Legendary radio host Neil Rogers died of congestive heart failure in Broward County on Christmas Eve 2010.
But he’s alive and well on Michael Allen Smith’s NeilRogers.org, a website that allows free access to 1,900 Rogers shows with more 4,500 hours of broadcasts spanning 25 years.
For good measure, Smith added 300 “drops,” seconds-long bits that Rogers sprinkled on his audience, including “Neil God,” “It’s Friday, you bastards” and “Floridians, dumb as dirt.”
The thing about software engineer Smith, 48, is that he never met Rogers.
He never listened to a single Rogers’ program live.
And he never lived in South Florida, which was as much a character on the show as Rogers himself.
No matter, he says.
“Neil’s best shows were when he was really local,” Smith says, “when he talked about the hockey team and the penny tax and old people.
“Even if you never lived there, it was the kind of stuff you’d never hear anywhere else.”
Smith’s collection starts in 1982 and ends on June 12, 2009, Rogers’ last show on WQAM-560 AM and last show ever.
