NEIL ROGERS

For more than thirty years, Neil Rogers was one of Florida radio’s most popular and caustic voices.

Born in Rochester, New York, Neil was a teenager when he began his radio career as a disc jockey on WCGR/Canandaigua and later broadcast sports for WBTA/Batavia.

In 1964, Rogers moved to Michigan and was heard on stations in Albion, Marshal, Sturgis, Kalamazoo and Lansing. In 1973, Neil began his talk-radio career at Florida station WSPB/Sarasota, repalcing an ailing colleague. In 1975, he moved to WJNO/Palm Beach, but his career really took off the next year at WKAT/Miami. Rogers’ show and career took a more personal turn in 1977, when he came out as gay. Because of (or in spite of) the controversy, Rogers’ ratings continued to climb.

In 1978, Rogers moved to WNWS/Miami, honing his style as an unrepentant liberal voice with a bawdy sense of humor, someone who loved conspiracy theories and insulting everyone from ill-informed callers to hypocritical politicians to organized religion. From 1984-1987, Rogers was heard on WINZ/Miami, before moving to WIOD (1988-1997) and WQAM (1997-2009);Rogers also broadcasted a morning show on Zeta 4 FM from October 12, 1987 to November 1, 1988.

Throughout it all, he remained one of Miami’s top-rated on-air personalities. He retired from broadcasting in 2009 when WQAM wanted to add sports programming during his time period, so they bought out his contract.

Neil Rogers died on December 24, 2010.

Neil Rogers was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2016.