Bob Rogers OAM (born 3 December 1926) is an Australian disc jockey and radio broadcaster. Prior to his retirement in October 2020, he presented the six-hour Saturday evening ''Reminiscing'' program on Sydney radio station 2CH and previously presented ''The Bob Rogers Show'' on weekday mornings.Sydney's daggiest radio station a giant killer
''The Daily Telegraph'', 10 May 2008, retrieved on 10 July 2008.

Early life

Rogers was born to British parents and raised in

Donald, Victoria Donald is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on the Richardson River, at the junction of Sunraysia Highway and Borung Highway, in the Shire of Buloke. At the , it had a population of 1,472. History The town is named after William Donald, a ...

. His father had been a junior butcher before becoming a farmer. He used to help his father round up the sheep and catch the lambs before slaughter.The Bob Rogers Show, Radio 2CH, 11:26:30

AEST Australia uses three main time zones: Australian Western Standard Time (AWST; UTC+08:00), Australian Central Standard Time (ACST; UTC+09:30), and Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST; UTC+10:00). Time is regulated by the individual state gov ...

24 June 2008.

Career

Rogers began his career as a

panel operator {{unreferenced, date=June 2016 The term panel operator generally relates to any person who is employed to operate a broadcast console. This term is more often used in the radio industry. In the U.S., insiders refer to a broadcast console as a 'bo ...

for 3XY in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in 1942. Moving onto a

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

station, he worked six days a week as a radio announcer, including presenting racing on Saturdays. Soon, Rogers was given permission to start a Sunday afternoon music program, playing new records given to him by American sailors coming off ships from America. Rogers resigned and started a similar music program on

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

's 4BH in 1950. In 1957, Rogers discovered the

Slim Dusty Slim Dusty, AO MBE (born David Gordon Kirkpatrick; 13 June 1927 – 19 September 2003) was an Australian country music singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. He was an Australian cultural icon and one of the country's most awarded stars, ...

song Pub With No Beer and was the first DJ in Australia to play the song and bring it to number one on the charts.Bob Rogers
– 2CH Rogers subsequently presented Australia's first Top 40 show on 2UE from 1958 to 1962. He was Australia's top radio DJ for the next 8 years.Bob Rogers takes the cake
– The Sydney Morning Herald 27 November 2006, retrieved on 19 June 2008.
– The Sydney Morning Herald 28 October 2003, retrieved on 18 June 2008.
– Australian Broadcasting Corporation 1999, retrieved on 18 June 2008. In 1962 he joined

2SM 2SM is an Australian radio station, licensed to and serving Sydney, broadcasting on 1269 kilohertz on the AM band. It is owned and operated by Broadcast Operations Group. The SM call sign is taken from the initials of Saint Mary's. 2SM's progra ...

which jumped to number 1. In 1964 Rogers was chosen to represent 2SM on

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

' tour through Europe, Asia and Australia. He returned to 2UE and presented his morning radio show with a new format of provocative commentary, gossip and music. His programme became popular amongst interview-hungry artists. In 1976, Rogers wrote ''Rock And Roll Australia'', a book about the birth of the Australian rock industry. In 1982, he started a chain of women's dress shops.

2CH radio

In November 1995, Rogers accepted

John Singleton John Daniel Singleton (January 6, 1968 April 28, 2019) was an American director, screenwriter, and producer. He made his feature film debut writing and directing ''Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for B ...

's offer and joined Sydney radio station 2CH. On 21 February 2007, according to the Nielsen radio ratings survey, Bob Rogers' Morning show became the fourth most heard radio programme in Sydney in that particular timeslot by beating

John Laws Richard John Sinclair Laws CBE (born 8 August 1935) is a Papua New Guinean-born Australian radio announcer. For 50 years, until 2007, he was the host of an Australian morning radio program combining music with interviews, opinion, live adverti ...

of 2UE into fifth place. It is generally more difficult for an easy listening station in Sydney to achieve a greater audience share than a talkback station. Overall, 2CH has overtaken 2UE to claim sixth place. On 5 December 2007, Rogers was verbally abused with

obscenities An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be use ...

by long-time professional rival

, in unprovoked circumstances whilst dining at lunch with

3AW 3AW is a talkback radio station based in Melbourne. It broadcasts on 693 kHz AM. It began transmission on 22 February 1932 as Melbourne's fifth commercial radio station. The station is owned and operated by Nine Entertainment Co. Hist ...

personality

Derryn Hinch Derryn Nigel Hinch (born 9 February 1944) is a New Zealand-born media personality, politician, actor, journalist and published author. He is best known for his career in Australia, on Melbourne radio and television. He served as a Senator for V ...

in a

Woolloomooloo Woolloomooloo ( ) is a harbourside, inner-city eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Woolloomooloo is 1.5 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney. It is in a low ...

restaurant. After suffering a stroke while on air in 2018, Rogers announced in November 2018 that he would stop presenting his morning programme. He continued presenting his ''Reminiscing'' program on Saturdays until 3 October 2020, when he finally retired.

Radio career breakdown

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Bob 1926 births Living people Australian television personalities Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Australian people of British descent Former 2GB presenters