by Savanah Baker
H. Roger Dodson, local broadcaster and University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications alumnus, died Oct. 26, 2016. He was 74.
Dodson was born May 14, 1942, in Nehawka, Nebraska. After becoming an Eagle Scout and graduating from high school, Dodson attended University of Nebraska–Lincoln and graduated in 1964. He worked as an announcer, salesman and vice president/general manager of Stuart Broadcasting until January1981. Dodson then became president of Long-Pride Broadcasting in Wichita, Kansas. While there, he was profiled in the "Radio: In Search of Excellence" publication sharing the secrets of America's top radio managers.
He later became the president of Radio One Broadcasting, a group of 10 stations in South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska. He then joined the Radio Advertising Bureau as senior vice president for training in 1995, where he appeared at RAB training seminars all over the country. Dodson also worked as an adjunct professor for the CoJMC from 2007 to 2010.
Dodson was honored in 2001 as an Outstanding Alumnus from the Conestoga Public School "Golden Cougar Hall of Fame," and in 2003 as the University of Nebraska Outstanding Alumni by the CoJMC. He was also a Nebraska Broadcasting Association hall of famer in 2003.
Associate Professor Rick Alloway of the CoJMC credits his career in broadcasting to Dodson helping him get his first gig while still in high school.
“Roger recommended me to be the KFOR Sportscaster’s Club correspondent from Lincoln Southeast (in the 1970s),” Alloway said. “That got me interested in radio and then a year later I joined the Explorer Post that KFOR had…and ended up working there parttime which turned into fulltime.”
Alloway and Dodson went separate ways over the years as they followed their careers but remained friends.
“The last time I saw him his wife was driving him to therapy and they stopped, he rolled his window down and shook my hand,” Alloway recalled. “His grip was still tight, his smile still as wide as the Missouri River and he was the same old Roger, always enthusiastic and a great champion for young people in the business.”
Dodson is survived by his wife, JeNeane (Schelbitzki) Dodson, two daughters, Whitney Dodson of Austin, Texas, and Alesia Spangler of Lincoln, and four grandchildren.
