Robert Trout

Robert (Bob) Trout (October 15, 1909 - November 14, 2000), also commonly known as The Troutster, was an American broadcast news reporter, best known for his radio work before and during World War II. He became known to some as the "Iron Man of Radio" for his ability to ad lib while on the air, as well as his stamina, composure, and elocution. Trout was born Robert Albert Blondheim in Wake County, NC; he added the Trout name early in his radio car... more

Robert (Bob) Trout (October 15, 1909 - November 14, 2000), also commonly known as The Troutster, was an American broadcast news reporter, best known for his radio work before and during World War II. He became known to some as the "Iron Man of Radio" for his ability to ad lib while on the air, as well as his stamina, composure, and elocution. Trout was born Robert Albert Blondheim in Wake County, NC; he added the Trout name early in his radio career. He entered broadcasting in 1931 as an announcer at WJSV, an independent station in Alexandria, VA, founded in the early 1920s by James S. Vance. In the summer of 1932 WJSV was acquired by CBS, bringing Trout into the CBS fold. (WSJV is now WTOP in Washington D.C.) He was the man who gave the on-air label "fireside chat" to regular radio broadcasts of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the Depression years and World War II. (Trout actually credited the genesis of phrase to Harry Butcher, a CBS vice president in Washington.) Trout... less