SAN ANTONIO — Bob Rogers, the former news director who helped to make KENS 5 a national powerhouse TV station for more than two decades from behind the scenes, died from heart failure this week, according to a Friday Facebook post from relatives. He was 87.
Rogers worked for 27 years to create the Eyewitness News brand and hired many of the people who became household names in San Antonio broadcasting, including current Anchor Deborah Knapp in 1978.
"He made KENS 5 a dominant No. 1 TV news station," Knapp said. "For several years in the 1980s KENS 5 was the highest-rated station in the United States. He understood this community and always made everyone strive for excellence."
That commitment to excellence was well-regarded across the country and his mentorship of young journalists has reached far into the future, as many who worked with Rogers are now working at larger-market stations around the country.
The Rogers family says his memorial will be a private service for loved ones, but they say he loved animals and he would be happy with a charitable donation as a way of remembering him.