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Neil Rogers (November 5, 1942December 24, 2010) was an American
talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...
personality. Until his retirement on June 22, 2009, ''The Neil Rogers Show'' aired weekdays from 10am-2pm on 560 WQAM. It was consistently the top-rated show in the
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
- Ft. Lauderdale media market and had been since his Miami debut in 1976. Although he was not syndicated nationally or even regionally, ''Talkers'' magazine, the trade publication of talk radio, ranked Rogers at Number 15 on its 2006 list of the 100 most important personalities in the business. Rogers died at the age of 68 at the Vitas Hospice at Florida Medical Center in
Broward County, Florida Broward County ( , ) is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with over 1.94 m ...
.


Career

Rogers was born Nelson Roger Behelfer in
Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
. Growing up there, he amused himself by announcing his own play-by-play while watching
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
on
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
. Years later he would do play-by-play for
Miami Hurricanes baseball The Miami Hurricanes baseball team is the college baseball program that represents the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. Since 1973, the program has been one of college baseball's elite with 25 College World Series appearances, winnin ...
(1978-1982 on radio and 1983 on TV). In 1966 Rogers broadcast high school basketball in Marshall, Michigan at WMRR. His first radio job was at
WBTA WBTA (1490 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a soft adult contemporary format. Licensed to Batavia, New York, United States, the station is the only one directly serving Genesee County and in general serves the area between Rochester and Buf ...
in Batavia, NY. He also worked as a music
disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...
at a small station,
WCGR WCGR (1550 AM broadcasting, AM, "100.1/104.5 The Lake") is a radio station broadcasting a soft classic rock format. Licensed to Canandaigua (city), New York, Canandaigua, New York, United States, the station is currently owned by Canandaigua Broad ...
, in
Canandaigua, New York Canandaigua (; ''Utaʼnaráhkhwaʼ'' in Tuscarora language, Tuscarora) is a City (New York), city in Ontario County, New York, United States. Its population was 10,545 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Ontario County; some administrat ...
He studied broadcasting at
Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...
, but left shortly before he would have graduated to pursue his radio career. While in Michigan, Rogers broadcast football and basketball games for
Albion College Albion College is a private liberal arts college in Albion, Michigan. The college was founded in 1835 and its undergraduate population was approximately 1,500 students in 2014. They participate in NCAA Division III and the Michigan Interco ...
. Over the next decade, Rogers worked at several stations in several states, including
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
,
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
, and
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. Rogers served as Program Director at WSTR in Sturgis, Michigan from 1966-1967. In 1968, Rogers was program director for WTPS, which had a Hot 100 format serving Kalamazoo, Michigan. Later he ended up at
WJNO WJNO (1290 AM) is a commercial talk radio station licensed to serve West Palm Beach, Florida, covering Palm Beach County and portions of the Miami metropolitan area. Owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., WJNO serves as the local affiliate for: Fox News Radi ...
AM in
West Palm Beach West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...
starting in 1975, moving from WSPB 1450 AM in Sarasota where he started in Florida in 1973. Rogers subsequently lost his job in West Palm Beach and was headed to
Yuma, Arizona Yuma ( coc, Yuum) is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The city's population was 93,064 at the 2010 census, up from the 2000 census population of 77,515. Yuma is the principal city of the Yuma, Arizona, M ...
when he called his mother from the road and learned that Miami-Ft. Lauderdale's WKAT (AM 1360) had offered him a job without application or audition. Rogers turned his car around and headed for Miami, debuting on WKAT on March 1, 1976. Rogers worked the 3 PM - 6 PM at WKAT for $225 a week. Prior to working for WKAT, Rogers worked two weekend shifts at
WIOD WIOD (610 AM) is a commercial news/ talk radio station licensed to Miami, Florida, serving the Miami metropolitan area and much of surrounding South Florida. Owned by iHeartMedia, WIOD serves as the Miami affiliate for ABC News Radio, ''The Glen ...
, which was playing music at that time. By the end of 1976, he was one of the top-rated radio personalities in the market. Also while at WKAT, Neil owned a
health food store A health food store (or health food shop) is a type of grocery store that primarily sells health foods, organic foods, local produce, and often nutritional supplements. Health food stores typically offer a wider or more specialized selection of fo ...
in the San Souci area. Nine months later, when singer
Anita Bryant Anita Jane Bryant (born March 25, 1940) is an American singer known for anti-gay activism. She scored four "Top 40" hits in the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including "Paper Roses" which reached No. 5 on the charts. She was th ...
began a crusade to repeal Dade County's ordinance banning discrimination against
homosexuals Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...
, Rogers responded by announcing on the air that he was homosexual on December 17, 1976. Although Bryant's campaign to repeal the ordinance was successful, Rogers' admission did nothing to hurt his radio career; indeed, his ratings steadily increased with every
Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...
