Neil Rogers isn't going anywhere and Randi Rhodes is back. Rogers has agreed to a new five-year contract with WQAM (AM 560), which will keep him on the air through 2013. The deal calls for a substantial pay cut, more a reflection of the financial situation at the station than Rogers' performance. However, Rogers will still be the highest paid personality in South Florida radio--and it won't be close.
If the reduction is 50 percent, the station's reported original offer, Rogers would still be making in the neighborhood of $500K to $750K a year, which is a pretty fancy neighborhood.
Speaking of neighborhoods, Rogers might be returning to South Florida from Toronto some time in the not too distant future. He has dropped hints to this effect on his 10 a.m.-2 p.m. program lately. He is scheduled to be back for at least a weekend to appear at Gulfstream Park on May 17, the date of the Preakness Stakes, the second jewel of thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown. Gulfstream will have simulcast wagering on the race.
Rhodes was suspended last week by Air America for outrageous, profane putdowns of Hillary Clinton and some of her supporters at an off-air speaking engagement. So she quit and returned to Palm Beach and has resumed her program on WJNO (AM 1290) for a new syndicator.
Rhodes is now part of the most incompatible back-to-back odd couple pairing in radio. Conservative icon Rush Limbaugh airs from noon-3 p.m. with the hard left Rhodes on from 3-6 p.m.
