Jews in the D

continued from page 22

name came from, but it’
s the 
moniker he took to the airwaves 
for the first time on July 1, 1947, 
at WKMH, the former call let-
ters of WKNR.
His parents, Clara and 
Herman Altman, immigrated 
to America in the early 1900s as 
youngsters. Clara’
s family came 
from Romania and Herman’
s 
left the Ukraine to escape the 
pogroms. His folks, who kept a 
kosher home, spent their entire 
lives in Detroit and are buried 
in Beth Moses Cemetery in 
Roseville. 
Robin loved Hebrew school 
and recalls two Detroit syna-
gogues from his childhood, the 
“Blaine Shul” and the “Taylor 
Shul.” Because of the generosity 
of a Rabbi Lawton, Robin was 
allowed to prepare for his bar 
mitzvah even though his parents 
could not afford the $5 weekly 
tuition. 
His bar mitzvah celebration 

took place in the Altman’
s down-
stairs flat on Taylor Street. “After 
weeks of cooking, our flat was 
decked out with tables,” Robin 
shares in his book. “They were 
lined up end-to-end and groaned 
with food and drink. I got 10 
fountain pens, two watches and 
$100 cash. I never felt so rich.”
Like many of his Greatest 
Generation, Robin put his life 
on hold during WWII. After 
graduating from Central High 
School and turning 18, he was 
drafted into the Army and, in 
May of 1944, began a two-year 
stint during which he would be 
a witness to the atrocities of the 
Holocaust.
“We were near Steyr, Austria, 
the day after the war in Europe 
ended,” said Robin, who earned 
a Bronze Star. “The Germans 
left the nearby concentration 
camp gates open and just walked 
away. We saw a group of 20 or 
30 walking, starving skeletons, 

pitifully wandering, helpless 
as their eyes bulged from their 
sockets, filthy black and white 
striped rags hanging from their 
bodies — a sample of Germany’
s 
leftovers. I stood in disbelief, not 
able to move for several min-
utes.” 
A stint on Armed Forces 
Radio in Frankfort, Germany, 
further solidified Robin’
s career 
ambitions. After his discharge, 
he would cut short his college 
education at Wayne University 
in 1947 to accept an on-air 
opportunity at WKMH, “a new 
station located in Dearborn,” 
later becoming WKNR Keener 
13 in 1963. It was a 90-minute 
combined streetcar and bus ride 
to the studio for his first profes-
sional job that paid 90 cents an 
hour. 
Robin Seymour was more 
than an entertainer who helped 
launch musical careers, he was an 
innovator. In helping popularize 

sock hops, Motown concerts at 
the Fox Theater and introducing 
listener feedback as a sales tool, 
his career is arguably unparalleled 
in a golden era of Detroit broad-
casting.
Over the course of three 
decades, Metro Detroit and 
Windsor youth tuned into 
Bobbin’
 with the Robin on 
WKMH, WKNR, The Big 8 
CKLW and on television. He 
was, as author Carolyn Rosenthal 
says, “the right person, in the 
right place, at the right time.
” 

 
Robin Seymour will be at the Motown 
Museum from 3-5 p.m. Thursday, 
Sept. 12, during studio tours; info at 
motownmuseum.org or (313) 875-
2264. “The Last Radio Reunion,” 
takes place 1-6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 
14, Suburban Collection Showplace 
in Novi. $35. Leealancreative.com/
reunion.html. Find Seymour’
s book 
on Amazon.com.

PAM 
FEI
NBERG-
RI
VKI
N, 
rn

FOUNDER 
& 
CEO
Trai
ned 
I
nterventi
oni
st

STEVE 
FELDMAN

CHI
EF 
OPERATI
NG 
OFFI
CER
Trai
ned 
I
nterventi
oni
st

They 
don’
t 
have 
to 
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t 
rock 
bottom 

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24 | SEPTEMBER 12 • 2019