Bob Frantz
Encyclopedia
Bob Frantz is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 talk radio
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...

 host, TV personality, and sportswriter. He can currently be heard on WTAM
WTAM
WTAM — branded Newsradio WTAM 1100 — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. Owned by Clear Channel Communications, the station broadcasts primarily a news/talk format...

 AM 1100 in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

. As of September 10, 2011, he also hosts a weekly crime solving program on WKYC channel 3 (NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

) in Cleveland. He writes a weekly sports column that appears Thursdays in the Lake County News Herald, and Lorain Morning Journal, and a weekly column that runs Mondays in the San Francisco Examiner.

Early life

Frantz was born in Elyria, Ohio
Elyria, Ohio
-Community:Elyria has an extensive, although financially burdened, community food pantry and "Hot Meals" program administered through the Second Harvest Food Bank and several churches Elyria is served by Elyria Memorial Hospital.-Recreation and parks:...

 where he grew up and was a member of two state championship football teams at Elyria Catholic High School. He played college football at Heidelberg College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. He taught junior high school and high school English for six years before beginning his career in broadcasting.

Radio career

Frantz began his broadcasting career in 1996 at WOBL
WOBL
WOBL is an AM radio station licensed to Oberlin, Ohio and serving the western portion of the Cleveland, Ohio market, operating on 1320 kHz. WOBL features a classic country format, dubbed as "Gold Country 1320," along with an array of local newscasts and high school sports coverage.WOBL signed on in...

 Radio in Oberlin, Ohio
Oberlin, Ohio
Oberlin is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States, to the south and west of Cleveland. Oberlin is perhaps best known for being the home of Oberlin College, a liberal arts college and music conservatory with approximately 3,000 students...

 where he worked as a sideline reporter, color commentator
Color commentator
A color commentator is a sports commentator who assists the play-by-play announcer, often by filling in any time when play is not in progress. The color analyst and main commentator will often exchange comments freely throughout the broadcast, when the play-by-play announcer is not describing the...

 and play-by-play voice for the station’s high school football and basketball broadcasts. While at WOBL, he created a high school sports talk show that launched his career into talk radio.

He continued his broadcasting career at Newsradio WTAM 1100 when he was hired in 1998 as talk show host, anchor and reporter.

San Francisco and Orlando

In 2000, Bob was offered a job in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

, where he hosted the afternoon drive show on KTCT AM 1050. During his time at KTCT he was also the sideline reporter for the Oakland Raiders
Oakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 Radio Network. He served in these capacities for two years (and to this day his sports columns still appear in the San Francisco Examiner.

Bob then moved to Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...

 to do afternoon drive on ESPN Radio AM 1080 until 2003.

Return to Ohio

In 2003, Bob moved back to his native Ohio to become morning drive host for WSPD
WSPD
WSPD — branded The Talk of Toledo - 1370 WSPD — is a news-talk radio station licensed to Toledo, Ohio. WSPD broadcasts on a full-time basis with 5,000 watts, including a directional signal pattern at night...

 AM 1370 in Toledo. In 2005, Frantz was moved to early evenings with a show called Eye on Toledo.

In March 2006, Frantz returned to WTAM
WTAM
WTAM — branded Newsradio WTAM 1100 — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. Owned by Clear Channel Communications, the station broadcasts primarily a news/talk format...

 AM 1100 to host mid-mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. He was moved to the evening time slot, from 7 p.m. - 12 a.m., when WTAM returned Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck
Glenn Edward Lee Beck is an American conservative radio host, vlogger, author, entrepreneur, political commentator and former television host. He hosts the Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks...

 to its mid-morning lineup on November 3, 2008.

He also hosts pregame and/or postgame shows for the Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...

, Cleveland Cavaliers
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers are a professional basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They began playing in the National Basketball Association in 1970 as an expansion team...

