Former KNCI DJ Passes
“Captain” Bob Greiner held down our afternoon slot for years in the 1990s/early 2000s
By kncitom on June 4, 2020
Many lives in radio are nomadic, so it’s not unusual when someone leaves a station, you lose touch with them. Such was the case with “Captain” Bob Greiner. Captain Bob was our afternoon guy here at KNCI for years. Gifted with a huge, gruff voice (you may recall we used to love to impersonate it) and an even bigger personality and heart, Bob was a joy to work with- a pro on the air, and off..? A little quirky in the best way possible (true story: he interviewed for the afternoon job barefoot). Bob could be very outspoken, and was quick to cut through BS, as he did in one of our favorite memories of him. It was the mid-90s, and our company had brought in a motivational speaker for the entire staff. For 3 days. If you’ve ever attended one of these seminars, you know that 1 day is probably quite enough. Each day over 50 of us (it wasn’t just air staff, it was sales, management, engineering, promotions…everybody) attended her seminar at the Double Tree Inn, and participated in all the exercises that were *designed* to bring us closer together as a team.
Near the end of the 3rd day, we were all a bit worn out, and the topic was brought up for what seemed like the umpteenth time about what could we do to better our stations as a product. And it was at that point Bob spoke up, in his booming voice, for the entire staff when he said (and I’m paraphrasing here): “I don’t know what we’re all still doing here….all I wanna do is get back on the air and kick. some. ass!” It was a perfect comment at a perfect moment, and the whole room- except the motivational speaker, as I recall- erupted in laughter. And then there was the time we attended a Giants game: it was a treat for the air staff from our Program Director-who also bought the beers! Well, half way through the game, we looked over at Bob, who’d been quiet for awhile. He had already enjoyed a few and without us knowing had fallen sound asleep, sitting up, with a brand new, full beer in his hand, resting on his lap. And he never spilled a drop.
But when Bob left the station in the mid 2000s, that was it. We lost touch. We weren’t close friends off the air… he had his life, we had ours, but we always liked and respected him. I know he did radio for a time in Vacaville. And then he moved to San Diego to be closer to his family.
And so we were saddened to learn recently that Bob passed away in 2018. A former colleague had only found out himself recently, and reached out to tell us.
We know Bob had a lot of fans and friends here in Sacramento, both through his time at then-KRAK and KNCI- and just from the life he lived here, and we’re not sure who knew of his passing and who didn’t. So we wanted to at least share what we learned. If you remember Bob, or knew him, you can view a touching video put together by his family and even leave a comment in a digital memorial, which you can access here
RIP, Captain.
