There will be a Memorial Service to celebrate the life of radio talk show host Neil Rogers on Friday, January 7, 2011, to be held at the Center for Spiritual Living, located at 1550 Northeast 26th Street, Wilton Manors, FL 33305-1324.

The Service will commence at 3 p.m., and run until approximately 4:30 p.m.

Neil Rogers (1942-2010) passed away on December 24, 2010, and was cremated on December 30, 2010, by the Kalis-McIntee Funeral & Cremation Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fl.

The Center is situated on the southeast corner of NE 15th Avenue and Northeast 26th Street, and there is ample parking. Their phone number is (954) 566-2868.

Afterwards, guests are invited to gather for cocktails at the Manor Entertainment Complex, located at 2345 Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors, FL.

If anyone is seeking to make a donation in Neil’s honor, please bring a check for Abandoned Pet Rescue, Inc.

Neil Rogers, the best known radio personality in South Florida for more than three decades, died at 9:45 a.m. Friday. Born Nelson Roger Behelfer in Rochester, N.Y., he was 68.

Rogers, who had been living in Toronto, suffered two heart attacks and a stroke, at least his second, since July. On Nov. 7 he returned to South Florida, where he maintained a home in Plantation Acres, to continue treatments and to be near friends.

From his first days on the air in the mid 1970s, Rogers courted controversy. Born Jewish, he said he was an atheist in a heavily Jewish region. He mocked all organized religion and infuriated Catholics with his attacks on the pope. He derided senior citizens as people who steal Sweet 'N Low packages from restaurants and called South Florida "an outdoor funeral home." During the Mariel immigration, Rogers was outspokenly against the waves of refugees sent to South Florida.

Rogers, who studied broadcasting at Michigan State University but dropped out before earning a degree, got his first radio job in Canandaigua, N.Y. He came to South Florida for a short-lived gig at WJNO. When he was let go there, he was en route to Yuma, Ariz., for a new job when his mother called to tell him WKAT in Miami Beach was interested in him. He turned his car around and came back.

In 1977, barely a year after being hired at WKAT, he tempted fate by coming out as gay during the charged era when singer Anita Bryant was championing an anti-homosexual ordinance in Dade County.

Craig Worthing, a colleague at the time, said he remembered warning Rogers just before he came out, "Don't do it. It will kill your career." Rogers was adamant about wanting to make a strong personal statement against bigotry, Worthing said.

Bryant's ordinance passed but Rogers' career took off.

Worthing remembers kidding Rogers that when the two of them were at WKAT, "I was making $400 and he was making $250. It was the only time I was ever making more than him." At his peak, Rogers made as much as $1.5 million annually. He was the first South Florida radio personality known to make more than a million dollars a year.

Although Rogers turned down opportunities to go national, he had a national profile, said Tom Taylor, a veteran radio analyst for Radio-Info.com, an industry marketplace. "Everybody in talk knew about Neil. What was amazing was the place he held in the life of the local media. If you were in media, you had to listen to Neil. I'm not aware of anyone in radio who had that kind of hold on local media."

Some of this imperative was to see what Neil was saying about you. He was brutal to many icons, such as the late Ann Bishop, Rick Sanchez and Larry King. He reminded listeners of Larry King's problematic financial history at every opportunity, repeatedly playing a tape of King saying, "Loan me $50."

He also had on a loop, "Tom Jicha, he's bald and stupid."

Hank Goldberg, who worked with Rogers at WIOD and WQAM, was often the brunt of Rogers' put-downs. Rogers called him "Fat Hank" and "The Humper." Goldberg said he never took it personally, and they had a cordial relationship to the end. When Goldberg was in Toronto to cover a horse race for ESPN, he and Rogers would go out to dinner.

"I talked to him a couple of weeks ago," Goldberg said. It was right after Rogers had suffered a stroke but he still had his wicked sense of humor, Goldberg said. "He told me he wasn't going to die until Joe Bell died." Bell was Rogers' final boss, the WQAM general manager who orchestrated the June 2009 buyout that sent Rogers into retirement.

"Neil was a giant," Goldberg said. "There's a lot of talk now with the University of Miami looking for a football coach that they want someone with a 'wow!' factor. Neil was a wow."

Rogers openly warred with Steve Kane when they were colleagues at WIOD, then after they went their separate ways to different stations. Kane never took it personally and remains an unabashed admirer. "He was the king of the whole area during the salad days of radio. We used to go back and forth but I thought it was great."

Kane visited Rogers in the hospital. They had a pleasant visit, reminiscing about old times, Kane said.

This was typical. Away from the microphone, the caustic on-air personality would avoid confrontation at almost any cost.

