Robert Lewis Shayon (August 15, 1912 – June 28, 2008) was a writer and producer for WOR and for the CBS Radio in New York City.
He was also a teacher at the Annenberg School for Communication and the University of Pennsylvania.
His mother died in 1918 when he was 6, and his father, who was an insurance salesman, later married a woman who had her own children.
He took odd jobs in theaters and occasionally he read poetry on the radio.
There he met the Australian opera singer Leah Frances Russell (1891–1983), who became his mentor and benefactor.