Posted on 01/31/2013 8:24:36 PM PST by CounterCounterCulture
Lee Rodgers, Rest in Peace
Written by Melanie Morgan
I really don't want to write about this, I don't want to think about this, and I don't want it to be true.
Lee Rodgers, friend and mentor, is dead.
I owe everything that I have in my professional life to Lee Rodgers, who took me under his wing back in 1988 in the halycon days of KGO Radio.
Lee was a nighttime talk show host, a former rock and roll DJ, hired by my husband Jack Swanson. He hired him twice, in fact.
"Lee Rodgers was a real radio guy. He was remarkable. He worked very hard, didn't always play well with other children, but always made our industry proud," Swanson said.
Lee and I worked together at KSFO radio on the "Lee Rodgers and Melanie Morgan Show, with Officer Vic" (and Sheri Yee) for 14 years, but it was always the Lee Rodgers show, and we got to go along for the ride. Lee was demanding, brilliant, perfectionistic, generous, very very loyal and HUGELY entertaining. I learned my conservative principles from him. He helped mold and shape my politics and you can sometimes hear Lee speaking through me on the radio. I learned to capitalize entire words on paper from Lee, like HUGELY.
Lee Rodgers first and foremost was a devoted husband to Susan, his 'bride' as he called her. They were married for over 30 years, and were inescapably in love and twinned forever. I talked to Susie and she wants Lee's fans to know that he was completely dramatic until the very end.
"Lee had 110 people in the operating room, which he loved. He told the nurse before he went under that since he was naked, everyone else should be too."
Lee underwent a 13 hour operation for a heart by-pass, and Susie said he just couldn't pull through.
Lee used to say "when I leave this vale of tears, I want elephants, dancing women and marching bands." Instead, Lee's ashes will be spread among his favorite hills of Arizona, where he and Susie have lived for the past decade.
This is the part where I am supposed to write my final thoughts about Lee but there will always be a million unfinished thoughts about him. He will be with me and millions of radio fans forever. All I can do is cry and mourn the passing of a genius, a total professional and the damned funniest man I have ever known.
Lee would like the last comment the best.
Although the genius part is a close second.
Really close.
ping...
ping...
Lee Rodgers was great. RIP.
That is a very nice tribute.
Along with Rush...
HE WAS THE GREATEST...!!!
I freaking LOVED that guy! A genius! He’d start his show-prep for his 5 am start from MIDNIGHT.
A workhorse, and extremely funny..!! Only Rush is on his level.
I’ve heard them all, and this guy WAS TOTALLY AMAZING..!!!
He’d respond to my email on a regular basis, too. GREAT GUY!!!
Very sad. :(
He and Mel -AMAZING TEAM....! (his replacement is a complete duffs)
Just damn. He was great.
A shame. Rest in Peace.
RIP Lee Rodgers.
He grew up poor as hell in Tennesee, and he was a pilot. A world traveler...
He was cantankerous but funny, and when he did any interview he knew the guests background cold and his book solidly —none of that Larry King, “I didn’t read your book..”-b.s.
Just sharp as a whip, that guy. Very, very principled.
He was the salt, and Mel was the sugar —an amazing team.
Lee was terrific, RIP Lee
I used to wake up to Lee and Melanie when they were on KSFO. They were great. May he rest in peace.
When they let him go, I tried to find him his next gig —only now can I see the full picture, and why he might have suddenly gone, back then.
When he quit, I stopped listening to morning drive —it was never the same without him.
I’m SO SORRY to hear this. I just forwarded to a bunch of people.
RIP Uncle Ree!
There are few radio personalities in his league.. and even fewer worth listening to since he left the air.
I can hear him now, joking about his travels. He is and will be missed.
He was the greatest. KGO went downhill after he was no longer there. A man of substance. He was a no nonsense interviewer.
Not KGO—KSFO!!!!!!!!!!
He was a real A-Hole-but I loved him.
One of the more odd interviews... The infamous Turkey Tugger interview...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO19VncInYo
Wow! That is a real loss. He was one of the last who was a true journalist. He obviously prepared for every interview, and asked insightful and probing questions of his guests. He didn’t let people slide with B.S. answers.
He was one of the few things I missed leaving California.
God speed Lee Rogers.
A few Lee-isms...
“We are soooooooo screwed.”
“What is wronnnng with you people?”
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