, and Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 (WTAM serves as the flagship station for all three teams), as well as appearing on SportsTime Ohio
SportsTime Ohio
SportsTime Ohio is a regional sports network in Cleveland and northern Ohio, launched in 2006. It was created to air Cleveland Indians games, and is owned by the family which owns the team. It is also the cable television home of the Cleveland Browns...

 as an occasional guest host for Bruce Drennan
Bruce Drennan
Bruce Drennan is an American sportscaster in Cleveland, Ohio. He has been a radio and television sportscaster for 39 years....

 on All Bets Are Off.

Frantz' radio show covers a wide variety of topics, as he shares his views on politics, sports, local issues, and current events. His opinions tend to lean on the conservative side, although Frantz claims he has no qualms about criticizing Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 leaders or ideas.

Joining Frantz for the nighttime show are producer/sidekick Brian "Motts" Motsay, traffic reporter/contributor Steve Douglas, and news anchor Tom Moore.

Frantz Bits

Bob has gathered many different language translations of his favorite soundbite ("Can you dig it?") from the movie The Warriors
The Warriors
The Warriors is a 1979 American cult action/thriller film directed by Walter Hill and based on Sol Yurick's 1965 novel of the same name. Like the novel, the film borrows elements from the Anabasis by Xenophon.-Plot:...

, and plays them when a caller makes what he thinks is an excellent comment.

He also frequently uses a soundbite of Ric Flair
Ric Flair
Richard Morgan Fliehr is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ric Flair. Also known as "The Nature Boy", Flair is one of the most well-known professional wrestlers in the world....

's "WHOOO!" exclamation when a caller makes a point he wholeheartedly agrees with. Another frequently played soundbite is The Rock's "It doesn't matter what your name is!".

Towards the last hour of his show (unless it's abbreviated due to sports coverage or breaking news) he plays "Stump the Panel" where people call in and ask Bob and others working with him trivia questions, usually about Cleveland sports, television shows, or movies. If callers ask Frantz "How are you?", he will consider that as the question, say he is outstanding (with soundbites of others saying that word), credit himself with a correct answer, and move on to the next caller.

TV career

On December 2, 2009, Frantz announced that he would be the host of a new weekly local crime-solving television show entitled Warrant Unit, which was seen on WOIO
WOIO
WOIO, virtual channel 19 , is the CBS affiliate in Cleveland, Ohio. It is licensed to the nearby suburb of Shaker Heights. WOIO is owned by Raycom Media and its sister station to MyNetworkTV affiliate WUAB . The two stations share a studio facility in Cleveland and WOIO's transmitter is located in...

 CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 19
and WUAB
WUAB
WUAB, identified on-air as "My43 The Block, WUAB", is the MyNetworkTV affiliate in Cleveland, Ohio. The station is licensed to the suburb of Lorain, and it shares a studio in downtown Cleveland with sister station WOIO, Cleveland's CBS affiliate. Its transmitter is located in Parma, Ohio...

 MY 43.

Warrant Unit was described as a local, Northeast Ohio version of America's Most Wanted
America's Most Wanted
America's Most Wanted is an American television program produced by 20th Television, and was the longest-running program of any kind in the history of the Fox Television Network until it was announced on May 16, 2011 that the series was canceled after twenty-three years, with the final episode...

, in which citizens were urged to watch re-enactments of crimes committed in Greater Cleveland, as well as "wanted" posters of fugitives, and then call with anonymous tips to law enforcement offices in exchange for cash rewards.

In less than 2 full seasons on the air, Warrant Unit has won 3 local Emmy Awards, solved 3 "cold case" murders, and been responsible for the apprehension of nearly 400 wanted fugitives.

In June of 2011, the show parted ways with WOIO/WUAB due to unresolved legal issues.

In July of 2011, Frantz announced that Warrant Unit was moving to its new television home on WKYC in a new prime-time slot. The show, renamed Crime Stoppers: Case Files airs Saturdays at 7 p.m., having premiered on September 10, 2011.

Personal life

He and his wife Jean have two children, Jaiden (born 2001) and Jaret (born 2003).
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