Even on his 90th birthday, Bob Massey remained dedicated to his craft.

The radio announcer worked a few hours on Monday morning playing music in his regular time slot at KSQM 91.5 FM despite a busy day ahead. The Sequim station opened its doors for a few hours to a large crowd on March 9 to celebrate Massey, who was one of the first announcers heard on-air for KSQM on Dec. 7, 2008.

Despite the upcoming party and 11 family members waiting to go to lunch with their dad, grandfather and great-grandfather, Massey wanted to thank his listeners from around the globe from Sequim to Alaska to Germany.

KSQM program director Jeff Bankston said Massey, who continues “The Classy Bob Massey” show 9 a.m.-noon weekdays, has been at the station five days a week as a volunteer lending his voice.

“This is what keeps us all young here; the inspiration that Bob gives us,” he said.

KSQM’s news director Ed Evans confirms that Massey is believed to be the oldest active radio broadcaster in the U.S.

“What an honor,” Massey said of the achievement.

Massey has been broadcasting for most of his life starting in his parents’ Tennessee basement with a transmitter. He fell in love with music from his mother’s piano playing at home and at the cinema for silent movies.

In his career, he’s played some of the best artists in the world like Doris Day and Frank Sinatra and interviewed some of the greats like Burl Ives and Vaughn Monroe, one of his favorites.

To honor his achievements, volunteers at KSQM gathered honors such as a resolution from the Washington Senate sponsored by Jim Hargrove, a flag that was flown over the state capitol from the Secretary of State’s office and Sequim Mayor Candace Pratt honored him as well.

On-air everywhere

Massey’s voice spanned the U.S. before coming to Sequim. He started in the U.S. Armed Forces Radio Network while with the U.S. Army in 1945, broadcasting entertainment to soldiers in Germany.

He moved to Palm Beach, Fla., after World War II and went on to work for a handful of stations in Southern Florida before applying to an ad in Anchorage, Alaska, in 1963.

He recalls the Good Friday 9.2 magnitude earthquake from March 27, 1964, distinctly where he was working from the KHAR radio station where racks of items fell inside and the station’s tower swayed. He checked on his family but to maintain “normalcy” for locals, he continued to broadcast.

Six years later, Massey became a Washingtonian where he worked for Yakima’s KIT Radio and later finished his career at KBRD in Tacoma.

Massey and his wife, Margaret, retired to Sequim in 1992 and she died in 2006.

He read about the new Sequim radio opportunity for on-air talent in the newspaper and by chance met KSQM founder Rick Perry in the doctor’s office, Massey said.

He’s been a morning staple for local and international listeners ever since.

The new process of radio with computers and the Internet was all new to Massey, he said, but he learned.

“What a change from the early days of 45s and LPs,” he said.

But looking ahead, he’s not sure what the future holds for radio as a whole.

“So many stations have gone talk,” he said. “There is a place in the world for a station like ours. It fills a niche. It’s great to have a station like this in Sequim.”

KSQM 91.5 FM, 577 W. Washington St., can be reached at 681-0000 and streamed online at ksqmfm.com.