Published: April 09, 2006 09:33 pm      

Denver’s caring legacy lives on over airwaves

BLUEFIELD — The legacy of Mercer County’s internationally famous adopted son, Bob Denver, is living on through Little Buddy Radio.

Denver, who died Sept. 2, 2005 at the age of 70, was known worldwide for his 1960s television roles of Gilligan on “Gilligan’s Island” and Maynard G. Krebs on “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.”

He and wife, Dreama, who grew up in Bluefield, moved to Mercer County in June of 1991.

“Bob loved this area,” Dreama said, reminiscing on her husband’s appreciation of West Virginia. “He just thought the people were the best people in the world.”

Dreama said Bob had a desire to do “something positive for the area.” With their own autistic son as inspiration, he established the Denver Foundation to help those who are disadvantaged.

“I’m kind of the keeper of his flame,” she said.

The foundation was set up in the early 1990s, not long after the Denvers moved to the area.

“He set up the foundation and was trying to find a way to generate income for it,” Dreama said. “His first idea was a Bob Denver Putt-Putt in the area, with all the proceeds going for the Denver Foundation. That was a very complicated thing to get going — trying to raise money to get it built.”

Six years ago, the couple was alerted to a new opportunity. At that time, the FCC opened a window for “regular people” to own low-power FM radio stations for non-profit purposes, Dreama said.

The couple applied for a license and, four years later, “The Denver Foundation became active and Little Buddy Radio was born,” she said.

The purpose of the foundation is to assist the handicapped and disadvantaged, Dreama said. “We have a personal interest in the handicapped because we have a handicapped son. It’s something near and dear to our hearts and conscience.”

Dreama has run the station from the beginning. “Back in the day when a lot of this music was popular, Bob did four (television) series. He was in the city ... he really missed all the music.”

With an ambitious playlist of 2,300 songs, Dreama strives to provide a wide variety of music to entertain listeners.

“I have searched out each and every song on the playlist,” she said.

“It’s been a wonderful thing for me to be able to do it. It’s very meticulous work. It’s been a wonderful distraction.”

Dreama’s voice resonates with love and pride when speaking of her husband of 28 years. “The fact of the matter is he was of the finest, if not the finest, human beings.”

He was good to his fans, when many celebrities don’t want to be bothered, she recalled. “He always carried pictures with him to hand out autographs and pictures. He had a lot of respect for his fans. He was just a good person. He was amazing. I was very proud to bring him here.”

Bob was born in New Rochelle, N.Y., and grew up in Texas. But, Dreama said, he was a “wonderful ambassador for West Virginia,” who always spoke of the Mountain State’s beauty and great people when doing talk shows.

“I think this is the place Bob lived the longest in his entire life,” she said. “I know this house is the one he lived in the longest in his entire life.”

Dreama and Bob met in Florida when the two were cast in the Woody Allen show, “Play It Again, Sam.”

Dreama remembered how her name was misspelled on the marquee, and Bob walked into the theater questioning it. “He said, ‘What in the world is a Dreamer?’ We shook hands and it was instant. There was something there from the very, very beginning.”

Describing their relationship, Dreama said “soulmate” is a “real, valid term.”

“We were destined to find each other,” she said.

In the mid-1990s, Bob bought a full-page ad in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph at Christmas expressing his love to Dreama.

“That was the most romantic thing. It blew me away.” But, she recalled, it was in Bob’s character “to proclaim to everybody he loves me.”

In the months since Bob’s death, Dreama said she is fortunate to live in such a caring community.

She is now focusing much of her energy on Little Buddy Radio to ensure her husband’s dreams will carry on.

Dreama said the couple’s foray into radio began in 1997 when they did a radio show “Weekend with Denver & Denver.”

The show featured Bob sharing stories about “Gilligan’s Island,” and segments with two of the series’ other stars, she said. “We had a segment ‘Ask Russell Johnson (the professor)’ and ‘Hurray for Hollywood’ with Dawn Wells (Mary Ann).”

Dreama now owns all existing copies of the program and will be airing them in the future. “It was a really fun show,” she said. “We had fun doing it.”

As a tribute to Bob’s favorite music, a new weekly show, “Jump, Jive and Jazz,” will debut soon. “It’s going to be on Monday nights from 8 to 10 p.m.”

She is also working on plans for a “funky disco” program for Friday nights.

With the Denver Foundation owning and operating Little Buddy Radio, Dreama’s goal is to continue to make the station a success.

“When it came to a personal legacy, this was the last really public charitable thing that Bob did, and he left it to this area. It’s important to me to keep it going to make it successful the way he wanted it to be, and to carry out the dreams of the foundation.”

Little Buddy Radio can be heard on FM 93.1.

— Contact Samantha Perry at sperry@bdtonline.com