By Hannah Osborne
The Georgia Association of Broadcasters is ecstatic to welcome former President of the GAB, Bob Houghton to its Hall of Fame.
Houghton was born in Chicago in the wake of World War II and adopted.
“My luck started on day one,” Houghton says. “My parents did everything for me. They deserve a ton of credit.”
Houghton at an early age, and as an only child, he had to get creative in finding entertainment.’s love of sports began
“I would throw a ball against the wall, and depending on what I did with it, I would call play-by-play,” Houghton says. “As early as 10 years old, I was calling play-by-play, I really did want to do that my whole life.”
Houghton grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and graduated from Maine South High School in 1965. Notably, in the same class as Hillary (Rodham) Clinton.
After graduation, Houghton attended Illinois Wesleyan University and studied business.
“It’s just hard to understand what the situation was in the late 60s to be in college. If you missed a class, you could be called into the draft,” says Houghton. “That’s an exaggeration, but certainly if you tried to take a semester off, you would get called into the military.”
Houghton graduated in June of 1969 and by August, he was in boot camp.
“I enlisted in the Navy after graduating from college,” Houghton says. “In 1971, I was called to Vietnam. I wrote a letter to tell my parents and they were very upset. My response was, ‘I’m doing what you taught me to do.’”
In Vietnam, Houghton was a naval advisor. Twelve men reported to him and he was responsible for millions of dollars in supplies. Exactly one year after arriving in Vietnam, Houghton returned to the states to work in the office for the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington, D.C.
“My job was to go through a series of programs that had not made it, and make sure they were put to bed. I came across this one that needed to be saved,” Houghton says.
Houghton and a member of the admiral staff worked on securing funding and resources to get the BEQ Management Program off the ground.
“During a time of cuts in the Navy, I was going to offices and asking for $2 million and ten people,” says Houghton. “Getting ten people was actually harder than getting the money.”
Lucky for Houghton, he had an ally in the Chief of Naval Operations office with influence. When Houghton was thrown out of another office, he’d come back and the officer would tell him, ‘We’re going to go back.’
Eventually, funding and resources were secured for BEQ Management and the program still exists 50 years later.
In the fall of 1974, Houghton returned to grad school at Northwestern University, receiving a Masters in Communications in 1976. 
“Northwestern was an insurance policy,” Houghton says. “I knew how hard it was to get into broadcasting and be successful. If broadcasting wasn’t working for me after a few years, at least I had the background of the military and Northwestern.”
Houghton’s first job was at WWMM in Arlington Heights, Illinois, working in sales.
“I wanted to be a sportscaster,” Houghton says, “I had no interest, desire, or experience, in selling, or so I thought”
During one of his first grad school classes, a broadcaster from a Chicago station spoke to the class about the importance of selling. Houghton thought to himself those were the opportunities he had been turning down. He called one of the stations back to take the position in sales.
“It turned out that I had a lot more sales experience than I’d realized,” Houghton said.
After graduating, Houghton came to work at the station full-time and stayed for two years.
“It helped that most of what I was selling was my own sports programming, which made it a little easier because I was selling something I knew well and that I was proud of,” Houghton says.
During his time at WWMM, Houghton found a mentor in his boss at the station.
“I learned a lot from him, in fact I stayed a year longer than I probably needed to, but I was loyal to him because he was loyal to me,” Houghton says.
Houghton bounced around a bit before landing his next big opportunity at CBS.
“When the CBS opportunity came up, that’s when my career really took off,” says Houghton.
In 1977, Houghton moved to New York to work in radio sales at CBS, not long after, he was brought back to run the Chicago office. Houghton stayed in Chicago until 1982, when he was offered a position as General Sales Manager of WCCO in Minneapolis.
“There’s totally different ways to manage people and I think mine is a little different,” Houghton says. “I’m a little more flexible, some people would say flexibility is not a good trait to have in a manager.”
Houghton’s style developed from a teamwork approach. Being in the military, Houghton learned that you have to delegate because everyone is going to have different strengths.
“I didn’t learn discipline, or how to be on time, or how to follow the rules, like you would think with a military guy, but I learned the importance of two things,” says Houghton.
