You can't keep Rob Reider down

You might be familiar with Rob from some of Sporty's videos, where I
think he performs admirably. The guy's a local Cincinnati icon,
albeit only among the baby boomer and older crowd... but he's a pretty
good guitar picker too.

Just thought I'd post this for anyone who might be interested.

September 9, 2008

You can't keep Rob Reider down

Local TV icon is soaring in his career as air show announcer

By Jim Knippenberg

Clipping along at 110 mph some 2,000 feet above Cincinnati, Rob Reider
sounds more like a 6-year-old on his first plane ride than a 60-year-
old instrument-rated pilot who has been in the air since 1982.

"Look over my shoulder -- it's Lunken Airport. Isn't that cool from up
here? Look how different the Mill Creek looks from up here. And wow,
out your window, see all the tracks leading to Union Terminal? Who
knew?"

Reider, decked out in a blue flight suit with a Blue Angels patch on
the chest, is living his life doing the two things he loves most:

On weekday afternoons, it's soaring the friendly skies in buddy Phil
Schmidt's Cessna 182 with N6936M on the tail.

On weekends, it's making a living as an air show announcer.

Air shows, such as this weekend's Blue Ash Airport Days, when he'll
climb atop a wobbly platform and tell 15,000 or so people what's going
on in the wild blue yonder - rolls and tumbles, loops and spins.

"Rob's probably the best in the business calling a show, even for
newbies who don't know what's going on and why it's difficult to do
this and that in the air," said Cheryl Popp, a fellow pilot and
Airport Days producer. "To my knowledge Rob's the only one in the
country who makes a living doing this full time."

Reider of Montgomery is a local TV icon and a beloved figure who
played guitar, sang, did commercials and cracked mischievous jokes as
a regular on Channel 5's now defunct "Bob Braun Show" for 13 years.
Later, he used that same musical talent to direct the choir and music
programs for nine years at Vineyard Community Church.

Today, he calls at least 23 shows a year in states stretching from
California to Maine and has the honors to prove his mettle. In 2007,
he won the Oscar of the air-show world, the Sword of Excellence by the
International Council of Air Shows, on the same night the Blue Angels
got the award. It marked the first time since 1996 that the Council
awarded two swords in one night. Only 34 swords have been awarded
since 1981, 30 to aviators and four to announcers.

Reider has been on a platform craning his neck upward since a 1978
incident at Lunken Airport when announcer Todd Hunter, then of Channel
9, canceled at the last minute. Someone shoved a mike in Reider's
hand, he did the show and within a year he went pro.

"I've been in love with flight since I was little and saw 'Sky King,'
on TV," he said, then going on to prove his devotion by mimicking the
Saturday morning series intro: "Out of the clear blue of the western
sky comes ... Skyyyyyyy Kiiiiing.

"I don't know how many, but I'd bet that Sky King and his niece Penny
inspired hundreds of fliers. Ever since I saw the show I wanted to be
a pilot."

But time changed that.

Reider left Columbus as a college student and moved here to study
broadcasting at the College-Conservatory of Music.

"I heard Cincinnati was a good TV town, and I knew I could make it in
production," if the guitar and vocal licks didn't measure up. Midway
through CCM, something big happened.

"I was asked to sing at a party for UC's birthday. Marian (Spelman,
cast member on "The Bob Braun Show") was there and she told the Braun
staff about me. Later, Murg (Dick Murgatroyd, the show's producer)
called and I joined the cast in 1970, unpaid for the first few months.
I stayed 13 years and yeah, we were kind of corny, but I can say with
all sincerity that we don't have to be ashamed of anything we did on
that show.

"Nowdays people stop me and say, 'I remember you from when you were on
Ruth Lyons' show.' I was never on her show and I used to remind them
it was the Braun show, but not anymore. I'm honored to be lumped with
people like that."

Cast member Mary Ellen Tanner recalls doing the show with Reider.

"We worked together a lot and he was a joy to be around, always up
even when things went wrong. .

