Johnnie Dark

From an early age, it was apparent that Robert "Bobbie" Ottinger would spend his adult life in radio. As a young boy he spent hours in his room building crystal sets and talking on his short wave. As a high school senior in Norristown, Pennsylvania, Bobbie ran his school's in house radio station. Bobbie graduated from Grantham School of Electronics in 1965 and went on to work at local stations in the Philadelphia area.

Primarily a behind the scenes engineer and program director, Bobbie worked at many Pennsylvania stations both large and small. (WNAR, WFIL, WIFI). In 1968, Bobbie moved to Florida and worked at stations in Daytona Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Lakeland, Sarasota and Tallahassee. Bobby came to the Tampa area in the early 70's and began some on-air stints at WGUL in New Port Richey going by the name of Bob Allyn, WQPD in Lakeland going by the name Long John Kay, and WCWR in Largo using the name Johnnie Dark. Wherever he worked on-air, Bobbie did well and was popular with the listening audience who enjoyed his friendly laid back style.

Personal problems took over Bobbie's life however and he quit radio, and distanced himself from family and friends. Bobbie passed away in 1991 at the age of 47.

* Click On Photos To View Enlarged Version