Pat Rodgers

Pat Rodgers fell naturally into radio broadcasting as a teenager in the small town of Meadville, Pennsylvania, and over the years his career took him to jobs in Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Georgia. He was working in Atlanta when he received a call from the general manager of WOAI Radio in San Antonio, asking if he’d be interested in interviewing for the job of program director.

“The radio station was legendary,” Pat recalled, “so in 1979 I came here to be the program director and to work on the morning show.” He would eventually also become operations manager.

Pat came to WOAI with specific instructions to turn the station into a powerhouse of news and talk. He became both a familiar voice on San Antonio radio for two decades, and the driving force behind the creation of modern 1200 WOAI, the flagship of Clear Channel Communications, now iHeartMedia.

Pat built a powerful news operation and a stable of talk show hosts which included Carl Wiglesworth, Eliza Sonneland, who was his co-host on the chatty 'Morning Magazine' program, news legends Bob Guthrie and George Jennings, and sportstalk host Jay Howard. Pat also created Sports Radio KTKR, 76 AM, The Ticket.

Pat was the host of 'Cover Story,' a first-of-its-kind, hour-long talk show driven by the headlines of the day, prefiguring today's talk shows on networks like CNN and Fox News Channel.

After leaving 1200 WOAI in 1998, Pat achieved his dream of becoming a Roman Catholic deacon. He was communications director for the San Antonio Archdiocese, executive director of Catholic Television of San Antonio, and press secretary to three Archbishops. During these years, Deacon Rodgers also did a short stint at KTSA Radio.

Deacon Pat Rodgers retired in 2015 and passed away in November 2016.