Bob Romanik, “The Grim Reaper of Radio,” is a man after my own heart. He’s a rich radio vigilante who lives to rail against, what he describes as the “culture of corruption” in local politics, especially on the “IL side” of the Mississippi River.
And when you tune into KQQZ 1190 AM from 10-11 a.m. on Monday through Friday, you’re going to cringe, laugh, nod in appreciation or perhaps even retch in disgust. But at the end of the day, you will be informed, entertained and enlightened.
From his intro tune of “Bad to the Bone” by George Thorogood, to the announcer’s declaration that he is “The craziest SOB” on the airwaves, you get the distinct feeling that this isn’t your daddy’s variety of radio.
That’s why people listen. It’s because The Grim Reaper is an equal opportunity offender. Whether he’s talking about “plantation negro” leadership in East St. Louis or the so-called white elite “bottom feeders,” as he likes to refer to St. Clair County bigwigs, Romanik takes no prisoners.
He’s an ex-East St. Louis and Washington Park cop who often refers to himself as “poor white trash” from the Roosevelt Homes housing projects of ESL and makes no apologies for refusing to snitch on his friends – which, in part, led to his serving a 20-month sentence in the U.S penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas.
Since that time, the former strip club mogul’s new toy is his radio empire. He owns a number of stations that focus on everything from golden oldies to country, sports and talk.
But nothing seems to make his day more than lampooning and humiliating local politicians, with nicknames like state Sen. James “Foghorn” Clayborne, “God” Sprague and Judge John “Red on the noodle like a pecker on a poodle” Baricevic.
Lately, though, Romanik has gained the attention of local media with his billboards in the Belleville community, which comically lambast St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern.
His current billboard pictures Kern in a bikini with the caption “Mark ‘Sweetcakes’ Kern should have been a stripper. He’s already stripped us of our tax dollars!”
A previous Romanik billboard captured Kern alongside a clown and boldly asked: “Bozo and Mark ‘Sweetcakes’ Kern; who is the biggest clown in town?”
Yet another billboard during the Christmas season pictured Kern alongside an image of a Sasquatch (described as Kern’s wife, Erin) and declared, “We really don’t care if you have a happy holiday, because we’re rich idiots. We are really bottom feeders.”
His good friend and former ESL mayor Carl E. Officer, describes Romanik as “immensely loyal” to his friends and to causes he holds dear. Who would serve a federal prison sentence for a friend? Who quietly donates money to food pantries, drives around with dog food in the trunk for stray dogs or assists the destitute without fanfare?
I’m just glad that we happen to be on the on the same team when it comes to many of the same political issues. I’d hate to be on one of his billboards.
Email: jtingram_1960@yahoo.com; Twitter@JamesTIngram.
