MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- Walking into the American Forces Network studio on station that morning, I half-expected to meet a washed-up, old man trapped in his former glory days as a disc jockey looking like the epitome of a 60s car salesman complete with tight leisure suit, under-sized peace sign T-shirt and gold chain.
Instead, I met a former Marine truly driven by his passion and love of music. And no, he wasn’t decked out in polyester, though he probably could have pulled it off.
To sum up Bob Bullion, more commonly known these days as DJ Bob, driven, yet relaxed.
He was gracious for the interest and welcoming. His relaxation was so palpable I felt too tense, but how could he not be relaxed; he was in his element, his mental home doing what he was born to do, entertaining with tunes.
“I always wanted to be a DJ,” said Bullion. “When I was young I would make a microphone out of Tinkertoys.”
When Bullion was seven, his grandmother gave him a transistor radio to play with.
Bullion’s grandmother played a defining role in his upbringing and contrasted sharply with the other molder of his childhood, his father.
“My father was very strict ... so when I got to bootcamp, the drill instructors were nothing because my father was much worse,” said Bullion.
Bullion’s father grew up on the streets with six older brothers all travelling across the country and most of whom went off to World War II.
Following suit, Bullion’s father joined the Navy when he was old enough.
Ironically, though, he did not speak of his father angrily or with much emotion at all for that matter.
Bullion’s tone was simply calm and understanding as he explained why his father had been tough on him as a child.
He remembered his father’s go-to phrase as simply, “Be strong.”
While these words stuck with Bullion, they were not the words he chose to live by.
Naturally, Bullion’s grandmother ended up on the much more maternal aspect of his upbringing.
Bullion recalled frequent visits to her home where two enormous tables were stacked with food. This was apparently his grandmother’s only sticking point.
“You had to have something to eat,” Bullion said emphatically.
“If you didn’t eat, she got mad,” he added with just the tiniest hint of repressed fear.
Beyond the requirement of food consumption, Bullion spoke very fondly of his grandmother as the understanding, explanatory guardian opposite the rigid disciplinarian his father was.
Besides her nourishment of sustenance, she also provided the words Bullion would come to identify as an almost personal mission statement.
“If you want something bad enough, the world is at your mercy, but you have to really want it,” said Bullion.
In his youth, Bullion had grown enamored with the radio and even joined a rock band in high school.
For the time-being though, Bullion’s dreams had to be put on hold for the changing world.
In 1969, he joined the Marine Corps.
“If I didn’t join, I would have been drafted,” he said.
Proving you’re never too old to be a “boot,” he recounted the tale of the day his draft paperwork arrived at the recruit depot.
The drill instructors would ritualistically summon all the recruits to the quarterdeck and have the now draftee stand before his fellow recruits for his draft letter to be read and to be told, “Now your (butt) is really mine.”
The same year, Bullion was shipped off heading for Vietnam; however, the war was drawing-down and he ended up in Iwakuni for the first time.
At the time, he was in aviation supply and because he was promoted to staff sergeant in five years, Bullion was never able to make a lateral move into the field he truly desired.
Even before the latter state of affairs arose, Bullion volunteered to do anything he could, as much as possible at the then Allied Forces Network.
He described lengthy night sessions of taping film together because the film would snap in machines.
Everything in radio had to timed down to the second.
In the end, his dedication to his true passion paid off and he performed his first live radio show April 1976.
Just as music has evolved, so too has Bullion’s DJ call sign. Originally, he began as Disco Bob, later moving to Mr. B and then took on his present name, DJ Bob.
“The word consistent wraps him,” said Gunnery Sgt. Troy M. Ruby, affiliate superintendent for AFN here. “He does a good, solid radio show.”
DJ Bob has been gracing the Iwakuni airwaves consistently since 1990 when he retired from the Marine Corps and settled down in Japan.
Bullion’s recipe for success is simple, play what people want to hear.
“I try to play as much continuous music as possible and not interrupt with announcements,” he said. “One thing I’ve always been famous for is playing requests. A lot of DJs will take them, but they won’t play them.”
Bullion’s commitment is not missed by the stewards of AFN.
“He’s somebody who comes on and knows when to stop talking,” said Ruby.
OK, so he has one more criteria he sometimes invokes to keep his shows fresh — the DJ Bob test.
“If it sounds good to me then I’ll play it and usually, if it’s good to me, it’s a hit,” said Bullion.
He did clarify that he nearly never turns down requests unless the requested song has already played multiple times.
The most telling example is a story Bullion said about a job he had at a Compton, Calif., high school in the 80s.
The principle asked Bullion what he planned to play for the school’s prom.
“I’ll play whatever the hell they want,” he said.
DJ Bob was asked back the following year to the same high school.
This commitment to the audience supersedes even his own tastes.
“Some of these songs, I don’t even know how they become popular,” he said.
To date, Bullion has hosted more than 1,000 live shows and announced for numerous Japanese beauty contests.
“I’ve done a lot of things most people couldn’t dream of,” he said.
His most memorable moment was being able to introduce James Brown.
DJ Bob currently hosts two shows on AFN’s radio station Power 1575. Catch him 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. every Wednesday for his Golden Memories show. Or if oldies aren’t your bag, catch his Urban Assault show 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. every Thursday.