The first thing he had learned was to trust the people he had hired to do the job. The second, was to trust the senior enlisted employees to pass on orders and ensure the job gets done.
“I’ve never forgotten that,” he says.
Houghton stayed at WCCO for five years.
“WCCO was one of the most important radio stations in the country at that time. It was a real privilege to work there and to be part of it,” Houghton says.
In 1987, Houghton moved to Dallas to work at KRLD.
Before coming to KRLD, Houghton had met an 18 year old college student who was riding his bike to the station in the winter to work the night shift at WCCO. Houghton saw something in the student, Tom Gresback, and when he moved to KRLD, brought Gresback with him.
Not only did Houghton witness Gresback’s success in broadcasting, but also as an admiral in the Navy.
“When I talk about succeeding, or failing, I look at Tom and the success that he’s had,” Houghton says. “He still calls me when something goes right in his day, sometimes it’s when something goes wrong, but most of the time it is to tell me he’s working on something or a good idea he had.”
During his time at KRLD, Jerry Jones bought the Dallas Cowboys. Houghton got to know him very well, and almost went to work for him, but ultimately chose Atlanta.
After returning to Chicago for a year in 1991, Houghton came to Atlanta in 1992 as the General Manager of WGST.
“Everywhere I went had a huge sports influence,” Houghton says. “In Minnesota, we had the Twins, the Vikings and the University of Minnesota; in Dallas, we had the Dallas Cowboys, the Dallas Mavericks and the University of Texas. In Atlanta, we have the Braves, the Hawks and Georgia Tech. I like to say that it scratched my sports itch.”
WGST also had the Georgia News Network, which first exposed Houghton to the Georgia Association of Broadcasters.
“One of the things that I quickly realized was, I had to know the rest of these people in the state,” says Houghton. “The GAB was the best way to do that.”
WGST was one of Houghton’s greatest victories and biggest defeats. For 4 years the station led the market in ratings and revenue, beating WSB. After the fourth year, WSB came back in full force.
“I was the father of Planet Radio, which was unfortunately a dismal defeat. I talk about my failures and I learn from my failures. If you’re not afraid to fail, you can’t succeed to the degree that we’ve done,” Houghton says.
When Houghton left WGST in 1999, he began his own business, Houghton Management Group. This venture led to his involvement with 790 the Zone, as a consultant and investor.
From 2007 to 2009, Houghton was the General Manager of Georgia Public Broadcasting. In 2009, he became the General Manager of Score Atlanta, a print publication, where Houghton did the high school sports coverage.
When Houghton had first come to Georgia, one of his first calls was to the President of the GAB at the time, Bill Sanders. At Sanders’ invitation, Houghton came to the summer convention and within the first 90 days on the job, started meeting people from all over the state.
Twenty years later, in 2012, Houghton became President of the Georgia Association of Broadcasters.
“When I came to the GAB I thought that I would do the job for 2 or 3 years,” Houghton says. “Those 2 or 3 years quickly turned into 13.”
One thing that Houghton attributes to his success and longevity in the industry is his curiosity.
“I just never wanted to go and get an order, especially a big order, and not understand why I got the big order,” Houghton says.
This skill has been imperative to Houghton in establishing relationships in the industry and opening doors for new opportunities.
One example is the Severe Weather Meeting that is hosted twice a year with the Georgia Emergency Management Association (GEMA) and the National Weather Service (NWS). Meteorologists from across Georgia are invited, along with Georgia Power and the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), to discuss what weather conditions are anticipated in the coming months.
“The weather is very important to our members, particularly TV stations. All of those people meeting twice a year to talk about the upcoming season came from my curiosity to understand all of the moving pieces” Houghton says. “I never dreamed that it would last for 25 meetings.”
Houghton’s curiosity has also led to opportunities for aspiring broadcasters.
Sanders Hickey (GAB Hall of Fame ‘21) introduced Houghton to a gentleman by the name of Dan Vallie. Houghton asked Vallie about what he did and learned that Vallie had a program that he had started in two states called the Radio Talent Institute (RTI).
“When I was applying for the job, I didn’t know what the Radio Talent Institute was yet, but I knew it was something I wanted to do,” Houghton says.