He was also the consummate professional. His barbs at station management over technical issues were part of his show but these were serious. He wanted and demanded that those around him put forth the same total commitment to the program that he did.

As a mentor, he helped to launch the careers of Al Rantel and Randi Rhodes. And he made an on-air personality of his longtime producer, Jorge Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, who now runs the website sofloradio.com, was a board operator at WIOD when he was assigned to Rogers' program. "I was scared to death of him," Rodriguez said. "I was so nervous I didn't do anything right. I invented new mistakes, but Neil just made a joke of it and went on with the show."

Instead of typing messages on a computer during a show, Rogers told him to open the microphone and talk to him on the air.

When Rogers moved to WQAM in 1999, Rodriguez was part of the deal. Almost immediately, Rogers insisted that Rodriguez be his permanent substitute host. "I wound up doing about a third of the shows when Neil began to take summers off in addition to his vacation and other absences. He gave me an identity in the community."

Rogers' halo effect boosted the ratings of anyone who followed him, from Phil Hendrie to Stan Major to Rick & Suds to Kane, whose audiences were never bigger than when they followed Rogers.

The low point of his career came in 1992, when he was arrested at a Miami Beach adult theater. The police alleged he was seen masturbating, but the charges were dropped.

Rogers' wrangling with his bosses led him to move from station to station despite being the most popular personality at each of them. As soon as his star rose, he left WKAT for WNWS and helped make it the leading talk station in the market. From there he jumped to WINZ, which eventually moved him to its sister FM Zeta. WIOD was next, then WQAM, where he spent the final 12 years of his career.

Whether it was in morning drive on Zeta, in midday at WIOD and WQAM, or in evenings at WINZ, whether he was talking serious political and cultural issues or doing absurd stream-of-consciousness riffs and playing comedy bits, he was always No. 1.

The following is a tribute to Neil Rogers, written by his friend and attorney Norman Kent for publication in South Florida Gay News. Since SFGN is not a mainstream publication with a wide audience, I’m reprinting it here.
Neil still has his moments when he enjoys having your comments read to him, so if you are inclined to send him a message, please do so.
**

By Norm Kent

My friend Neil Rogers is still alive. But I cannot lie to you. He is dying. Sadly, at only the age of 68, Neil is losing his battle for life to a combination of irreversible heart attacks and strokes. The matter is complicated by multiple arterial blockages making his situation inoperable, worsened by the diabetes that has plagued him for years.

It hurts. I have been Neil’s attorney and friend for years, negotiating his contracts and representing him in numerous legal battles that have been on the front pages of the news. Together, we have challenged homophobes and the FCC, employers and interlopers, all of whom had a hard time dealing with a gay man that dominated the local airwaves.

No one and nothing was sacred when Neil Rogers had a microphone in his hands, not me, ‘Norma Cant’ – the lawyer with the “fag” newspaper who negotiated a million dollar contract which made him rich, or the Pope, whose heralded visit to South Florida ‘worthlessly blocked traffic.’ Whether it was a pompous mayor in Hallandale or a cop on the road, Neil simply had no mercy for those who infringed on individual rights or free expression.

Neil was equally brutal on dumb callers and smart CEO’s, treating them all as imposters, one and the same. He outed closeted leaders who tiptoed around homosexuality, relentlessly humiliating them on the air, whether they were Matt Drudge or Bryan Norcross.

Neil hated gay activism, could not stand gay activists, and did not hang out with gay people. Actually, he did not hang out with many people. He pushed most people away from him. He had few intimate relationships. But he is the most well known, open, out, heroic gay man in South Florida, and he inspired thousands of listeners for over 30 years, gay or straight.

Dare to berate him on the air for being gay, and he would eat you up and spit you out. Hecklers were hopeless against Neil’s stunning retorts. He did more than control the dump button. He controlled the dialogue with lightning quips, measured rants, and biting sarcasm.

Ultimately, Neil is the consummate individualist. In 1976, when gay homophobia in South Florida was running rampant with the Orange Juice Queen, Anita Bryant, Neil came out on the air. His career still flourished, and he proved you could be out and proud while being out and loud. Two years after his retirement, I see that Talkers Magazine just listed him in their top 50 talk show hosts ever.

Two weeks ago, when I owned up to the fact that Neil’s time is limited, the story still made page 1 of the Sun-Sentinel. Neil has thousands of fans that he influenced over decades. Hundreds of fans and colleagues are still posting tributes to Neil online at Tom Jicha’s TV Plus page. Being gay, so what?

Neil is, after all, every workingman’s hero, whose voice spoke volumes for the average person railing against mediocrity, apathy, or stupidity. No one cared about whether he was gay or straight. Everyone was just glad to have their voice heard on the airwaves.

