Bob Burnham

Bob Burnham is a long-time Michigan broadcaster, starting in the business back in 1975.  During his career, he's been an on-air personality as well as a station engineer with more than a dozen call letters associated to his name.  He also spent many years as the technical wizard at the Specs Howard School of Media Arts where he built much of the technical facility of the school.  Burnham continues to provide contract engineering services for stations in Michigan and recently completed a new station build in Southern California.  He is also Station Engineer/Production Director at Henry Ford College's WHFR-FM in Dearborn.

In addition to his regular duties at the station, Burnham is also host of a weekly radio show, Radio Vault, which airs Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

From the newsletter:  Radio Vault came to WHFR in 2018, almost on a whim after being off the Detroit airwaves for several years. Almost anything can be found on the internet including audio of any kind, but Radio Vault has a large archive behind it and a host (Burnham) who knows where all the really rare stuff is buried of the best sound quality and that’s what you’ll hear. He has sources hidden from the general public from contacts built up from a lifetime in the business and hobby of collecting old recordings. He is also a member of various buying groups who locate original broadcast transcriptions and pay to have them professionally transferred to digital formats.

Radio Vault features comedy, variety and light drama during its Tuesday timeslot from 10AM to 1PM. The recordings include the likes of Fibber McGee & Molly, Jack Benny and Lux Radio Theater - all mainstays on radio generations ago. Back then, the shows cost thousands of dollars per episode to produce, but recordings of them mostly fell into Public Domain decades ago.

The host, Bob Burnham, holds multiple roles at WHFR as Production Manager, Chief Engineer and “whatever else the station needs.” Earlier this year, Henry Ford College published an article on his career: https://www.hfcc.edu/news/2024/get-know-hfc-bob-burnham-brings-forty-years-experience-whfr

Not a “nostalgia buff” per se, he is firmly entrenched in today’s radio and insists he is no better than any of the veteran hosts heard on WHFR. He also helps guide newcomers to the station.

According to Burnham, the show Radio Vault is NOT a nostalgia forum, but provided as a source of entertainment and information. The comedians of these past shows are constantly praised by comedians and talk show hosts of today.

Also featured are shows like Lux Radio Theater. They took major motion pictures of the era and turned them into 1-hour radio plays. Listening to Radio Vault, you can “watch” movies or have a chuckle or two with your eyes closed. In addition, on rare occssions, interviews with notable people in the old-time radio world can be heard.