Neil Rogers.....Miami (repost)
There was only ONE Uncle Neil....and for many years in Miami radio he was the king .
Neil would be my third choice as top radio personality behind Gary Dee in Cleveland and Wally Phillips in Chicago.
Before we go on let me remind you that these are my personal
choices...and I’m sure many of you will disagree but it’s my life and my
blog so let it be. But you are free to comment.
Neil became my best friend.
We worked at three Miami stations together, WNUS...WINZ...and WIOD.
At WNUS Neil did issue talk.....he was good at that but nothing
special. During the Cuban invasion from the Mariel boatlift we both
spoke out against it. We had patrol cars parked in the station lot
to detract any crazy gun play but it was a tough time. The Mayor of
Miami blasted us and called me the “Joseph Gobbles” of Miami.
The tension became unbearable and I took a job at WWDB-FM in Philadelphia to get away from it.
Neil hung in and eventually moved to WINZ and that’s where he
blossomed into a spectacular talk host with a unique approach.
Call it the “sweet & low” war of words against the habits of
the elderly. He made fun of the old folks incessantly every hour of his
show.
This lambasting caught on to the point that younger and younger
listeners began to tune in...and some made comedy material which Neil
encouraged. He was well into this when WINZ needed a talk host to
follow his craziness. He recommended me and after four years in Philly
(and one year on Phoenix at KFYI with Tom Lykis...more on him later) I
made the move back to Miami.
I had not heard Neil’s crazy new war of words with the old folks.
I
started talking issues the first day on the air...but that night we
went out to dinner (the first of many times) and he said “what do you
want to talk about that crap for...just come in and have fun...like I
do!
I listened to him closely and decided he was right. He had touched
a nerve... something that nobody would talk about in public...and
turned it into huge ratings success. He was already number one in most
demos even with younger listeners and before we would be finished in a
couple of years 10 am until 6 pm we would be number one in ALL demos
INCLUDING TEENS!
That’s correct...no AM stations in the entire nation were number
one in teens but WINZ-AM was...beating every FM rock station in Miami.
Can you imagine having more high schoolers listening to your talk show
than those listening to rock on FM!
It took me about a week but I also found my “thing”.
Miami Vice was shooting on the streets of Miami...the hottest tv
show on the air and I was big on Miami Vice. I rolled with
that...telling listeners the shooting location each day where they could
see Don Johnson and the rest in action.
Neil hated that show and started to rib me incessantly which sent
my ratings skyrocketing and since I liked Miami Vice...they seemed to
like me. They called and asked me not to tell where they were
shooting...the crowds were getting too big and I made a deal...bring
some of the cast for a studio show and I’ll do that.
The main guy to agree was the Captain...Edward James Olmos and he
and Michael Talbott and Charlie Barnett (Noogie) sat with me for the
whole three hours and Don Johnson called in talk chat with us.
But Neil was the guy. A lot of folks continued to talk and push
Howard Stern...but I called Stern’s agent one day and told him Neil
Rogers was head over heels better than Stern’s sex talk. I wanted Neil
to go national but it didn’t happen.
Later in this blog I’ll deal with Neil and our success in getting thousands to tune in everyday.
But he was certainly on top and doing something nobody had ever
done before. Winning the war with the Sweet & Low gang!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheNeilRogersShow/
http://neilrogers.org/.
contact:
stanmajor@aol.com
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