Bob Roberts

The Man Behind the Voice

Through the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, Bob Roberts was the voice of country music radio in the United Kingdom, and it all happened by accident!

Bob has always been around the music industry as well as being a qualified Mental Health Practitioner...some would say that there is little difference!

In the Sixties, he played in several different bands, never quite making it but almost....This period was the first time he encountered country music whilst playing U.S. military bases in the U.K.

By his late twenties, when the girls stopped screaming and throwing underwear, he settled down to a professional life treating people with psychiatric problems.

It was at this time in the late seventies that the BBC planned a major series on the closure of the large mental hospitals and the transfer of people into a community setting. Bob became the Consultant on that series and when it was over was invited by the BBC to join the organization as a Freelance Producer.

He quickly graduated from producing factual programs to music radio, and eventually to Head of Music on BBC North. It was then that he realized that country music was not being either played or promoted. Between 1978 and 1996, he tried at every opportunity to bring country music to a wider audience. It became more than a job; it was more like an evangelical mission!

That enthusiasm continues to this day...country music is still not being promoted properly in the U.K. It is a sleeping giant which needs to be awakened. Bob is more convinced than ever that with the right promotion and investment, country music could be a major player in both the U.K. and the wider European Market.