Yes, it was just a radio show, but what a show it was, making fun of ‘Julio’s,’ old Jews, ‘Schvartzes,’ Ebonics, and everyone from Janet Reno to Nelson Mandela. You see, Neil taught us all we had a lot more in common than we do apart. “Guess what,” he would say, “Even the Pope gets hemorrhoids.”

Stated one AM host, “Oh, I hated when he mentioned my name, but I hated it more when he did not.” Everyone sought to be noticed even if it meant being the target of a notorious attack. 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.

Neil considers himself agnostic, but the true message of his life is really Biblical: none of us is above sin. Not Neil, who once got caught by a cop, allegedly jerking off in a Miami Beach adult theater, or Bill Clinton, who was suposedly getting oral sex in the Oval Office.

On the air though, Neil had no tolerance for ineptitude. He was a consummate professional who imposed on those who worked with him the same demands he put on himself, which was a call for excellence over expedience, achievement over apathy.

It’s hard to believe only four weeks ago he was calling me from the ER, declaring how useless hospitals were, and insisting I come ‘get him the hell out of here.’ It did not matter that it was a Sunday night at 10 p.m. He called 40 times till he found me. Neil was used to getting his way.

When I visit him now in the hospice, I usually play some of his old radio bits over my iPad, logging onto them at www. neilrogers.com. “The best,” he says, about them. Candidly, he cannot say much more, and I can’t say he has lots of time left.

What I can say is that the Elvis of the airways is leaving the building, departing with a legacy of enduring laughter and spectacular AM radio performances, the likes of which we will never hear on the air again.

Neil Rogers’ friend and attorney Norman Kent released the following statement regarding Neil Rogers condition on Sunday afternoon. Here it is unedited in its entirety.

In an attempt to dispel rumors, rely on facts and enhance public awareness, the following statement is being released to the media.

Over the past few weeks, many fans and listeners of Neil Rogers have followed his medical condition closely. I have tried to provide daily updates, but I now see that will be too trying. Neil did not go to a hospice to recover. Doctors tell us there is no reason to believe he necessarily will. You see, he faces more than heart issues.

Just as Ronald Reagan had the courage to tell America a quarter of a century ago that he was an American afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease, so too must I share with you that Neil Rogers is suffering from progressive vascular dementia, a very common form of dementia characterized by blockages in the blood supply to the brain, which lead to neurological symptoms.

The complications associated with Neil’s diabetes and the corresponding stroke, have functionally impaired his cognitive abilities. He is not always aware of his circumstances and surroundings. The progressive deterioration and decline has been rapid; significant since Thanksgiving.

Neil is also suffering presently from ‘Sundowners Syndrome,’ also known as sundowning. It is a symptom often associated with the early stages of dementia, including Alzheimer’s. It is an uncomfortable sleep and mood disorder which causes sufferers to experience periods of extreme agitation and confusion during the late afternoon or early evening hours, leading to irritability towards even caregivers or hospital staff.

Far from being alone, Neil is on a daily basis surrounded by his longest and most loyal intimate friends and acquaintances. He has 24 hour around the clock nursing care, and he has also, when lucid, been buoyed by multiple colleagues in the broadcast industry reaching out to him, stirring nostalgic remembrances of days that once were.

We thank you, his fans and friends, for your outpouring of support and affection, as well as your charming online tributes to Neil’s influence in your life, but there is no reason for further daily updates. It is time to move on.

Together then, let’s use this time to raise public awareness of a disease that places an ever so heavy burden on family and friends, not to mention the suffering it may impose on those so afflicted, whether you were a President or pontificator.

Doctors say vascular dementia is even preventable, especially if people start engaging in preventative care at a young age and stay committed to maintaining their general physical health as we mature.

Neil Rogers has been an outstanding talent, whose voice on the radio spoke for every workingman who ever wanted to rail against his bosses or mediocrity. He has been a remarkable and incisive social critic, armed with an incredible memory, biting wit, and tempered, measured humor. But this is not his eulogy, as he is still very much alive, though not fully the person he once was.

As you remember him, recall what he used to say- “It’s only a radio show”. Hopefully, in those hours on the air he taught all of us to press on in our daily lives with an abiding sense of wit and humor. Today, though, he is a patient in a hospice, asking that you respect his privacy and dignity. Visits and calls are no longer appropriate.

In closing, let me say that it has been a privilege to serve as agent and counsel for Neil Rogers for over a quarter of a century.

As we have seen, the same foibles, faults, and flaws affecting all human beings have at times humbled Neil.

