Remembering Bob MaCabre

Bob Austin as Bob MaCabre, from his personal collection.

Bittersweet moment today; I was a guest on one of my favorite podcasts, the locally produced Nine Panel Nerds podcast, which was great fun. At the end of the show, host and friend of the blog, David Krause announced that his friend Bob Austin died. As Bob MaCabre, Mr. Austin served as horror host on Springfield's ABC affiliate in the 70's. Mr. Austin was featured in a phenomenal episode of the podcast, where Dave spoke with him about his long and busy life: from playing dj to the troops, meeting and performing with Bob Hope and Lana Turner, managing a series of movie theaters throughout New England, and eventually hosting old horror films on Springfield's ABC affiliate, channel 40. He's a great story teller and has some great stories.

This is a must for horror fans, movie theater fans, and just any local that remembers when local television stations actually produced their own programming: Springfield's only horror host, Bob MaCabre. Mr. MaCabre was played by Springfield, MA local, Bob Austin, Highly recommend it.

From Dave's description:

Another special episode and this time it's a very personal show as we talk with Springfield Massachusetts only original horror host Bob MaCabre! Bob MaCabre was played by Bob Austin a very sweet man who has lived a very interesting life as you are about to hear. Bob has preformed with Bob Hope, auditioned for the role to play Barnabas Collins brothers on Dark Shadows, managed movie theaters and of course been the horror host he played back in the 80's. Bob talks about all this and more. Joining us is the voice of NPN Jim Kaye, who does the opening for the show. It's a long show but it's worth ever word. So join us and I hope you enjoy it!