Bob Kevoian, who co-founded The Bob & Tom Show with Tom Griswold in Indianapolis in 1983 and built it into one of the most widely syndicated morning radio programs in American history, died on Friday April 17, 2026 at his home surrounded by family and friends.
He was 75. He had been battling gastric cancer since his diagnosis in April 2023.
The Bob & Tom Show confirmed his death in a statement:
“It is with profound sadness that we announce the loss of Bob Kevoian, beloved co-founder and longtime host of The Bob & Tom Show, who passed away peacefully Friday afternoon at his home, surrounded by family and friends.”
He is survived by his wife, Becky Martin, whom he married in April 2005, his son Toby, and stepsons Wade and Joey.
How Did ‘The Bob and Tom Show’ Start?
Bob Kevoian was born on December 2, 1950, in Los Angeles, California, to Toby Kevoian, who worked for the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team Bob would wear a cap in tribute to for the rest of his life, and Jean Baker.
He graduated from California State University, Long Beach in 1973 with no formal training in radio. He had never set foot in a radio studio.
After graduation he spent three years touring the United States as a sound engineer for The Young Americans, a performance group.
Whatever career trajectory he imagined in those years, it is fair to say he could not have predicted what came next.
In 1979, Kevoian began his radio career at WMBN in Petoskey, Michigan, getting his first experience behind a microphone in a small market in northern Michigan.
It was at a bar in nearby Harbor Springs that he first encountered Tom Griswold.
The specifics of that meeting, two radio personalities crossing paths in a Michigan bar, became the origin story of one of the longest-running and most successful partnerships in the history of American radio.
By 1981 Kevoian and Griswold were working together on morning radio at WJML in Petoskey.
In 1983 they made the move that changed everything, joining WFBQ-FM, Q95, in Indianapolis as the station’s morning team. The Bob & Tom Show launched on March 7, 1983.
What They Built Over The Years
The show that Kevoian and Griswold created at WFBQ was not an overnight success and did not follow a conventional path to national prominence.
At one point early in their run, the competition tried to get rid of them by making a compilation tape of their best material and mailing it to the Superstars Convention, a gathering of program directors from 300 stations around the country, where it was played for the room.
The logic was exposure as embarrassment. The result was the opposite. The duo started getting offers from all over the country.
They had achieved a 44 share in the Indianapolis ratings.
By 1995, The Bob & Tom Show entered national syndication, initially through Westwood One.
By the end of the 1990s it was running in 140 markets. At its peak it aired on hundreds of stations across the country. Cumulus Media, which later distributed the show, described it as “the most successful nationally syndicated morning drive show in radio history.”
The format was a specific and somewhat unusual mix: comedy, talk, sports, celebrity interviews, in-studio musical performances, sketch comedy, original parody songs and topical humor that was sometimes irreverent and always unpredictable.
Recurring characters, Mr. Obvious, Doc Whiskey, Captain Dave, The Love Brothers, Donnie Baker, became beloved to listeners across the country in the way that recurring characters on long-running programs can feel like people you actually know.
Long-time collaborators Kristi Lee and Chick McGee were central to the show’s identity. New comedic talent in Indianapolis used the show as an entry point into the city’s comedy scene.
Kevoian personally produced more than 15,000 individual bits across the show’s run.
He contributed lyrics and music to the show’s comedic parodies, was an avid guitar player, and brought a sensibility to the material that was distinct from Griswold’s, together they created something neither could have made alone.
Griswold reflected on the partnership after Kevoian’s death:
“Bob used to say that our show was simply a conversation between two friends, not heard, but overheard.”
The show released more than 60 comedy albums across its run. It won five Marconi Awards from the National Association of Broadcasters, the Kurt Vonnegut Humor Award, and a range of other industry recognition.
Kevoian and Griswold were awarded Sagamores of the Wabash, Indiana’s highest civilian honor, given for distinguished service to the state, in recognition of both their broadcasting work and their community outreach.
They supported the Peyton Manning Foundation’s annual Peyback Bowl and Riley Hospital for Children’s Miracle Ride, among other causes.
Kevoian received an honorary doctorate in Communications from Central Michigan University in 2003 and delivered the commencement speech.
The Retirement And The Return
On November 5, 2015, Kevoian and Griswold were inducted together into the National Radio Hall of Fame at the Museum of Broadcast and Communications in Chicago, one of the highest recognitions in American broadcasting.
Kevoian announced his retirement the same day. His last live show as co-host aired on December 17, 2015.
The retirement did not entirely sever the connection. He returned to the show as a guest host for the Cincinnati Reds opening day broadcasts in 2017, 2018 and 2019, a reflection of his lifelong devotion to the Reds, the team he rooted for even while wearing a Los Angeles Dodgers cap in tribute to his father.
He appeared at the Indianapolis 500 broadcast in May 2019. He returned again in April 2020. In November 2016, he and Griswold were inducted into the Indiana Broadcasters Hall of Fame together.
How Kevoian Handled Cancer With His Podcasting
In April 2023, Kevoian received a diagnosis of gastric cancer. He announced it publicly on June 7, 2023, appearing as a guest on his former show to share the news himself, in the same way he had always handled difficult material, directly and with characteristic clarity.
Treatment began immediately, involving chemotherapy and radiation.
Rather than retreat from public life during treatment, Kevoian created something new around the experience.
He launched “The Bob & Cancer Show,” a podcast co-hosted with his wife Becky and show contributor Whit Grayson, documenting his cancer journey with the same blend of honesty and wit that had defined his radio career.
The podcast became a record of what three years of illness actually looks like when the person experiencing it refuses to be defined entirely by it.
He maintained that approach through the end.
He died at home on Friday afternoon surrounded by family and friends, three years after the diagnosis, at 75 years old.
What Kevoian Leaves Behind
The Bob & Tom Show is still on the air. Tom Griswold has continued hosting it since Kevoian’s retirement in 2015.
The show launched on a Friday morning in Indianapolis in 1983 with two men who had no particular plan to change American radio and proceeded to do exactly that across four decades of daily broadcasts, more than 60 albums, five Marconi Awards and a Radio Hall of Fame induction.
Bob Kevoian wore a Dodgers cap for his father and rooted for the Reds for himself. He had never been in a radio studio before 1979.
He met his partner in a bar. He built one of the most listened-to morning shows in the history of the medium.
Memorial service details will be shared at a later time, per the show’s announcement.