As demanding as he was, he only sought professionalism on the air and loyalty in his personal life.

As ballistic and bellicose and belligerent as he was on the air, so too was he remarkably generous, beneficent, and tame in his personal life.

Neil Rogers condition remains unchanged.

Rogers, who has suffered a stroke and a couple of heart attacks in recent months, was transferred this week from Westside Regional Hospital to a hospice. The identity and location is not being disclosed, his attorney and friend Norm Kent said, because people tried to sneak in to see him when he was at the hospital.

Kent said Rogers is adjusting to his new surroundings.

“Nothing aggressive medically is being done,” Kent said.

There’s nothing new to report on Neil Rogers as of noon Wednesday.

Neil is under hospice care and no surgery is planned.

The only reason I’m putting up this post is I know from the overwhelming response that many of you will be checking here for the latest.

Norm Kent, Neil’s friend and attorney, has been reading to Neil the comments many of you have submitted and he says they really cheer up Neil.

So if you have something to say that you’d like Neil to hear, submit them.

The same rules are in effect. I will delete negative remarks as soon as I find them.

Neil Rogers will not have open heart surgery afterall, according to a close friend.

Doctors decided to cancel Rogers’ surgery, scheduled for Friday then moved to Tuesday. He has been transferred to hospice care, said former radio colleague Craig Worthing, who has been visiting Rogers at Westside Regional Hospital.

Rogers’ attorney and friend, Norm Kent, confirmed that the surgery was canceled because Rogers is too weak for a favorable prognosis. A meeting was scheduled for later Tuesday, he said, in which how and where Rogers will receive hospice care will be discussed.

Rogers has suffered a stroke and a heart attack, possibly two, since last summer. He returned to Broward, where he has maintained a home, from Toronto, where he had been living, on Nov. 7 for treatment and to be closer to friends. Rogers, 68, has no surviving immediate family.

Open heart surgery on Neil Rogers, originally scheduled for Friday, has been postponed until Tuesday, Rogers attorney and friend Norman Kent said.

The surgery will be performed at Westside Regional Hospital, where Rogers is undergoing treatment for arterial blockage. He also had a stroke in October.

Neil felt well enough to see old friends Craig Worthing and Steve Kane on Thursday. Worthing worked with Rogers at WKAT and Kane was a colleague at WIOD spent time with Rogers.

Local broadcasting legend Neil Rogers is having serious health issues and will undergo open heart surgery on Friday.

Rogers, who has been living in Toronto, returned to South Florida for treatment, according to Norman Kent, Rogers’ friend and attorney. Kent said he has petitoned the court to appoint a guardian to tend to Rogers’ affairs and make decisions until Rogers, who turned 68 on Nov. 5, recovers.

Kent said he has been told by doctors that the surgery is “high risk,” because of complicating factors including Rogers’ diabetes.

Rogers suffered a stroke and heart attack in October but seemed to be recovering until recently. “His condition has worsened since Thanksgiving,” Kent said.

My best wishes to all...it's been one helluva ride!!!! Peace!!!!!"

NEIL ROGERS TAKES EARLY RETIREMENT FROM SPORTS RADIO 560 WQAM-AM

MIAMI, Florida, June 22, 2009 – Sports Radio 560 WQAM-AM and Neil Rogers, Inc. have announced that veteran talk show host Neil Rogers is giving up his day to day show on WQAM but will consult with the station as part of a new agreement.

According to Joe Bell, VP and Market Manager for Beasley’s Miami Radio cluster, a sports talk show will launch immediately from 10AM-2PM.

Rogers’ agent and attorney, Norm Kent, said, "he has no intention of seeking other on-air work at this time, and has directed me not to seek any such employment, though under our agreement with WQAM, this is not prohibited.”

First hired in 1997, Neil Rogers was the only general talk host on WQAM which is otherwise dedicated to sports. His popular top-rated show aired from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. EST weekdays.

Mr. Bell added, “Rogers was a ratings leader in Miami for years and we’re happy that we could reach a new accord that works well for both parties.”

About Beasley Broadcast Miami

In the Miami market, Beasley’s three radio stations include Power 96 WPOW-FM, 99.9 KISS Country WKIS-FM, and Sports Radio 560 WQAM-AM, all of which broadcast with HD Radio™ technology available to those with access to an HD Radio receiver. Power 96 WPOW-FM and 99.9 KISS Country WKIS-FM multicast sister stations, 96 Dash 2 Pirate Radio and Outlaw Country formatted Gretchen 99.9 respectively, that can be accessed by tuning an HD Radio receiver to HD2 at their respective dial positions. For more information, please visit www.bbgi.com.

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