Bobby Holland

Bobby Holland grew up in Lyons, Georgia and while attending Lyons High School was a star basketball player for the Lyons Bulldogs. In his senior year, 1962, Bobby outscored in three quarters the previous highest scoring player at his school and was awarded Outstanding Player Of The Year. After graduating, he became a disc jockey for WBBT - AM in Lyons, GA, his home town. At the time the radio station played a variety of local programs and music, including rock and roll which Bobby aired on his show. As with most disc jockeys back in the 60’s and 70’s, many moved from station to station in an effort to improve their careers or to improve the quality of radio in various communities and cities. In the 70's and 80's a few of the Georgia radio stations that Bobby was radio personality or program director are WVOH Hazlehurst, WUFF Eastman, WNEX Macon, WQDE Albany, WWNS Statesboro, WYQK Valdosta, WGIG, WBGA and WMOG FM Brunswick. During his career he was an active concert and dance promoter, booking a variety of music groups throughout his career. Some of those acts included: Sir Douglas Quintet, The Royal Guardsman, William Bell, The Swingin Medallions and The Outsiders.
He also managed several groups including, Big T and The Upsetters, a rhythm and blues group, and Critical Mass, a rock band originating from Statesboro, GA. Or this link: http://southerngaragebands.com/CriticalMass.html Critical Mass fronted for Steppenwolf, The Allman Brothers Band, Ted Nugent, Canned Heat and many other bands. They were named Best Local Group Of The Year by voters calling into WSGA, Savannah, GA.
Career
After more than 15 years of radio work as a disc jockey, music director, program director, general manager and ownership of a small radio station in southwest Georgia, Bobby got a call from Frank Jolley,(then a radio executive - now a movie producer) to move to California to do the weekend gig at a California's Oldies Radio station in L.A. The phone call came in 1977 and was a real challenge to determine if he wanted to leave family and friends behind. He loved Georgia too much, turned down the offer and remained in Georgia radio until 1982, when he was lured by a AM/FM and television station, WSPA in the Greenville-Spartanburg market to be the afternoon drive radio personality and program director. He was hired by WSPA-TV to do all the voiceovers for the station IDs and promos. After a couple of years in that market, he decided to come back to Georgia to remain in radio until 1999, making it approximately a 37-year career in the business.
Bobby was also a columnist for HITKIT magazine out of Philadelphia, which kept up with all the radio and music talent news, along with the current hottest hits. He became known in the industry as the disc jockey from the South that could pick the hits before they were even played on the air by stations. Several interviews with many recording artist took place, like these Billy-Joe-Royal, Neil Diamond, Tanya Tucker, The Five Americans, C.W. McCall, Kool and The Gang, Luther Vandross, The Time, Bobbie Gentry's grandmother and Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian and Eddie Holland of Holland-Dozier-Holland (not related) who were prolific song writers for Motown Records and now inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Bobby is now retired from radio work and maintains an internet radio station. He still does limited voiceovers for advertisers and radio/TV stations in his recording studio.

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