Franklin Hobbs

Inducted 2007

For more than twenty years, late-night radio meant a visit to Hobbs’ House.  Every night from 10:30 PM till 5 AM the next morning, listeners across the country enjoyed the rich, smooth voice of Franklin Hobbs.

Hobbs grew up in Minneapolis and later moved to the West Coast, where he sang with big bands and acted in radio shows like Lux Radio Theater and One Man’s Family.  World War II found him flying over China and Burma in the gun turret of a B-24 bomber.  After the war he produced radio shows for stars like Perry Como, Jo Stafford, and Mel Tormé, and also worked for Warner Brothers and ABC Paramount Records.  He joined WCCO Radio in 1959, and for the next two decades, Hobbs’ House sent the music of Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, and the big bands to a nationwide audience, broadcasting usually from the studio, but sometimes from college campuses or from his Gull Lake cabin.  He chose his own music, and performers loved to be on the show because they knew their records would be hits if Hobbs played them.  He moved to KEEY FM in 1981 and joined KLBB in 1983, where he remained a listener favorite until he passed away in 1995 at the age of 75.