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    Dick Rogers

May 20, 2011

Dick Rogers' radio career spanned decades, new formats

By Dan Linehan The Free Press

— Dick Rogers’ career in radio spanned nearly four decades, but he was most proud of the last one, when he brought broadcasting to St. James.

“He started two radio stations from scratch in a small town. No one really gave it a chance to succeed a week, let alone 20-plus years. That’s his biggest achievement,” said his son Curt Rogers, who operates a Dairy Queen in St. James.

Richard “Dick” Rogers died May 13 at the age of 78.

He grew up in Minneapolis, enlisted in the Air Force in 1952 and joined Mankato-based KTOE in 1960 as news director.

Don Linder, who founded the Minnesota Valley Broadcasting Company, remembers Rogers from that era.

“He was pretty hardworking and confident,” Linder said.

Later, when Rogers owned the St. James stations, Linder remembers him eating alone at buffets for lunch. He wasn’t exactly the most social media figure.

Curt Rogers says that’s a fair description.

“I think, like Don said, he really was kind of a loner. I think he had a vision of doing something his own way,” he said.

That desire may have played a role into his later decision to start the St. James stations.

Rogers was hired by Twin Cities station WDGY in 1963 as a news editor and reporter.

That’s its own mark of excellence, KTOE News Director Pete Steiner said. At the time, that station had a reputation as the best.

Rogers worked for KYSM in the ’70s and helped convert the FM station to a country-music format.

He was an early adopter of FM, Curt Rogers said, which eventually replaced AM stations for music because of FM’s higher-quality sound.

In 1983, he started KXAX, a mix of adult contemporary music as well as ’50s and ’60s songs, the first station based in St. James. Several years later, he started the light rock station KXAC.

“He got a good kick out of getting up in the morning and reporting the news,” Curt Rogers said.

He sold the stations to Linder when he retired in 1996 and moved to Texas.

When asked if there was anything else about his dad he’d like to say, Curt Rogers paused for a moment and said it didn’t have anything to do with radio. It may, though, have helped him start his own stations and persuade advertisers to sign on.

“He never took Novocain for cavities. He didn’t believe in pain, didn’t believe in days off, didn’t sweat the small stuff. Probably one of the toughest guys I’ve ever known in my life.”

Dick Rogers’ funeral service is Tuesday in Richfield.

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