Condolences: Rod Meyer
• We were saddened over the weekend to hear that Nebraska radio legend Rod Meyer was killed last Thursday in a car accident in his hometown of Fremont, NE. He was 68 years old. Details are still pending.
Meyer, who provided the soundtrack to high school kids in Omaha and in dozens of small towns all across Eastern Nebraska, had the privilege of working at his hometown radio station, KHUB/Fremont, and also cracked the mic (and nailed the post) at KFRX/Lincoln, as well as such iconic Omaha radio stations as KQKQ (Sweet 98), 59 WOW and the mighty 1290 KOIL. That’s Meyer (pictured) during his flame-throwing night jock days at 59 WOW in the ’70s.
Veteran programmer and consultant Tracy Johnson grew up in Central Nebraska listening to Meyer on 59 WOW/Omaha. Years later, Johnson and Meyer worked together for six years at KFRX/Lincoln — Johnson as PD and Meyer as night jock (“The Evening Flyer”) and later, APD/MD. As Johnson told RAMP, “Rod was the ultimate air personality in the style of Jo Jo Kincaid, John Records Landecker and to an extent, Broadway Bill Lee. Combined with a Casey Kasem-like knowledge of the history of pop music, he made our station sound much bigger than Lincoln, NE. And what an example he was for the rest of our (mostly younger) air staff. He was quiet off the air but larger than life on it.”
Meyer’s Facebook page is already filling up with remembrances from his many friends and former colleagues. Details on memorial services will be announced. [Thanks also to Dave Beasing; photo courtesy of Curt McLey].
