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| Matheson in his AFN t-shirt |
Bob did some prison time in Canada because of this, yet despite all of his problems returned to Sierra Madre to resume life here with absolutely no change to his legal status in this community. He is as free to go where he wishes as anyone else living here. A situation that has outraged many in this community, while at the same time having been met with a profound and at times puzzling indifference at City Hall.
Here is how this concerned Tattler reader introduced his discoveries:
Bob has been involved in TV and radio production for his entire life. I have seen him running the city council productions when I first became involved in this mess and didn't know who was who. I am sure it was him. John I may not have told you this, but I was an internal investigator for several large department stores for many years after I left the Army. This past has enabled me to follow a piece of a clue for years, I'm like a bloodhound that way. I have over 500 felony arrests for theft, with a 100% conviction rate. All of these have come down to a paper trail and video. This is why I feel this is such damning evidence of cover-up on very high levels. Here is the best of what I found.
The first find by our contributing reader is from a document produced by the California Historical Radio Society. Bob Matheson's lifelong involvement with radio broadcasting, which began in the Bay Area where he grew up, has caused him to become concerned about the preservation of a museum dedicated to the early years of Bay Area radio. If you click here you will be taken to what is basically a 2012 fundraising appeal for this effort. In the section reserved for comments, here is what Matheson has to say:
July 18, 2012 at 10:41 pm - I doubt I’m the only one who entered a career in broadcasting as a result of growing up with the radio stations in the Bay Area. From being KCSM-TV’s first student cameraman to retiring as the Director of Broadcasting at the American Forces Network IAFN Broadcast Center. It was the best career I could have ever hoped for. And being asked by Red Blanchard’s daughter to write Red’s Obituary was the greatest honor I’ll ever enjoy.
I thought of the stations I listened to most as a kid, and decided my first contribution to save the CHRS would be $740 because of the incredible influence Red Blanchard had on my career. But then I thought that’s not enough, so Emperor Gene Nelson got the nod, and I’m proud to have pitched in with $1,260.
OK, the rest of you…get off your butt and put your money where your heart is, in the memory of those early days of broadcasting in the Bay Area. Russ Hodges, Don Sherwood, Ira Blue and many others are counting on you!!
I don't know if I would have described writing anybody's obituary as "the greatest honor I'll ever enjoy," but the Red Blanchard connection is significant for today's story. It is also important to note that this statement was made after his significant legal problems with child pornography in Canada concluded and he had returned to Sierra Madre. I suppose this can also be considered a part of his return to normal life (as it were) unscathed.
Red Blanchard was a pioneering Bay Area disc jockey and one that Bob Matheson both admired and was inspired by when he was growing up. And at a 2008 Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame dinner honoring Red and other legendary radio personalities from that area, Matheson played a significant role. Here is how the event was described in the Bay Area Radio Digest (link):
Capacity Crowd Cheers BARHOF Class Of 2008 - An overflow crowd of fans, friends and colleagues was on hand to welcome the latest group of inductees into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame on October 1 at the Doubletree Inn on the Berkeley Marina.
Sixteen of the seventeen members of BARHOF's Class of 2008 were represented at the gala luncheon, including Broadcast Legends Red Blanchard and Don Klein.
New inductees Rosie Allen, Alex Bennett, Renel Brooks-Moon, Bob Fouts, Mickey Luckoff, Terry McGovern and Dave Sholin were all present for the ceremony.
Matheson's part at this event was to help induct Red Blanchard into this regional radio Hall of Fame. His portion of that evening is described in the Bay Area Radio Digest this way:
Other presenters included Bill Faust (for his step-father, Doug Pledger), Bob Matheson (for Red Blanchard), Ed Baxter (for Rosie Allen), Ronn Owens (for Mickey Luckoff), Dana Jang (for Mikel Hunter), Mike Preston (for Dave Sholin), Ted "Hezzie" Johnson (for Dude Martin) and Al Newman (for Terry McGovern).
Matheson's speech honoring Red Blanchard is available on YouTube and can be linked to by clickinghere. The video is described this way on its YouTube page:
Uploaded on Mar 7, 2011 -- Red Blanchard is inducted into the San Francisco Bay Area Radio/TV Hall of Fame. Rene White produces this startling video of Bob Matheson introducing Red at the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame Awards event; ripped from history's living flank!
In retrospect it seems pretty obvious that Red Blanchard deserved a far better emcee and obituary writer.
Bob Matheson, whose own radio career seems to have been spent exclusively in the employ of the Armed Forces Network, views himself as a Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame member. You can find him mentioned in this BARHOF document by clickinghere.
Bob is also listed on the Broadcast Legends site. There his industry affiliation is "Armed Forces Radio & Television." Whether being on this site means you are an actual "broadcast legend," or merely someone who paid to have himself described that way, is unclear. There is also no date on this on-line document. I am not certain that any of the Armed Forces would be too crazy today about this affiliation. The link to this one is found here.
Bob Matheson's radio and television career did begin with the military, specifically the Air Force. During 1966 and 1967 Bob spent his time on Ramey Air Force Base in Aquadillo, Puerto Rico. Which was not a bad duty station when you consider where many other military personnel were spending that era. Clickhere for a link to a Ramey Air Force Base Historical Association page dedicated to Bob Matheson.
