hampshire
OccupationBroadcaster
Years active1967–1969; 1971–1994
Known forRadio voice of the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League
AwardsFoster Hewitt Memorial Award (1987)

Robert Castellon grew up in the Boston suburb of Arlington and graduated from Arlington High School; he served in the United States Air Force and attended Boston University and the Leland Powers School.[3] Adopting his mother's family name, Wilson, for his broadcasting career, he worked at various radio stations in the Boston area, including at WCOP in Boston, where he was a top-40 disc jockey in the late 1950s. By the mid 1960s, he was a staff announcer at WHDH-AM 850 (now WEEI), where he worked as the analyst on Bruins' games and was the weekend sports anchor on the then WHDH-TV Channel 5, the city's CBS affiliate. From 1964–1967, analyst Wilson served alongside play-by-play men Bill Harrington and Jim Laing on the Bruins' radio network. In 1967, he succeeded Laing as the voice of the Bruins, his promotion coinciding with the team's rise to Stanley Cup contender, led by Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito. However, when the Bruins moved their broadcasts from WHDH to WBZ-AM 1030 in 1969, longtime (1952–1963) Bruin announcer Fred Cusick regained his former role as play-by-play man on the radio network. Wilson then left the Boston market entirely and joined the sports staff of St. Louis radio powerhouse KMOX, and missed Boston's 1970 Stanley Cup triumph.[2]

After the Bruins' 1970–1971 season, Cusick moved from radio to television as the lead announcer on Bruins' telecasts on WSBK-TV. Wilson then returned to Boston, restored by WBZ to his former radio play-by-play post. In Wilson's first year back as voice of the Bruins, he called Boston's 1972 Cup win. He then continued as the team's radio voice through 1994 on a series of flagship stations, but he chose to retire during the 1994–95 NHL lockout.[5] After WBZ-TV got the Red Sox television rights in 1972, after the FCC revoked WHDH-TV's right to continue to operate on a 15-year old temporary permit, Wilson hosted the postgame scoreboard shows after weekend games on Boston's ch. 4. He later worked part-time hosting a music program on 104.9FM WLKZ in New Hampshire's Lakes Region, where he had become a longtime resident.[2]

On January 15, 2015, Wilson died at the age of 85 in Laconia, New Hampshire, due to lung cancer.[6][7]

References
  1. "Foster Hewitt Memorial Award winners". Hockey Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2010-07-05. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
  2. "Bob Wilson". Massachusetts Broadcaster's Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2010-11-26. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
  3. Marquard, Bryan, and Pave, Marvin (January 20, 2015), "Bob Wilson, 85: Booming Voice of Boston Bruins for Almost 30 Years." The Boston Globe (obituary).
  4. Dupont, Kevin Paul (January 24, 2015), "Bob Wilson's Voice Still Resonates for Bruins Fans." The Boston Globe.
  5. "Bob Wilson retires". Lewiston Sun-Journal. 1995-01-06. p. 19. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
  6. Fitzgerald, Joseph (January 17, 2015). "Fitzgerald: Bob Wilson lived even better out of booth". www.bostonherald.com. Boston Herald. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
  7. http://www.laconiadailysun.com/index.php/obituaries/obituaries/83328-robert-h-castellon-85
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