"I don't know if I agree that we were corny, but I agree completely
that we have everything to be proud of and nothing to be ashamed of. I
admire Rob greatly for so many reasons."

Says Reider: "I look at myself today and realize that I have a great
life."

But not a life without turmoil brought on by a series of unhappy
events. He lost Gaile, his wife of 36 years, in August 2007, after a
lingering battle with cancer. Eleven months later on July 14, 30-year-
old daughter Katie, an award-winning singer and songwriter, died of a
rare cancer that robbed her of her voice and inflicted constant pain.

"Flying was a blessing when Katie was ill. I could jump in a plane and
fly off to Montclair (N.J.), to visit her when she needed me. But the
truth is, I was the one who needed her."

Two years earlier, son Robbie lost a 2-day old infant to a rare
disease that caused fluid to collect in tissue and constrict blood
vessels so badly that the heart couldn't pump hard enough to push
blood through.

"Things like that, Gaile, Katie, Robbie's baby, you never get over it.
It gets easier, but it never goes away."

"I have to say that God helped me through it," said Reider, who spent
nine years as director of the choir, lighting, video and Internet
services at Vineyard Community Church in Springdale. He left in 2006
to spend more time with Gaile.

Reider, who starts every flight with a prayer right after the required
pre-flight check, admits those experiences "have affected my theology
some. For me, I'm wondering about promises made in certain scriptures
and about prayers that weren't answered as those scriptures promised.
It has me wondering about how intimately God is involved with our
lives.

"But one thing the past two years have done is made me more sensitive
to the needs of others. When they ask for my prayers, they get them."

Illnesses weren't the first test of faith. That came more than 10
years ago when daughter Katie came out as a lesbian and announced she
and partner Karen were to marry and that Karen would take the name
Reider.

"I had trouble accepting it because we're taught that homosexuality is
wrong, that it's a sin. But being around Katie and Karen I learned
that there's so much more that defines love than gender. And I also
know that God made us and He doesn't make mistakes. So how could I not
get over it?

"Karen lives in New Jersey, and she's like one of my own, in frequent
contact by video chat. She and Katie had two boys - Aiden is 4, Kain
is 2 - and they light up my life."

When Reider's not on the road with air shows or home in Montgomery,
he's chilling out at his home off the coast of Maine on Isle au Haut.

"It has a population of 45 in the winter and 250 in the summer. Gaile
and I cut a road in, added a bathroom and septic system and have high-
speed Internet. I inherited it when my brother Brent passed away. It's
expensive to keep up, but it's something I won't part with.

"Everyone loves it there. Gaile and Katie spent the last healthy days
of their lives there and that's one reason I want to keep it forever -
so my kids and their kids can enjoy it and also remember Gaile and
Katie and the happiness we shared together there."

THE ROB REIDER FILE

Age: 60

Born: York, Pa., grew up in Columbus where mom Ann Beasley hosted a
live TV show

Residences: Montgomery and Isle au Haut, Maine

Occupation: Professional air show announcer

Family: Married 36 years to Gaile, who died in 2007; two sons, four
daughters, including the late Katie Reider, who died July 14; seven
grandchildren.

Career highlights: 13 years on "The Bob Braun Show" as vocalist,
guitarist and Braun's sidekick; former owner of Bright Sides Audio, a
sound equipment rental firm; former choir, lighting, video and
Internet director Vineyard Community Church

Side jobs: Coaches other show narrators, including Air Force
professionals; narrates Learn to Fly instructional tapes and DVDs for
Sporty's in Clermont County

First musical thrill: A 1967-68 tour with Fred Waring and the
Pennsylvanians

Musical highlights: Solo gigs with Cincinnati Pops, the Kentucky,
Middletown and Blue Ash Symphony Orchestras

Current musical project: Producing a Christmas CD for the Kingston
Trio, a group he almost joined 40 years ago.

Future plans: To continue what I'm doing professionally while
embracing "all three of my families -- my own, my church and the air
show community."

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs...809090304/1177
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- gpsman