"Emperor" Bob Hudson (born Robert Howard Holmes on October 7, 1929, in
Erie, Pennsylvania) started in radio while serving in the
United States Air Force in
Anchorage, Alaska. He began his civilian career in radio during the mid-fifties first in Erie, Pennsylvania;
Cleveland, Ohio;
Indianapolis, Indiana; and
San Francisco before arriving in the Los Angeles area. He was consistently ranked among the top 10 DJs in
Southern California from 1963 until his retirement in 1988. Hudson worked at a variety of LA radio stations, including KRLA, KFWB, KBLA, KEZY, KFI and KGBS, initially coming to prominence when he replaced
Bob Eubanks as morning DJ on KRLA in the spring of 1963. In 1966,
Billboard ranked Hudson #1 in his morning drive time slot. He is remembered for his closing sign-off slogan recording: "Get off the freeways, peasants, His Highness is coming!" He was the rotund member of the pair. His voice personalizations frequently have the sound of an inebriated individual and generally he delivered the punch line. The same year, he released a parody of Napoleon XIV's novelty hit "
They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!!", titled "I'm Normal", credited as
The Emperor. The record charted nationally, peaking at #146 in the Record World survey. Hudson was featured in
The Emperor, a short film made by
George Lucas in 1967 when Lucas was a student at
USC film school. The film features Hudson during his time as an L.A. disc jockey. After Hudson & Landry split up, Hudson continued working in radio, including a stint at WMEX, later WITS, in Boston, until his
retirement. He recorded one comedy album with
Bobby "Boris" Pickett (of "
Monster Mash" fame),
The Hollyweird Squares (Dore, 1976), and later teamed with disc jockey Dave (Hull) Judson for ''Who's on First?'' (Cream, 1978). Between 1976 and 1978 (no specific date was given), Hudson attempted to record material for his stint as guest host of
Casey Kasem's
American Top 40 one week. Hudson had trouble recording his material, giving up after realizing that he could not host AT40 the same way he would host his morning drive show. As a result, Kasem cancelled his vacation and returned to Los Angeles to record that week's AT40. Knowing Hudson's notoriety as a legendary disk jockey and comedian, Kasem ensured that Hudson was paid for his work. Hudson died on September 20, 1997, aged 67, and was survived by his former wife, Joanne Holmes; children Tom, Colleen, Mike, and Jay; and grandchildren Jenette, Bethany, Elizabeth, Kathleen, Chris, Pat, Rachael, Emily, and John. The popular Hudson & Landry sketch "Frontier Christmas" features a character named "Harlo," named for his former wife Joanne's father, Harlon Rarick. ==Landry==