Rob Nichols has been a music writer for more than 25 years, and worked on-air at multiple radio stations. He continues to write and record.
Born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, Rob shuffled to Charleston, Illinois for two years before spending his high school and college years in Hillsdale, Michigan. That meant traveling to Detroit for shows and explains his affinity for Bob Seger, the J. Geils Band (from Boston, a rabid fanbase in Detroit), and the rock of Mitch Ryder. Rob formed his own digital company in 2008, Rockforward Media, focusing on web design and web content, and added video projects, music videos, documentaries, and podcasts.
“I was influenced by writers like Jeffrey Lee Puckett (longtime music writer for the Louisville Courier-Journal), Mitch Albom (Detroit Free Press) and Mike Downey (Los Angeles Times). They wrote to find meaning and a perspective to reveal a better understanding of a story. That’s what I try to do, whether it is with music, this podcast, or what is happening in media. When I talk and write about music, I am drawn to the influences that helped make a sound, performance, and album happen.”
Rob’s writing was first honored at the age 17, earning a Michigan State Press Association for the Best Column Writing. He began as a radio DJ at age 18. He was on-air in Hillsdale by age 18, did mornings in Madison, Indiana right after graduation, and has worked in radio both full-time and then later, whenever anyone called and needed a good relief jock/substitute host, no matter the format. Eventually moving to Emmis Communications in the early 2000’s as Director of Digital Content, Rob produced live sports webcasts for IHSAASports.org and Indiana Sports Talk and initiated the first live concert video webcast for 97.1 HANK FM. He led an Indianapolis team that built a local, mobile, live-streaming production truck, one of the first in the country for a radio station, exclusively to execute webcasts, allowing for satellite and broadband live event video productions anywhere in the US. Rob’s team earned the Emmis Communications Team of the Year and Best Initiative and Innovation Award for their digital/web efforts in the Indianapolis Market.
Since, 2011, he has also worked as the Marketing, Communications, and Publications Director of Sycamore School, a private, independent Preschool – 8th grade school in Indianapolis.
