`Hey, daddy-o!”
With that hipster`s hello, WLUP-FM 97.9`s Bobby Skafish is on the air. Ensconced in the afternoon drive chair for most of his seven years at the
”Loop,” Skafish enjoyed healthy audience ratings for the summer quarter and finds himself in the rarefied air of afternoon drive`s Top 5.
For many jocks this would be reason to celebrate, but Skafish, a 37-year- old native of Crown Point, Ind., remains characteristically low-key.
”I made a promise to myself a couple of years ago that I wasn`t going to ride an emotional roller coaster because my ratings are up or down,” said Skafish, who usually refers to himself as ”Rob S.” on the air. ”I try not to take it too seriously because it`s really a team concept here at the Loop. My name might get in the papers, but it`s just as much Greg Solk (the station manager) or Dave Benson (the music director) as it is me.”
Skafish is one of the anchors of the successful mainstream album rock WLUP-FM sound. Currently the station is tied with ”classic rock” rival WCKG-FM as Chicago`s fourth most popular radio station. His arrival at the Loop in 1983 coincided with the station`s metamorphosis from its metal orientation in the late `70s and early `80s-the era of its ubiquitous black Loop T-shirts and its steady diet of music by the likes of Judas Priest, Scorpions and AC/DC.
When Skafish jumped ship after 6 1/2 years at WXRT, he brought with him both quick wits and a strong street credibility. He also alienated a significant number of WXRT listeners.
”I got some flack, but in a weird sort of way I enjoyed that,” he said. ”It was almost like playing a villain in a soap opera. It gave me a lot of insight into human behavior, I`ll tell you that.
”Even years later, people still make comments. About a year ago my girlfriend and I went to Jamaica for a vacation, and when we were coming back through customs at O`Hare, the guy says, `Hey, you`re the guy who defected from WXRT!` ”
Skafish, though, chooses not to dwell on the past. He recently signed a three-year pact with the Loop and says he couldn`t be happier. ”Hey, it`s nice to be able to sleep in late and get off work early,” said the 2:30-to-7 p.m. jock.
While his one-liners occasionally get lost amid such music-intensive daily features as the 5 to 6 p.m. ”Traffic Jam” or the 6 to 7 p.m. ”Mood Elevation Hour,” Skafish says that inserting his personality into the mix is a challenge.
”That challenge is to sound good in seven seconds,” he said. ”You don`t have carte blanche to ramble on incessantly. To be concise and to really communicate within a pretty short amount of time, that`s the challenge, and I really like that.”
Now, about that ”daddy-o” stuff . . .
”It`s kind of an all-purpose title,” Skafish said. ”Also, it comes in handy when you can`t remember someone`s name.”
