R.I.P. Omaha Broadcaster Hal Rogers

Hal Rogers

A jack-of-all trades — who was a radio broadcaster, a sportscaster and the owner of many doughnut shops, including the famed South 13th Street Donut Stop in Omaha — died last Tuesday 10/07.

Hal Rodgers was 82, according to omaha.com.

He was first known as a radio personality on KFAB 1110 AM from 1961 to 1969.

“Whenever there was a celebrity in town, he would always meet and talk with them,” said his son Randy Rodgers. “He introduced Bobby Kennedy when he was campaigning in ’68.”

Later Rodgers moved to Des Moines and became a program manager at KRNT 1350 AM until 1972. But he wanted to return to Omaha, and he found a job as a sports broadcaster at KETV for a few years in the early 1970s.

Rodgers was eventually nominated for induction into the Nebraska Radio Personalities Hall of Fame in 2005.

In the mid-1970s, Rodgers was itching to be independent, so he opened a doughnut shop, first in Nebraska City and later a Donut Stop in Shenandoah, Iowa, along with others in southwest Iowa.