freqdev said:
I've known Jeff for more years than most have you have been alive. He is cocky, yes, he can be annoying, yes, he can be full of himself, yes, he has done some things in radio that most of us couldn't, yes, his demeanor is sometimes irritating, yes, he's won an award, yes, he's laying the next stepping stone for his future, yes, he's really a funny and humble guy if you get to know him. (Screetching tires) What?
It's true. Jeff puts on his pants like the rest of us. I'll be accused of being a family member, but those who read this crap probably dreamed of working in a Major Market......and he did. So what if it didn't work out. Life goes on. Be well Jeff.
Man, I just don't get it. The Jeff Roper I knew was one of the most humble, grounded, nice people I've ever met. The descriptions I've read on here are absolutely 180 degrees off from the guy I met in 1991.
Here's what i do know. WZOK/Rockford was a monster, literally had 25+ shares forever. Roper was the latest in a long line of very successful morning shows, and he was the biggest in years. The owners of the station had always done radio much bigger than the market, knew how important a morning show like that was, and fell all over themselves giving Jeff the "star" treatment. I first met Jeff on my first interview there. He was helping a promotions assistant load up a van for an appearance. All of the other DJs at the station just showed up at their appearances, did their breaks, and left, leaving the set up and tear down to the promotions department. Roper not only helped with setup and teardown, but often took them to dinner afterwards.
He'd get off the air every day, do his produced elements for the next day's show, then grab all the dubs in the overworked production director's box and do them. The station charged big money for him to voice spots (in addition to his talent fees), so he'd grab me, a salesperson, even listeners to do the tags, but how may 30 share morning shows do you know that knock out 10-20 dubs a day?
Fairly or not, most morning shows find themselves resented in their radio stations. That wasn't the case with Roper at ZOK. I honestly don't think there was a single person in that building who didn't genuinely like him, and a lot of them would've take a bullet for him.
When he left, it was like someone died. Everyone in that building was depressed for months. I got really lucky with his replacement (Eric Ferguson, now mornings at MIX/Chicago), but people treated him like crap in that building, just because they missed Roper so much. He was cut from the same cloth as Jeff, a decent, humble guy with no ego who would do whatever it took to help anyone, but Roper was such a hard act to follow.
I guess success could have gone to Jeff's head, but that is so unlike the person I knew I just find it really hard to believe. Especially since he grew up the son of a big time radio personality. If he lived that life growing up, and was the way he was in Rockford, I don't see how getting to the show, which he was familiar with because of his dad, would have such a massive effect on him.
Anyway, I hope that's the case. I really like the Jeff Roper I knew.
