Aspiring radio performers will envy the natural ease with which Bob Holt broke into the game. Connected with a commercial organization whose radio program was suddenly minus one of its regular performers, he was put in on a moment’s notice. His characterization without rehearsal was so outstanding as to create immediate interest. He was offered a position as an announcer, and though previously he had no thought of entering radio, he accepted because of the new experiences it offered.
His voice, however, is an inheritance from his mother, who, as Jessie Nelson, was well known in St. Louis some years ago as an elocutionist and teacher of elocution.
Young Bob was educated for a religious career. He attended seminary in St. Louis and a year abroad. An interesting sidelight is Bob’s reason for giving up the ministry as a life’s work: an intense dislike for public speaking. Even now he avoids public notice and confines his oratory to the small, round metallic instrument known as the microphone. But he is sufficiently cured of this reserve to aspire beyond everything else to sing over the radio when he has completed vocal training.
Bob Holt is now a real radio fan. His favorite pastime is paddling a canoe, with a portable radio and his favorite programs for companions.
(Originally published in Radio and Entertainment 6/11/32).