Vale: Bob Rogers

Broadcasting legend Bob Rogers, best known for his long Sydney radio career and TV’s The Bob Rogers Show, has died aged 97.

He died at his Mosman home in Sydney on Wednesday after an extraordinary 78 years in the radio industry.

Rogers began his career as a panel operator in Melbourne in 1942, before going on to work in Brisbane and Sydney on 2SM, 2GB and 2CH, before retiring in 2020.

He was awarded an OAM in 2010 for his contribution to broadcasting.

Rogers caught the radio bug as a child — crowding around the wireless as a family to listen to shows, back in the 1940s before TV sets became more affordable.

He got a job as a panel operator at local station 3XY when he was just 14 years old.

His first job as an announcer was at 3MA Mildura when he was only 17, far away from his family in Melbourne. Rogers was chosen in 1964 to represent 2SM on The Beatles’ legendary tour through Europe, Asia and Australia. He was subsequently dubbed “the fifth Beatle”.

He discovered the Slim Dusty song “Pub With No Beer” in 1957 and was the first DJ in Australia to play it. The song went straight to number one on the charts.

He was still doing a radio program on Sydney’s 2CH when he was aged in his 90s, and was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2002.

He hosted variety show The Bob Rogers Show for Seven for five years in the early 1970s and was a regular on Celebrity Squares and Pot of Gold.

Source: Nine, News.com.au