{{Short description|Jazz historian & host of well-known jazz program}}
'''Rob Bamberger''' is a jazz historian and collector best known for his long-running program Hot Jazz Saturday Night, which has run for more than 40 years on WAMU Radio, 88.5, a public broadcasting radio station in the Washington, D.C. area.
Bamberger grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and experienced an epiphany in 1963 after picking up for ten cents a two-record set of Tommy Dorsey broadcast performances at a book fair at his elementary school.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Moran |first1=James |title=Hot Jazz Saturday Night |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRECB-2005-pt17/html/CRECB-2005-pt17-Pg23426-3.htm |website=Congressional Record |publisher=Government Printing Office |access-date=10 October 2023}}</ref> While working as an energy policy analyst at the Congressional Research Service, he began volunteering at WAMU and, in 1980, created his own jazz show, Hot Jazz Saturday night.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Booth |first1=Glenda C. |title=Jazz Heats Up Saturday Nights |url=https://www.thebeaconnewspapers.com/jazz-heats-up-saturday-nights/ |access-date=10 October 2023 |work=The Beacon |publisher=The Beacon Newspapers |date=May 2, 2022}}</ref> On the program, he plays selections from the large jazz collection that fills the entire basement of his Arlington Virginia home,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Beaujon |first1=Andrew |title="Hot Jazz Saturday Night" Is Back—and Rob Bamberger's Beard Is Gone |url=https://washingtonian.com/2021/02/24/hot-jazz-saturday-night-is-back-and-rob-bambergers-beard-is-gone/ |access-date=10 October 2023 |work=Washingtonian Magazine |publisher=Washington Media, Inc. |date=February 24, 2021}}</ref> and discusses both the musicians and the music for the benefit of his listeners.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hendrickson |first1=Paul |title=A Cool Night for Hot Jazz |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1996/05/11/a-cool-night-for-hot-jazz/31e06109-f276-48ff-9383-54a900cd93fc/ |access-date=10 October 2023 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=May 11, 1996}}</ref>
Bamberger continues the show as a part-time employee of the radio station (with a short break after WAMU decided to jettison all programing besides news and talk, described in Hot Jazz Saturday Night). During that interregnum, he produced a similar program for WOWD in Takoma Park.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Hot Jazz Friday Afternoon with Rob Bamberger |url=https://soundcloud.com/takoma-radio/a-hot-jazz-friday-afternoon-with-rob-bamberger |website=SoundCloud |publisher=WOWD / Takoma Radio 94.3FM |access-date=10 October 2023}}</ref> He lectures on jazz at the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian and other venues,<ref>{{cite web |title=Rob Bamberger |url=https://wamu.org/person/rob-bamberger/ |website=WAMU |access-date=10 October 2023}}</ref> and has written the liner notes for dozens of jazz albums.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Kingsley |title=Hot Jazz Boils Over With Rob Bamberger |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/nprberlinblog/2009/06/hot_jazz_boils_over_with_rob_b.html |access-date=10 October 2023 |publisher=NPR |date=June 23, 2009}}</ref> He also was the lead author of a Congressionally-mandated study of the deterioration of the archive of recorded music, with particular reference to pre-1972 recordings.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bamberger |first1=Rob |title=The State of Recorded Sound Preservation in the United States: A National Legacy at Risk in the Digital Age. |date=January 2010 |publisher=Council on Library and Information Resources |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234708514 |access-date=10 October 2023}}</ref>
After Bamberger retired from the Congressional Research Service in 2010, he studied for a Masters in Social Work to pursue a second career in senior care. He currently works at Iona Senior Services where he facilitates support groups for the children, spouses and partners of individuals with dementia and similar chronic conditions,<ref>{{cite web |title=Ron Bamberger |url=https://theorg.com/org/iona-senior-services/org-chart/rob-bamberger |website=The Org |access-date=10 October 2023}}</ref> and serves on the Steering Committee and faculty of the Aging Program of the New Washington School of Psychiatry.<ref>{{cite web |title=Study of Aging |url=https://wspdc.org/aging |publisher=Washington School of Psychiatry |access-date=10 October 2023}}</ref>
== References ==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bamberger, Rob}} Category:Living people Category:Jazz people Category:People from Shaker Heights, Ohio Category:Historians of jazz Category:American radio hosts Category:American radio producers Category:Year of birth missing (living people)