INDIANAPOLIS — Bob Kevoian woke up Thursday morning with a smile on his face, as he usually did. He had years and years of practice laughing in the mornings.
Kevoian had plans for this weekend, which included a possible trip to Disney World. He’d been battling cancer for three years, but he wasn’t stopping. He was making it through the good days and those really tough days and, of course, he was doing it all with humor.
But Thursday night, Kevoian took a sudden turn for the worse. And by Friday at 5:30 p.m., his family knew the end was near.
His wife, Becky, and three sons were in the room with Kevoian, playing his favorite album, The Beatles’ “Abbey Road,” Side 2. Then, the song “Golden Slumbers” came on.
“Which was Bob’s favorite. They were all singing it out loud,” said Tom Griswold, Kevoian’s longtime co-host on “The Bob & Tom Show. “And Bob literally took his last breath when the song (was ending). It sounds like something out of a movie.”
Kevoian was 75.
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, in the pre-podcast cell phone days, radio was king, and in Indy there was a show that reigned supreme. On air with “Bob & Tom,” Kevoian was the raspy-voiced character spouting comedic quips that would often make listeners blush. Off air, he had a heart of gold.
For more than three decades, Kevoian was a fixture in the city, gaining fame as the more laid back cohort to his on-air partner Griswold’s Type A personality on “Bob & Tom.” Their chemistry struck radio gold.
“We didn’t know what we were even doing in the early years,” Griswold says. “But he always said the same thing. He always said, ‘Our show is a conversation between two friends that people don’t hear. They overhear.’ It’s just, we’re talking.”
Kevoian and Griswold founded the morning radio show, which dubs itself a blend of comedy, talk, news and sports (with a nod to some off color topics) on March 7, 1983. In 1995, its popularity earned national syndication and today it is heard in more than 100 cities and on WFBQ-FM (94.7) in Indy.
Kevoian announced his retirement from the show in 2015 as he was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.
In 2023, he made his cancer fight public, revealing the first episode of a new podcast: “The Bob & Cancer Show.” The series, co-hosted by his wife, Becky Kevoian, and friend and “Bob & Tom” mainstay Whit Grayson, explored Kevoian’s journey from diagnosis through treatment.
Through the years, everyone knew “Bob” from the radio show, but few knew of his incredible generosity, says Mark Patrick, a longtime television sports anchor in Indy who appeared in comedy skits on “Bob & Tom.”
“There were more than a few fundraiser auctions that I would emcee,” Patrick says. “And there would, inevitably, be an awkward moment when a highly-valued item wasn’t getting close to its true target bid.”
Without fail, Kevoian would jump in with an offer beyond expectation. Once, at an Indiana Children’s Wish Fund gala, he made a bid when he was already the high bid.
“I said, ‘Bob, you’re bidding against yourself.’ And then he won the crowd and the night,” Patrick says, when Kevoian responded: “Well, somebody’s got to do it.”
In the heyday of radio’s reign, with Kevoian on the air, he became a household name in Indy.
“Bob. One name. One very common name. Yet, there’s only one that anyone in Indiana immediately thinks of. What a legacy,” Patrick said. “Bob Kevoian lived his life exactly like he wanted to. His own man. He fought a courageous battle against cancer the last few years. And he did it, as he always did things, with humor, friend engagement and love for his family.”
To sum up the person Keovian was is simple, says Jake Query, host of sports radio show “Query and Company” on 107.5 The Fan and longtime friend of Kevoian.
“Take the best characteristics of your 10 closest friends. Put all 10 of those things into one person,” Query said. “That person was Bob Kevoian.”
Social media was flooded with memories of Kevoian Friday night.
Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on X: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: [email protected].
