A star of television and radio in Detroit for more than 30 years, Bob Hynes had the sort of media career that endured and evolved through the the decades.
Hynes, 93, died Oct. 17 at the Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center in Long Beach, California, after a short illness, according to his family.
The Boston native, who began in broadcasting on the East Coast, came to Detroit in 1966 to host a morning show at WXYZ-TV (Channel 7). During the five-year run of “The Bob Hynes Morning Show,” he talked to an array of celebrities that included Lucille Ball, Bob Newhart, Florence Henderson and 1960s “Batman” star Adam West.
Hynes briefly helmed two game shows while he was with Motor City station, then owned by ABC. He also was among the WXYZ reporters who covered the 1967 Detroit riot (and was interviewed about his role by the Detroit Historical Society’s Detroit 67 oral history project).
After his contract ended with WXYZ, Hynes worked in Houston on a 1972 variety project with actor Dom DeLuise called “Road Company.” He then returned to the Motor City and held a number of jobs in radio and television in the 1970s and 1980s that spoke to his versatility and appeal.
Hynes was a weathercaster at WJBK-TV (now Fox 2 Detroit) and WDIV-TV (Channel 4). But he is probably best remembered for his years as an afternoon host on WJR-AM and an occasional fill-in for legendary morning host J.P. McCarthy. In addition, Hynes also worked as a host at WXYT-AM.
“Bob had that genial, relaxed personality that worked equally well on radio or TV. You could never imagine him getting upset about anything while on the air,” Tim Kiska, a professor of communications at the University of Michigan-Dearborn who previously worked for the Free Press, the Detroit News and WWJ-AM, said via email.
In 1997, Hynes co-launched WYUR-AM (1310) as an alternative to WJR, which had gotten rid of some familiar shows and changed its format to introduce programs with advice diva Laura Schlessinger and Free Press sports columnist Mitch Albom, according to Free Press reports at the time.
WYUR (which is now WDTW-AM, featuring a Spanish-language format) ended its 2½-year run in 2000,, by which time it had switched over to classical music.
Said Kiska of Hynes’ effort with WYUR: “Unfortunately for him, he was trying to recreate WJR from the 1970s. It was a good idea on paper, a noble experiment, but was never going to work.”
Hynes made headlines in 1984 when he had a heart attack while flying his private plane. The Free Press reported that he “made what a friend called a ‘heroic landing’ at Oakland-Pontiac Airport in Waterford Township” and was rushed by a business associate to Royal Oak’s then-William Beaumont Hospital.
Hynes, a veteran pilot and age 52 at the time, spoke in 1985 to the Free Press about lifestyle changes he had made with help from Beaumont’s cardiac center. The self-described “meat-and-potatoes Irishman” focused on healthier eating choices and started a 60-minute exercise routine that ended with a brisk walk around his home.
“They suggested I carry hand weights, but I was too cheap to buy any so I carry soup. I’ve got one can of tomato soup and one chicken gumbo,” Hynes said jokingly.
Before his broadcasting career, Hynes served in the U.S. Air Force and met his wife, Jean, while he was stationed in Germany. After he retired from broadcasting, he was on the board of the Yankee Air Museum (now the Michigan Flight Museum) at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti Township and did public relations for the site.
Hynes, who lived in Bloomfield Township and Grosse Pointe Park during his time in Michigan, is survived by sons Michael (and wife, Rosalind) of Asheville, North Carolina, and Patrick (and wife, Andrea) of Manhattan Beach, California, and four grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Jean, second wife, Mary Brieden, and daughter Beth.
A funeral and burial will be held in New Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Bob Hynes, Detroit television and radio legend, dies at 93
Reporting by Julie Hinds, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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