ROBERT E. BENSON has had long and varied careers. Born in Chicago, Ill., he served in the Army 1951-1953 as enlisted secretary to General Mark Clark, Commander-in--Chief of the Far East Command. From 1953-55 he worked for the B&O Railroad as secretary to the Manager of Industrial Development, and for two years was Assistant Manager of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Benson's radio career began in 1958 when he was program director of WFDS-FM, which two years later became WBAL-FM. He was program director and chief announcer there until 1974, when he became Director of Audience Development for the Baltimore Symphony. In 1975, Benson became coordinator of the Maryland State Arts Council's Community Arts Development program working to organize county arts councils in all 23 counties of Maryland. He also was in charge of MSAC grants to music organizations and individuals, and retired from the MSAC in 1995. In 1979 he became morning announcer for WBJC-FM, where he remained until 1986. For ten years beginning in 1987, Benson did programming and announcing for WJHU (now WYPR). He has collected recordings for many years, with particular interest in historic performances. He wrote countless reviews for numerous publications, including Forecast FM, Hi Fi Stereo Buyers Guide, High Fidelity, Stereophile, FI and Schwann/Opus. Many "Basic Libraries" were written for Stereophile, as well as as author of Leopold Stokowski - A Life on Record, the life of the famed conductor and an overview of his major recordings from his first (1917) to his last (1977), published in Schwann/Opus, Summer 1994. He also authored Willem Mengelberg - Life and Recorded Legacy , the career and recordings of the famed Dutch conductor, published in Schwaan/Opus, Winter 1993-1994. He also wrote a feature article Recording in the Concertgebouw, a history of the acoustically-perfect Dutch concert hall and recordings made in it, from the first (1926) to the present time, printed in FI, April, 1996.Benson lives in Glen Burnie, Maryland, where he grows orchids in his "underground" greenhouse (a hobby of three decades), and listens to music on his elaborate surround sound system. Since 2004 he has been working with mirrors and stained glass, creating varied art and decorative pieces. For more information on this, visit: www.shinyhappythings.com