Bob Lang once said, “Tim St. Martin and I had an inherent ability to absolutely amuse ourselves!” They had the best time when they collaborated on various KTRB radio commercials, especially when they were interacting as characters other than themselves.
In the early-to-mid ‘70s, St. Martin and Lang, who worked together during the morning hours, portrayed Dino and Jerry, Rowen and Martin, Little Caesar and one of his thugs, a couple of dogs named Prince and Spotty, a couple of Germans named “Hans und Feetz,” a couple of Thanksgiving turkeys—you get the idea.
Bob and Tim, a compilation of their commercials from KTRB:
Most notably, Tim and Bob were Farley and Eugene, a couple of old sodbuster cowboys in a series of spots for Fargo Distributing. Fargo took out a newspaper print ad with pseudo wanted posters of The Fargo Boys. They were Fargo employees like Bronco Bruce, Dangerous Del, and Pop Farrell who were “shooting down prices” on Cooper Tires and other auto accessories. Fargo was interested in a similar radio campaign, one based on their newspaper ad, and Tim and Bob were assigned to create something. The result were their characters, Farley and Eugene, who wanted to cash in on the reward, but they didn’t know what tires were!
Tim came up with an idea for Farley and Eugene to be riding their horses. They used plastic coffee cup inserts on the studio counter to make the sound of the horses’ hooves as they galloped up to the mic. They didn’t use scripts and if one of them blew a line, rather than starting over, they’d each gallop away across the counter first, then gallop back! All they while saying, “whoa, boy—whoa, boy.”
The Fargo Boys, Eugene (Bob Lang) and Farley (Tim St. Martin):
Most of the story lines were Tim’s—he came up with the scenarios for most of the commercials and the two would ad lib their way through. If one of them came up with a good line, they’d record another take, but usually they’d have to try again because one of them cracked up.
Bob Lang introduces the KTRB Midday News with Tim St. Martin:
The Modesto Radio Museum has more Bob and Tim:
Listen to Bob Lang – Aircheck
Read Bob Lang Remembers
Read KFIV, KTRB, SUNNY-102, KMPH Air Personality, Tim St. Martin
Read Tim St. Martin Tribute Page
Read Tim St. Martin, remembered by friends
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