period. Richard Casper hired Rogers away from WKAT in March 1978 to work at WNWS beginning in April 1978. Starting on October 31, 1980, Neil Rogers did the 7-10 PM shift for
WLAC WLAC (1510 AM) – branded ''Talkradio 98.3 & 1510'' – is a commercial talk radio radio station licensed to serve Nashville, Tennessee. Owned by iHeartMedia, the station covers the Nashville metropolitan area. The WLAC studios are located ...
in Nashville. He referred to the segment of his show with live calls as "Dialing for Neanderthals". He left WLAC after just one month. Neil accepted a job at
WWDB WWDB (860 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with its studios and offices in the "555 Building" on City Avenue in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. It is owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group and broadcasts most ...
in Philadelphia and had sent his furniture up there before Dick Casper convinced Rogers into coming back to WNWS. Rogers returned to Miami radio on December 1, 1980, on WNWS 790 AM. By that time Rogers was unrivaled as the highest-rated talk-show host in Miami, dominating both the 18-24 and 25-54 demographics (the most coveted age ranges in the business). His style – unabashed liberal, scatological, and funny but acutely mean when dealing with callers (especially elderly callers), a schtick that may best be described as caustically comic – was firmly established, making Rogers something of an icon in the market. Rogers moved to Miami's WINZ on March 1, 1984. After years of agitating for an earlier time slot, WINZ's owner, Guy Gannett Publishing, moved him to mornings on co-owned WZTA (Zeta-4) on October 12, 1987. Although ratings in the morning were immediate, Roger's long-simmering battle with station management boiled over, culminating with him moving to WIOD on November 7, 1988. During his tenure at WIOD, the station built a strong lineup of personalities anchored by Rogers' Midday 10 AM - 2 PM slot.
Phil Hendrie Philip Stephen Hendrie (born September 1, 1952) is an American radio personality and actor. He is widely known for his voiceover talent throughout the radio and film industry. He came to prominence in the 1990s hosting ''The Phil Hendrie Show'', a ...
, Jaz McKay and
Randi Rhodes Randi is both a given name, and a nickname in the English language, popular in North America and Norway. It is primarily a feminine name, although there is recorded usage of the name by men. It may have originated as a pet form of '' Miranda'' o ...
were part of this lineup, and both have cited Rogers as a friend and mentor. From WIOD he was simulcast in the
Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater in ...
market on WSUN from June 22, 1992, to 1994. Rogers' last show on WIOD was on May 21, 1997. His last relocation was to 560 WQAM on December 30, 1997. Regardless of his station, he was consistently the top-rated personality in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale market, prompting one Miami radio executive to call him "the most consistent performer among men 25-54 that this market has ever seen." In June 1998,
WAMI-TV WAMI-DT (channel 69) is a television station licensed to Hollywood, Florida, United States, serving the Miami area with programming from the Spanish-language UniMás network. It is owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision alongside Univision outle ...
ran ''Neil at Night'', which was a 30-minute television show of ''The Neil Rogers Show''. ''Neil at Night'' aired twice a night at 8:30 PM and 10:30 PM. The program consisted of filmed highlights of Neil's radio monologues and interactions with callers. ''Neil at Night'' was cancelled in January 1999. Earlier in his career, Neil had a short-lived television show on "Channel 51" WKID-TV that lasted a just a few episodes. ESPN reporter
Shannon Spake Shannon Spake (born July 23, 1976) is an NFL reporter and NASCAR host for Fox Sports. Previously, she worked for ESPN where she contributed to ''SportsCenter'' to give pre and post-game reports, and also worked as a sideline reporter for SEC on E ...
served briefly as an intern for ''The Neil Rogers Show'' in 1999. Rogers also had a devoted audience in Europe and around the world who listened via the Internet. He has been targeted from time to time by local activists who find him offensive; one,
Jack Thompson Jack Thompson may refer to: Sports * Jack Thompson (footballer, born 1892) (1892–1969), English footballer who played for Sheffield United and Bristol City * Jack Thompson (1920s footballer), English footballer who played for Aston Villa and Brig ...
, a former Miami attorney, unsuccessfully sued Rogers and his employers to remove him from the air. In 1989, the Hallandale City Commission voted to censure Neil Rogers for "offensive comments" that he had made about the elderly. Rogers had survived all such attacks, and indeed, many of them increased his popularity. Starting in 2002, Rogers began broadcasting ''The Neil Rogers Show'' eight months a year from his Toronto apartment. It was announced on April 14, 2008, that Rogers had agreed to a new 5-year contract on WQAM, which would have kept "Uncle Neil", as he was called by his fans, firmly on the air until 2013. On the May 13, 2009, show it was announced but not confirmed that Rogers' longtime show producer and fill-in host Jorge Rodriguez was being fired by WQAM in a cost-cutting measure. Rogers' contract included the ability for him to choose his producer and no resolution was found by the end of the program even after Rogers called his agent on the air. Rodriguez's future with the show was a topic of interest in the South Florida media, including the ''
Sun-Sentinel The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as surrounding Br ...
'' newspaper. Rodriguez's firing was confirmed by Rogers at the start of the May 14, 2009 program. Rodriguez's firing drew a great response from Rogers' fans. Rodriguez later began ''The Jorge Rodriguez Show'' on SoFloRadio.com Rodriguez was replaced by WQAM Deputy Program Director Lee "Flee" Feldman. Feldman stated that he worked on ''The Neil Rogers Show'' without any increase in his salary.


