Pierre Robert

William Pierre Robert (born August 1, 1955) is a radio disc jockey is a highly popular on-air personality for 93.3FM WMMR in Philadelphia, one of the nation's most prominent rock music stations.

Pierre Robert (pronounced "row-BEAR") was born August 1, 1955, in Truckee, California.

Robert began his radio career at 94.9 KSAN-FM in San Francisco, one of the country's first progressive rock stations.

Not long after, Robert drove a friend to school in Philadelphia in his 1970 Volkswagen van, nicknamed Minerva, which then had bald tires.

He sent 93.3 WMMR a demo tape but was initially turned down for a position with the station, and took a job at Essene, a health food store and vegetarian restaurant.

He later had a reading by a palm reader on South Street, who told him, "you're gonna get a letter very soon".

He returned to find a letter from Joe Bonadonna, then WMMR's station manager, indicating there was an opening.

When KSAN changed its format to an Urban Country and Western format in the early 1980s, Robert assumed the on-air name "Will Robertson" for a brief period of time because he was opposed to the new format.

In the 1980s, Reginald the Butler joined Pierre in kicking off his work force blocks by ringing his lunchtime bell.

Robert also features the "Vinyl Cut", where he plays a track from one of the many vinyl records in the WMMR archive.

He is also known to play all 18 minutes and 20 seconds of Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant" multiple times during his annual Thanksgiving broadcast.

Robert has admitted that he does not follow Philadelphia sports, which is unusually in the sports-obsessed city.

He typically refers to all Philadelphia sports teams as "The Boys in Blue" regardless of the actual team colors.

As a running joke, he is known to say the phrase "Sports Up!", mostly during his overlap towards the end of the Preston and Steve show in the morning.

In January 2024, Robert signed a multi-year contract extension with WMMR.

He has been with WMMR since 1981.

Robert is WMMR's most identifiable personality, and is sometimes described as a hippie by locals.

Robert is known for addressing his listeners as "citizens," and saying "Great day in the morning!"

Robert holds significant stature in the American rock music industry, where he is held in high esteem by many rock musicians and groups, many of whom have granted Robert rare interviews and appeared in person on his program.

Robert joined WMMR in 1981.

Robert has held several positions at WMMR, including broadcasting during morning, overnight, and midday shifts.

His current time slot is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., though his program frequently runs longer, an anomaly he describes as "Pierre Standard Time."

Features of his show include the "Coffee Break Music Marathon", "Pierre's Planner", and the Work Force Blocks, during which he plays three to four song blocks of a particular artist based on listener requests.