Bob Kingsley

Bob Kingsley
Born	(1939-03-19)March 19, 1939
Died	Weatherford, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Radio personality
Known for	American Country Countdown Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40
Spouse(s)	Nan Kingsley (m. 1990)
Awards	National Radio Hall of Fame member

Robert Gibson Kingsley (March 19, 1939 – October 17, 2019) was an American country music radio personality and a member of the National Radio Hall of Fame. He was best known as the host of two nationally syndicated radio programs: American Country Countdown (ACC) and Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40.

Kingsley first worked on the radio while stationed in Iceland with the United States Air Force. He worked as a disc jockey in Nevada and Tijuana before becoming a DJ and program director for two country music stations in Los Angeles in the 1960s and early 1970s. He became producer of ACC in 1974 and hosted it from 1978 to 2005. Kingsley and his wife Nan produced Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40 from 2006 until his death.

Early career

While serving with the United States Air Force in 1959, Kingsley began his radio career at TFK, the Armed Forces Radio Service station in Keflavik, Iceland. He struggled at first. "I murdered the copy, absolutely murdered it. I'll never forget it. I wasn't very good, but I was hooked," Kingsley said many years later.

He jocked at Los Angeles country station KGBS from 1961 to 1969, and then in 1970 became program director at KLAC, which had just dropped middle of the road (MOR) music for a country format.

American Country Countdown

Kingsley rose to national prominence in 1974 when he became the producer of the nationally syndicated American Country Countdown program started a year earlier by Casey Kasem and Don Bustany. Kingsley succeeded the program's original host, Don Bowman, beginning in May 1978. Concurrently, Kingsley was providing voiceovers for Drake-Chenault Enterprises and its automated country music programming service. Under Kingsley's watch, ACC won Billboard's "Network/Syndicated Program of the Year: Country" 16 years in a row, the only on-air personality and music program in any format to achieve this continued success.

Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40

In 2006, Kingsley signed a new distribution deal with Jones Radio Network (later acquired by Dial Global, which was subsequently acquired by Cumulus Media). The new countdown program was called Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40 and his two-minute program was called Bob Kingsley with Today's Hit Makers. In 2015, Nash Icon (the media brand and network of country music stations owned by Cumulus Media) announced it would begin distributing classic ACC programs for syndication under the name American Country Countdown Rewind With Bob Kingsley, starting that May. With BKCT40 signing a distribution deal with Skyview Networks since Bob Kingsley's death, Cumulus/WW1 has discontinued ACC Rewind.

Personal life

Kingsley's wife, Nan, helped to produce Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40. The couple moved from California to Weatherford, Texas, near the Dallas-Fort Worth area, in 1995. There they owned the Bluestem Ranch and Kingsley raised cutting horses.

Illness and death

In October 2019, Kingsley was diagnosed with bladder cancer, forcing him to cede hosting duties for what was intended to be a temporary leave of absence. Kingsley died at his home in Weatherford on October 17, 2019, at the age of 80.

Honors

Kingsley won Country Music Association National Broadcast Personality of the Year honors in 2001 and 2003. He received the 2012 President's Award from Country Radio Broadcasters. In November 2016, Kingsley was elected to the National Radio Hall of Fame. The month after he died, a celebration was held in Kingsley's honor at the Country Music Hall of Fame; attendees included country music stars Garth Brooks, Dierks Bentley and Trisha Yearwood.

External links

• CT40.com - official website of Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40
• Stark, Phyllis, "ABC Taps Kix Brooks As New Countdown Host," Billboard Radio Monitor, November 9, 2005. [1]

• Hall, Claude. "Vox Jox". Billboard. June 15, 1974. p. 25. Via Google Books.
• Nash Icon partners with Bob Kingsley for ACC Rewind. Media Confidential. April 17, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
• Nash to launch "American Country Countdown Rewind With Bob Kingsley". All Access. April 17, 2015.