Retirement

It was announced on June 22, 2009, that Rogers and Beasley Broadcast Miami reached an agreement where Rogers would no longer be featured on-air at WQAM but would consult for the station under a new agreement. Rogers' last show was on Friday, June 12, 2009. Neil Rogers then retired from on-air radio.


Death

Rogers, at age 68, had been suffering from several health ailments in the last months of his life. His friend and attorney
Norm Kent Norman Elliott Kent. (born 18 October 1949 in Brooklyn, New York) is a South Florida criminal defense attorney, publisher and radio talk show host. The founder and publisher of '' The Express'', in 1999, and '' South Florida Gay News'' in 20 ...
said the radio host suffered a stroke and heart attack in October and his condition had been declining since Thanksgiving. He died on December 24, 2010, at the age of 68. In a ''
Miami SunPost ''The Miami SunPost'' was a free weekly community-style newspaper published in Miami, Florida, and distributed in a print edition and an on-line edition every Thursday. The paper covered local news, politics, business, culture, society, and the ar ...
'' column eulogizing Rogers,
Charles Branham-Bailey ''The Miami SunPost'' was a free weekly community-style newspaper published in Miami, Florida, and distributed in a print edition and an on-line edition every Thursday. The paper covered local news, politics, business, culture, society, and the ar ...
described his personality:
He could bite into you like a pit bull on the air, yet in his off-air persona, regard you with puppy dog gentility.


National Radio Hall of Fame induction

On July 11, 2016, it was announced that the National Radio Hall of Fame nominating committee had voted to induct Rogers, along with three other individuals, for their contribution to the radio industry. Rogers longtime friend and producer, Jorge Rodriguez, accepted the posthumous award.


References


External links

*
Hollywood City Commission Criticizes WINZ 'Shock Jock' Neil Rogers
€”1987 article from South Florida Radio History web site
SoFloRadio

SoFloTelevision

Neil Rogers Tribute - Audio and video clips of Neil and more!

The Jorge Rodriguez Show
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Neil 1942 births 2010 deaths American alternative journalists American radio DJs American expatriates in Canada American talk radio hosts Journalists from New York (state) American LGBT broadcasters LGBT people from Florida LGBT people from New York (state) People from Rochester, New York Radio personalities from Miami Radio personalities from New York (state) Michigan State University alumni