Shock Jock Neil Rogers Dies at 68

[The Straight Story]

Shock Jock Neil Rogers Dies at 68

The controversial radio host was known for his rants against everyone from gay activists to the Pope

Iconic radio host Neil Rogers passed away Friday at the Vitas Hospice at Florida Medical Center in Broward at the age of 68.

Suffering from multiple heart attacks and strokes, as well as dementia, one of the original "shock jocks" died of congestive heart failure.

"Neil was equally brutal on dumb callers and smart CEO’s, treating them all as imposters, one and the same," wrote Rogers' close friend Tom Kent recently in the South Florida Gay Times. "He outed closeted leaders who tiptoed around homosexuality, relentlessly humiliating them on the air, whether they were Matt Drudge or Bryan Norcross."

Since he started his radio career in the 70s, no one was off limits on Rogers' show, and listeners tuned in to hear what the outspoken host would say next, and about whom.

"Everyone sought to be noticed even if it meant being the target of a notorious attack," Kent recalled. "Everyone respected Neil’s astounding incisiveness, his remarkable recall, and marvelous wit. He is an irreverent iconoclast whose quips would cut you like a sharp razor."

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/RIP-Neil-Rogers-112431009.html

[COLGATE4]

1. Died with dementia. Lived with dementia. Nothing new for a RW shock jock

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. Was He Right Wing?

.

[timtom]

3. I just checked him out on Wikipedia

According to Wiki, he was LGBT and a liberal(????)
I've never listened to him, but was under the impression that he was a right-winger.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. He Was A Crazy Guy , Especially For AM

A lot of talk about bodily functions and anal sex...

[Change Happens]

11. He was as left as left can be...An Awesome guy!

He will be missed...

[trumad]

14. What a dumb thing to say

he wasn't right wing....

[Tsiyu]

5. RIP Neil

I have an ooooold CD of his stuff

he was on one of our affiliates

messed up, out there, unique individual

[TeaBagsAreForCups]

6. Absolute Slander and Bullshit: He was no more right wing....

....than is Stern, Rachel, or Keith.

Yes, he was a controversial man, being a Jew by culture, an atheist, and a man who publicly declared he was gay in Dade County, Florida, at the start of his radio career in 1976 in the middle of the Anita Bryant witch hunt and anti-gay tidal wave of that era.

He suffered no fools gladly and there was no one spared being the target of his highly insightful, artful, and clever challenges if they were anti-freedom, anti-first amendment, pompus, self-important, selfish, or a number of other "afflictions" that particularly beguiled Neil. The Catholic "Church," and particularly its RICO style protection of the pedophile priests - as well as just generally its strong-hold on those that need their magic spaghetti monsters in the sky - were almost daily targets.

For a more insightful look and a correction of the "record" being developed thus far in this thread, I advise.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/fl-neil-rogers-obit-20101224,0,1015311.story

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/tv/2010/12/a-tribute-to-neil-rogers-by-norm-kent.html

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Neil-GOD-Honoring-Neil-Rogers-a-South-Florida-Radio-Legend/135735933149633?v=wall

http://neilrogers.com/

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/25/1988067/suddenly-i-was-totally-irreverent.html

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/25/1988051/a-voice-a-talent-a-true-miami.html

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/tv/2010/12/neil-rogers-attorney-asks-privacy-as-dementia-sets-in.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Rogers

He was loved and admired by all progressives throughout Southern Florida - a liberal and progressive voice of sanity for thirty years that provided an oasis in this very confused state of Florida. Indeed, dozens of those who were subject to his barbs visited during these last weeks and spent time boosting Neil's spirits. Over the decades, it has been reported that personally, he was the exact opposite of his radio persona - a quiet, reflective, and deeply quiet and personal man.

And spare me citations of one or two points where he might have disagreed with the politically correct status-quo of the "professional" liberals with a particular sub-set, dislike, or grudge to cite. He was the real deal. End of story.

[Awsi Dooger]

7. He could destroy right wing bullshit more effectively than Rachel or Keith

Particularly in the early years. The simpleton talking points couldn't withstand 5 seconds, because Rogers never took the bland and predictable angle of attack.

I was a frequent caller to Miami talk shows in the mid to late '70s before leaving for college. I knew I could take apart the sports guys, including prominent national figures like Hank Goldberg, Chris Myers and Larry King, who did pure sports talk shows along with late night interviews. But Neil Rogers' level was intimidating. I never called once, even during the rare occasions I disagreed with him. Phenomenal talent. He could weave a rebuttal from all angles, and so decisively.

Rogers was also a visionary. I distinctly remember him being frustrated at the inept caliber of right wing callers and pundits, circa 1978, and predicting that their only logical recourse was one-sided media, vehicles where they essentially could agree with themselves.

The past few weeks were sad. Miami is flooded with sports talk stations these days. A few of the hosts mentioned that Rogers was near death. Many treated him with great respect and admiration, like Joe Rose of WQAM, formerly of the Dolphins. But sports talk is dominated by white conservatives so you can imagine the digs. It's been similarly disgusting on Miami sports forums today and last night, once the news broke. Almost gleeful.