Bob later went on to a career in the Armed Forces Network (AFN, as on his t-shirt pictured above), and can be found quoted on topics germane to that organization in several places. Here on a site called EE Times (link), Bob is quoted on the rapidly changing preference of military members for music over sports broadcasting.
DoD signs off from sports radio broadcasts (7/5/2006 4:47 PM EDT) WASHINGTON — The days of sitting around the barracks listening to a ballgame on the radio are apparently over.
The Defense Department said Wednesday (July 5) it is discontinuing later this summer play-by-play radio broadcasts of sporting events. The reason?
Armed Forces Radio "audiences prefer to watch the greater variety of sports on television rather than listen to them on the radio," Robert Matheson, director of broadcasting at the AFN Broadcast Center (Riverside, Calif.) said in a Pentagon statement. "When radio sports coverage comes on, most listeners tune out."
Matheson was also quoted on this topic of great military importance in Air Force Magazine. Here is how he was quoted there (link):
Radio Games End - “What we found was when our single-channel, local AFN radio station switched from music to a sports event, more than half the audience left. Music is what they’re looking to be entertained with. When they can’t find music, they’ll go to their iPods or CDs or computers.”—Robert Matheson, director of American Forces Network broadcasting in Riverside, Calif., as AFN announces plans to drop play-by-play radio broadcasts of sports events, Baltimore Sun, July 7.
There was also this from a press release put out by the U.S. Department of Defense in 2006 (link):
AFN To End Radio Play-By-Play Sports - The Department of Defense announced today that the American Forces Network (AFN) will cease broadcasting play-by-play sports on radio later this summer.
The decision to discontinue live play-by-play sports on radio was based upon a series of Department of Defense worldwide audience surveys of military members and civilian employees stationed overseas, which showed the preference of viewers to watch sports, rather than just listen to them. The impact of live sports on overseas local affiliate radio schedules was also factored into the decision.
“AFN audiences prefer to watch the greater variety of sports on television rather than listen to them on the radio,” said Mr. Robert Matheson, director of broadcasting at the AFN Broadcast Center in Riverside, Calif. “When radio sports coverage comes on, most listeners tune out. Our mission is better served when the largest possible audience tunes in to non-sports programming and spends more time listening."
Despite all of the claims above about not broadcasting sports on the Armed Forces Network any longer, the following Bob Matheson related story can be found on a site dedicated to Missouri Valley Conference basketball (link):
AFN To End Radio Play-By-Play Sports - The Department of Defense announced today that the American Forces Network (AFN) will cease broadcasting play-by-play sports on radio later this summer.
The decision to discontinue live play-by-play sports on radio was based upon a series of Department of Defense worldwide audience surveys of military members and civilian employees stationed overseas, which showed the preference of viewers to watch sports, rather than just listen to them. The impact of live sports on overseas local affiliate radio schedules was also factored into the decision.
“AFN audiences prefer to watch the greater variety of sports on television rather than listen to them on the radio,” said Mr. Robert Matheson, director of broadcasting at the AFN Broadcast Center in Riverside, Calif. “When radio sports coverage comes on, most listeners tune out. Our mission is better served when the largest possible audience tunes in to non-sports programming and spends more time listening."
Despite all of the claims above about not broadcasting sports on the Armed Forces Network any longer, the following Bob Matheson related story can be found on a site dedicated to Missouri Valley Conference basketball (link):
December 30 MVC Telecast to Be Shown Worldwide on American Forces Network
The Missouri Valley Conference and FSN Midwest will give a unique "thank you" to American troops with the telecast of the Northern Iowa at eighth-ranked Wichita State men’s basketball game on Saturday, December 30. The television coverage will begin at 7:30 p.m. Central on December 30 from Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas.
In a special event titled "This One’s For You," the telecast will recognize American Armed Forces serving overseas. American troops worldwide will be able to watch the game via American Forces Network (AFN).
The telecast will feature greetings taped by American troops -- deployed in Iraq -- with ties to Wichita and Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Iowa. Troops from 130th Field Artillery Regiment in Topeka, Kansas, and members of the 1st Battalion of the 133rd Infantry Iowa Army National Guard -- which includes several UNI ROTC graduates -- will be featured.
Said Robert Matheson, AFN Director of Broadcasting: "This isn’t the first time that FSN Midwest has gone the extra mile for our men and women in uniform around the world. It is such a privilege to work along side individuals and industry professionals who continually place our military at the top of their priority list. This event says a great deal about the Missouri Valley Conference as well as the people who make the broadcast happen. It not only honors those who stand in defense of this country, but it is an incredible touch of home’ that cannot be underestimated, especially at this time of year. Your efforts are sincerely appreciated and on behalf of Americans stationed in 176 countries and serving aboard U.S. Navy ships at sea, thank you and well done."
So there you have it. The Armed Forces Network "broadcast legend" with a predilection for child pornography. The kind that features photos and videos of young boys both alone and having sex with adult males. And also an individual who worked with advanced television and other communications technology on military bases where young males are the predominate portion of the population.
I guess the military didn't think to ask, and Bob Matheson didn't see the need to tell. Not completely unlike what is still happening in Sierra Madre.
http://sierramadretattler.blogspot.com
I guess the military didn't think to ask, and Bob Matheson didn't see the need to tell. Not completely unlike what is still happening in Sierra Madre.
http://sierramadretattler.blogspot.com