Roger W. Morgan sits behind the mic in his studio at the Tioga building, where his new radio station 105.9 The Legend broadcasts.
COOS BAY — Radio DJ and personality Roger W. Morgan has made his home in Coos Bay after purchasing his own radio station here six months ago.
So far the station, which Morgan named 105.9 The Legend, has been quite successful. Operating out of the second floor of the Tioga building, the young station for old souls has already earned a number one ranking in the Coos Bay area with Nielsen Surveys.
Nielsen not only found the station to be number one in our area, but also that there were listeners on the outskirts of the Eugene market as well.
“I left Salem and almost immediately moved up to Seattle, Wash. Seattle was a big stop for me, because that was a much larger market and KJR in Seattle was a station that everybody loved. It was maybe the second largest station on the West Coast, outside of Los Angeles. That was a natural move for me. From there I went to Houston, Texas, another very big market, and I kept moving up to bigger markets,” Morgan said.
An Oregon native born in Salem, Morgan began his career as a radio DJ back in 1957. However, his entertainment career started several years prior when he worked as a child rodeo star.
“My father was a rodeo announcer, and when I was three I was in rodeos as a trick roper under my real name Jerry Lambert,” Morgan said.
Morgan’s father Mel Lambert was a very popular rodeo announcer, who according to Morgan has been enshrined in the Cowboy Hall of Fame.
“His career all through his life was announcing rodeos. That’s how I got intrigued by being an announcer. I decided that would be a cool thing to do,” Morgan said.
When Morgan was 11 he met Gene Autry through his father. Autry wanted Morgan to work alongside actress Gail Davis in the TV show Annie Oakley as the main character Annie’s little brother. Morgan’s father didn’t want him to move to California, so he didn’t get that job. However, the young man they decided to hire for the role didn’t know how to ride a horse, so Morgan did the horse riding stunt work for him.
In 1969 Morgan got the opportunity to not only meet the Beatles, but also spend the better part of a week with them. This was shortly after rumors began to surface that Paul McCartney was dead.
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