Longtime Elkins DJ Roger Taylor retires after nearly five decades on the radio

ELKINS, W.Va. — One of Randolph County radio’s most recognizable voices will retire this week. Roger Taylor, a longtime radio host at WDNE and WELK, will retire after a 46-year career.

“I worked the morning shift for quite a long time. I worked the night shift and everything in between. I even did a little bit of advertising sales. I did production and news. When I started, you had to be a jack of all trades because there was no satellite and nothing to rely on but yourself,” Taylor said in an interview, reflecting on his nearly five decades behind the microphone.

He was on the air and was the first to tell his listeners about some of the most historic events in history. He recalled that the first major event was the shooting of John Lennon.

“It came over the phone and I had to calm down before I went on the air and announced it. Then I played his song ‘Imagine’ right after that. Not long after that, President Reagan was shot and I had never heard so many rings on a teletype machine before then or since,” he said.

Taylor was also on the air when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded and when terrorists hijacked four planes on September 11. He saw the towers collapse on the small screen of a tiny television in the studio.

He joined WDNE part-time when he was 19. He was studying radio and television broadcasting at Fairmont State University at the time. A friend from Elkins suggested he talk to the people at WDNE, who were always looking for part-time employees. He visited the station manager and was on the air within days. It was 1978 and he never left.

“This is where I wanted to be. People said to me, ‘Why don’t you move to Morgantown or Washington DC, you can get a good job there.’ I don’t want to live in a big city. I wanted to live in a small town and this is where I’m going to die,” he explained.

His choice of words was interesting because it almost happened in 2004. As with most things in his life, Taylor was alone at the radio station at the time. Taylor suffered an aortic dissection. He explained that it wasn’t exactly a heart attack, but actually something worse. His aorta literally split in half and that’s almost always fatal. Roger was alone at the radio station on a Saturday morning when it happened. He was about to go on the air with the Trading Post and thought he probably wouldn’t finish it. So 911 wasn’t his first call.

“I called the son of the then CEO, who was working part-time. I told him, ‘I think I’m having a heart attack. I need you to come over and take over.’ That was my first call. My second call was to the emergency room,” Taylor laughed. “There can’t be any radio silence!”

His humor and dedication to his work have endeared him to a crowd of listeners in Elkins and the surrounding area. Fellow producer Joe Danger has worked with Taylor for nearly 30 years.

“If you look at Roger, you see radio everywhere. He’s that kind of guy. You put a microphone in his hand and he comes to life,” Danger said, recalling the time when the two collaborated on stage in Elkins to introduce concerts and other public events.

Judy Ritchie, general manager of Clayton Homes in Elkins, has known Roger since the two were in first grade together. As part of her business, she often worked with Roger on marketing, but also on fundraising for charities. Ritchie recalled a story in which she and Taylor were on a live talk show with an oncologist to raise money for cancer research. She vividly remembered that the show demonstrated Taylor’s ability to adapt on the fly.

“We had a caller who said he had put a frog down his pants as a child and brought it home with him. He asked if that might be the cause of his prostate cancer,” Ritchie explained. “Three heads backed away from the microphones, not knowing what to say. Somehow Roger composed himself and said, ‘Well, we’ll have to get the doctor to look into it,’ and then we moved on to the next caller. His composure was wonderful,”

Ritchie is not only a longtime friend, but also a longtime listener. She said next week will be different when that familiar voice is no longer there on her drive home.

“I can’t imagine ‘Drive at 5’ without Roger. It just won’t be the same. Roger was only off the air once when he was ill. It’s just strange to hear someone else in that slot. I think we’re really going to miss him,” she said.

Danger agreed, saying it would be disturbing to have a radio station without Roger Taylor.

“People literally grew up with Roger Taylor. They were kids when he was on the air and now all of a sudden BOOM. It’s like losing a family member,” Danger said.

Taylor may not be able to completely step away from the microphone – don’t be surprised if he returns from time to time as a fill-in or part-timer – but his grueling day-to-day at the station is over and he’s happy.

“I never wanted to go anywhere else. I never wanted to live anywhere else. I love Elkins and small town life. You just get on the roll and people call your name. Sometimes you don’t know if you know the person or if they just know you from the radio, but I have a lot of friends this way,” he said.

Greg White contributed to this story.