22 | SEPTEMBER 12 • 2019 

Robin Seymour brings his memoir and 
his memories back to Detroit.

Jews in the D

I

f not for conversations 
between two residents of a 
senior living community in 
San Antonio, the story of one 
of the legendary careers in the 
Detroit music and radio scene in 
the early days of 
rock ’
n roll may 
have only been 
preserved in the 
memory of the 
man who lived 
it. Retired lawyer 
and journalist 
Carolyn Marie 
Rosenthal, who was on the 
receiving end of those great sto-
ries, would have none of that.
Her spry Jewish neighbor, 
93, just happened to be one of 
the pioneers of Detroit rock ’
n 
roll radio and a trailblazer who 
helped put Motown on the map 
— Seymour Altman. Who? If 
you’
re a Baby Boomer, prepare 
to have wonderful memories 
of your youth jogged because 
Seymour Altman was to a com-
ing-of-age Detroit audience 
better known as disc jockey and 
local TV’
s Swingin’
 Time host 
Robin Seymour, the name he 
still goes by.
In The DJ that Launched 
a 1,000 Hits — the Story of 
Robin Seymour (with Carolynn 
Rosenthal), you learn Robin 
wasn’
t just an eyewitness to the 

birth of Motown, he played a 
major role in its success. “On 
the air,” says Robin, “no one else 
in Detroit was playing so-called 
‘
black’
 music to white audiences 
except me.” 
Host Robin Seymour’
s 
T
een Town and Swingin’
 Time 
dance television shows, mod-
eled after American Bandstand 
and which originally aired on 
Channel 9 in Windsor, were 
one of the first stops for Berry 
Gordy to launch the careers 
and television debuts of Little 
Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, 
Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops, 
Martha and the Vandellas, 
The Temptations and Smokey 
Robinson.
Retired Detroit advertising 
executive Mike Seltzer, a self-pro-
claimed radio history fanatic and 
friend of Robin 
Seymour, 

volunteered his publishing exper-
tise to help Robin and Carolyn 
memorialize his fascinating life 
story in print.
Robin, who moved from 
Phoenix to San Antonio in 2016 
to be closer to his daughters 
Debby and Jenny in Texas, is 
preparing for 
a return 

visit to Michigan. Today, 
Thursday, Sept. 12, the Motown 
Museum will host Robin, who 
will be part of a meet-and-greet 
and book signing. He’
ll be hon-
ored and will reunite with many 
Detroit radio legends at a radio 
reunion on Saturday, Sept. 14, 
at Novi’
s Suburban Collection 
Showplace. Both events are open 
to the public.

JEWISH BACKGROUND
Robin is proud of his Jewish 
heritage, which he touches on 
in his book, and was more than 
happy to delve even further 
into his Detroit Jewish upbring-
ing during a phone interview 
arranged by Seltzer.
He was born Seymour Samuel 
Altman on March 9, 1926. He 
can’
t recall where his showbiz 

continued on page 24

Alan 
Muskovitz

Robin Seymour
today — and yesterday

PHOTOS COURTESY ROBIN SEYMOUR

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