All Night Classics presenter Bob Maynard was born in Adelaide during the Golden Age of Radio and grew up to the sound of Jack Davey, Bob Dyer, Biggles, Superman and the Argonauts. He became hooked on classical music in Sydney when he discovered a weekly Sunday night program on commercial station 2UW, but soon realised that the classics were better on the ABC.

When his father gave the family a record player for Christmas in 1960, Bob went out and bought his first LP - Schubert's Ninth Symphony, which he'd heard a few days earlier on 2BL. Several decades (and many thousands of CDs and books) later, he remains hooked.

Bob joined the ABC in 1967 after completing the Arts part of an Arts-Law course at the University of Sydney. For a year or so he processed leave forms in the personnel department at Broadcast House in Elizabeth Street, and then moved to the studio building in Forbes Street as a trainee and programmer in the record library, a copywriter and producer of publicity trailers and, eventually, an announcer.

In the early 1970s, his efforts to complete his MA thesis (a critical study of published English-language radio drama) became an office joke when his painstaking research was construed as chronic procrastination.

Bob returned to his home town when ABC Classic FM was established there, and produced and presented the afternoon program on the first day of transmission in 1976. He has presented most shifts over the years and has produced various features and series, including several programs to celebrate ABC anniversaries.

Bob has maintained his interest in classical music, sound recording and radio history, and retains the persistence and insatiable curiosity of the pathological collector. Hosting All Night Classics gives Bob the opportunity to share his enthusiasm not only with Australian night owls but also online, with overseas daytime listeners.

He has many plans for programs, and none for retirement.