Vallie told Houghton that he could get the GAB signed up to host the institute the following summer. Always the overachiever, Houghton wanted to start the program that same summer, leaving them with only two months to organize.
“That first year, 20 people participated. It was a huge success and has grown from that,” Houghton says.
More than 150 students have graduated from the GAB’s RTI, which continues to operate today. The GAB is excited to welcome the next class in May for the 6-day program that provides broadcasters in the early days of their careers with information, tools and connections to the industry.
“I remember how hard it was to get started. It was hard when I was starting and it’s harder now because there aren’t as many places to be bad,” says Houghton.
Houghton’s advice to everyone who comes through his door, is the most important thing is to get a foot in the door and do more than you are asked to do.
“I think a key part of being successful is saying yes after others have said no, especially when you’re first starting out,” he says.
For broadcasters, an average day can be somewhat routine, but in times of emergency, communities rely on broadcasters.
“I always like to say, we inform people before the event, we’re there during an event and most importantly, we show up after the event,” says Houghton.
People not only depend on broadcasters to keep them informed during emergencies but in the day-to-day, as a place of trust and comfort.
“Take Monica Pearson (GAB Hall of Fame ‘12), viewers saw Monica as a friend coming into their office,” Houghton says. “People need a place to go and find comfort and I think that broadcasting does that as well as anybody.”
In 2024, the GAB celebrated 90 years of serving Georgia broadcasters. To celebrate, the GAB hosted a 90th Anniversary Tour, visiting each of the state’s eight major markets.
“We went and talked to the people and shared their experience. I thought it was a huge success because of the money we gave away to deserving people, recognizing the emergency managers, and being a part of their communities for just one afternoon,” says Houghton.
Houghton believes in serving Georgia broadcasters not only by visiting their stations, but through representing them in D.C. He was able to accomplish this by participating with the National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations (NASBA). Houghton was a board member for the organization for a number of years and from 2022 to 2023, was the organization’s President.
“The biggest is still yet to come,” Houghton says. “I’ve never seen anything like the action that has been taken for AM radio.”
The AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act was first introduced in 2023 and in just a year gained the bipartisan support of 300 members of Congress. Despite not being passed during the 118th Congress, broadcasters remain energetic about maintaining AM radio in vehicles.
His experience with NASBA solidified for Houghton the importance of broadcasting whether it be in Missoula, MT or Athens, GA.
“If the GAB was the whipped cream on the sundae of my career, NASBA was the cherry on top,” Houghton says.
In 2024, Houghton retired from the GAB and was succeeded by current President Randy Gravely.
“Randy has tremendous experience in Washington, He’s a doer, he’s a fundraiser and a seller,” Houghton says. “The GAB is in good hands and Randy is a great opportunity for the GAB.”
Houghton’s plans for retirement include spending time with his grandchildren, mentoring local high school students, and he hopes to travel more. Despite retiring, he has stayed involved with the GAB on a part-time basis at the Educational Foundation Liaison. In his new role, he aims to continue the growth of the foundation.
Houghton’s retirement will also include spending time with his wife of 47 years, Vivian, who has providedhim with the support and flexibility that his career in broadcasting demanded.
“They say opposite attract and they do, we’re exactly opposite,” Houghton says. “We’ve survived and thrived together for 47 years.”
The two share their daughter, Kimmie.
“My most important mentoring project is my daughter,” Houghton says. “She’s certainly her father’s daughter.”
Bob Houghton has made it “a great day to be a broadcaster in Georgia,” for 30 years and in honor of that, he will be joining 116 of his peers in the GAB Hall of Fame.
When Gravley called to tell Houghton the good news, he felt “pure happiness.”
“It’s hard to leave something you love, but when you know the person that is going to take your place cares about it as much as Randy does, it’s going to make it a lot easier for me to be in retirement mode,” Houghton says.
Houghton looks forward to the ceremony and celebrating the milestone with his wife, daughter and friends from the past and present.
“You start thinking about all of the things you have done over the past 50 years and it’s been very special for me, I’m very proud of it,” Houghton says. “One thing I am most proud of is that I was successful in six major markets, including my hometown of Chicago.”
The GAB Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held at The Omni Atlanta at Centennial Park on Friday, March 28, 2025.
