His voice could shake a room; Robb Mahr was known to many on the auto circuit as "The Voice of God."
By David Smith, Special to TheDetroitBureau.com
When he was covering news for Detroit’s WWJ Radio in the 1970s and ‘80s, there was a button in the control panel marked “VOG.”
That was the button they pushed to contact Robb Mahr, “The Voice of God.” Mr. Mahr, of Keego Harbor, who died on Wednesday (Oct.17) after a year-long bout with cancer. He would have turned 76 on Nov.4.
While the laid-back journalist made no claim to sounding like God, his booming, deep base voice – even in normal conversation – was a natural for radio, his first love, and for television.
Born in Colorado Springs, CO, Mahr attended the University of Denver and the University of Nebraska. He was an on-air reporter early in his career on radio stations in Monterey and San Jose, CA, and continued in broadcasting until his death.
Mahr wound up in Detroit by coincidence. During 1971 while serving as news director of KSTP, a news and talk station in Minneapolis, he returned after a short vacation to discover that his office was cleared of his belongings and occupied by a young man he’d never met.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. “This is my office.” “Not anymore,” the young guy deadpanned. Mahr never learned why he was fired, but he was hired in 1973 by WWJ, where he spent the next 20 years and soon emerged as the station’s go-to automotive reporter on shows such as Auto Forum and Auto Focus.
After leaving WWJ Mahr linked up with ASTN, a Dallas closed-circuit TV network aimed at car dealers and auto plants, and subsequently joined Ford Motor Co.’s internal FSN TV network as a contract employee.
During the last eight years he worked as an independent auto news reporter. His last major job was covering the North American International Auto Show last January in Detroit, despite his illness.
Bob Stevens, a retired Channel 4 cameraman and close friend and associate since both worked at WWJ, recalled that with his authoritative voice Mahr often asked the first question at news conferences. “He was a good, honest journalist,” said Stevens, “and one of the most competent reporters I’ve ever known – and I’ve known a lot. He knew his subjects and there wasn’t a trace of ego. He also never had to do re-takes.”
Bob Giles, retired director of news operations at WXYZ-TV and also a friend for more than 30 years, simply said, “I’ve lost a brother.” Giles recalled a story that featured Mahr and journalist Steve Purdy, both outsize men, test driving, alongside each other, a tiny Mercedes Smart urban car. “The SMART PR guy says, ‘Well, that’s good, because if it can fit Mahr and Purdy it’ll fit anybody.”
Mahr was a member of the Automotive Press Association, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and the local Independent Communications Network.
An avid golfer — he owned a collection of rare hickory shaft clubs — boater and world traveler, Mahr spent the last 30 years with his “lady,” Patricia Nehls, an interior designer. Both were previously divorced. “We’d also been engaged for 12 years,” said Nehls, stifling a laugh.
Mahr is survived by daughters Theresa Morreale and Justine Dunavant of California and Roberta Parker of Virginia. He also considered Nehls’ children as his own: Paul Nehls of Walled Lake and Kimberlee Hanes of Holt.
Mahr requested in his trust that his funeral service be “short and humorous.” He was cremated and will be honored at a memorial service on Nov.3 at 11 a.m. at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, 1800 West Maple Rd., Birmingham, where his “VOG” was heard for many years in the church’s choir.