Bob Kevoian, who with Tom Griswold built "The Bob and Tom Show" from a 1983 Indianapolis morning program into one of the most widely syndicated American radio franchises of its era, died on Friday at his home in Indianapolis after a three-year struggle with gastric cancer. He was seventy-five. The show announced the death on Friday afternoon. [1]

Kevoian and Griswold started on WFBQ-FM in 1983. They went national through Westwood One syndication in 1995 and eventually ran on about one hundred fifty stations, mostly classic-rock and active-rock formats — the exact stations whose listeners wanted someone to talk to between songs on the commute. The show won the Marconi Award, radio's highest honor, and the Kurt Vonnegut Humor Award, a citation only Indianapolis radio could collect. Kevoian and Griswold were inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame on November 5, 2015. Kevoian announced his retirement during the induction speech — "Thank God I'm not dead, but I am going to retire at the end of this year." [2] His last live show was December 17.

What the show did well, Griswold said in Friday's statement, was get out of the way. "Bob used to say that our show was simply a conversation between two friends — not heard, but overheard." [1] The podcast generation would monetize that format in different directions; Kevoian got there first, for an audience driving to work. He was known for a Los Angeles Dodgers cap and a mustache he joked he would miss more than his hair.

In June 2023, Kevoian revealed on air that he had gastric cancer. He started a podcast called "The Bob and Cancer Show" with his wife Becky and his friend Whit Grayson. On Thursday evening, per the family's account, he was planning a trip to Disney World. Friday afternoon he took a sudden turn. His wife and three sons were at the bedside, singing, when he died. [3]

-- CAMILLE BEAUMONT, Los Angeles