RIP

[Tsiyu]

9. Sad to hear about Miami's reaction

He ruled Miami Talk Radio

His Take No Prisoners approach was very enlightening for me in my talk show days. I would cringe sometimes at his calls (we had a feed at our studio) when he would rip someone a new one.

the CD I have is from 1991 and includes this warning on the CD:


"This Compact Disc has been transferred from "Anal" log tape and may contain backward masked messages, butt cheese and a various assortment of body fluids!"

Ahead of his time, he was...

[Awsi Dooger]

10. Small segment of Miami

Let me emphasize that. Otherwise, there has been plenty of praise.

I spend time on Miami-related sports forums. Those guys have been jerks in regard to Roger's passing, but predictably so. For one thing, he took on everyone, including a less than flattering nickname for the University of Miami football team; "Hurricoons." :rofl:

At one point Rogers was an excellent play by play baseball announcer for the University of Miami. That's an overlooked aspect of his career. He's by consensus the best guy they ever had in that role, circa early '80s, if I remember correctly. His color analyst on those games was Bob Griese, not long after his retirement from the Dolphins.

[TeaBagsAreForCups]

15. Indeed, and thanks...

... for your eloquent posts. And yes, his knowledge of both music and sports - hockey, baseball, and racing - was encyclopedic, wide and deep. That's a primary reason that many of the pretending sports jocks of the decades of Miami Sports Radio found themselves at his mercy. At one time, he was hired to do University of Miami baseball radio.

The one thing that strikes me as odd is that in some reports, Hank Goldberg is noted as being a target of Neil. From thirty years of virtually daily listening, I do not believe that Neil's banter regarding Hank was anything more than gentle ribbing. Hank even did a morning cross-over with Neil for years and remained a friend to the end. Hank respected Neil and not only for Neil's profound knowledge of Sports.

As yet another example of the high regard and personal affection with which Neil was held by so many:

"Friday, December 24, 2010
Neil Rogers RIP

It is with great sadness that we note the passing of Neil Rogers.

Neil was a formative influence in my life and helped shape who I am today. He was smart, funny, irreverent, fearless, and spoke -- sometimes yelled -- truth to power.

Even when he started in South Florida, doing "issue" radio in the mid-70s, he was sui generis. Although Neil followed in the footsteps of other brash Miami radio icons such as Alan Burke, his persona was entirely different -- Neil knew his yiddishisms, like Burke did, but he took his personal obsessions, quirks, and idiosyncrasies and made them compelling, groundbreaking entertainment.

By the time he abandoned the issue format and let loose his freewheeling mix of hockey, horse racing, movies, politics, cheapskate Canadians, fart jokes, song parodies, and condo commandos, Neil was in orbit and brought his listeners along for the ride. He exposed phonies, fraud, injustice and pretense, joked about the petty frustrations of life in South Florida, battled with his radio colleagues, censors and management, and proudly wore his political leanings and sexuality on his sleeve at a time and in a place (sports radio) where neither were especially welcomed.

Thank you Neil for saving so many of us, along with all the jokes.
Posted by South Florida Lawyers at 3:17 PM"

http://southfloridalawyers.blogspot.com/2010/12/neil-rogers-rip.html

Moreover with but one exception, the comments on that thread beautifully echo the sentiment:

"Squathole said...
He spoke truth to power in a place and a market where few dared, and he did it in a way that was informative and entertaining. I doubt we'll experience anything like that again. His departure from the air was a big loss.....his departure from life just underlines how large that loss was."

[Awsi Dooger]

19. I never detected animosity between Rogers and Hank Goldberg

Racing guys invariably respect each other, and as you mentioned Rogers had a great knowledge and love of racing. I thought it was apropos another racing guy (primarily dog racing), Tom Jicha, wrote the long article on Rogers for the Sun-Sentinel, the first link in your previous post. Jicha did a great job in that piece, very thorough.

Rogers had the nicknames for Goldberg, the standard "Fat Hank" plus "The Humper," an amusing takeoff on Golberg's preferred handle, "The Hammer." Every time I heard Rogers use those terms they weren't vicious in nature.

[devilgrrl]

8. RIP Neil

I listened to him a few times via the internet and thought he was pretty cool.

[Change Happens]

12. I am so sad, he was the best!

[WinkyDink]

13. Never heard of him.

[KharmaTrain]

16. A Trailblazer...

Neil was of a different radio than what's out there now. He began in a time when most radio was still playing music or talk radio was like listening to paint dry. Neil brought passion to the medium...like him or hate him, he spoke from his heart and backed it up with facts and a touch of humor or sarcasm where warranted. Some will credit Howard Stern with being the first "shock" jock, but Neil was out there a decade before Howard. His influence is all over Randi Rhodes.

In 1987 I spend a day driving around Miami and heard Neil...and had to do a double take in what I was hearing. He was definitely in your face but also had your attention. A loss of another fascinating voice and man.

[Change Happens]

17. Neil and Rady Rhodes worked together on WIOD 610 in south Florida, I know they are

good friends! IU am sure Randy will say someting about him on the air...

[cordelia]

20. +1

[peekaloo]

18. RIP.

A true original.

p.s. This is the guy Jim Philips wishes he could be.