Biography
Neer began his radio career as a student at Adelphi University, from which he graduated in 1970. He worked for a while at Long Island, New York station WLIR, where he was one of the early adopters of the freeform or progressive rock radio format.
In 1971, he joined the airstaff of progressive rock radio powerhouse WNEW-FM in New York City, where he worked as a disc jockey, mostly on weekends and overnight shifts. For a while, Neer had a friendly relationship with Bruce Springsteen and played a part in bringing Springsteen's music to a wider audience. He witnessed the growth of the format and then its gradual shift into a more rigid, programmed, classic rock-driven product, a transformation he described in his 2001 book FM: The Rise and Fall of Rock Radio.
Concurrently, Neer began working as a sports radio talk show host at New York stations WNEW-AM in 1986 and then at WFAN in 1988. WFAN was the first and most visible of the successful all-sports format radio stations. Neer broadcast on the last day of music at WNEW-FM in 1999, then returned to that station for a bit after its switch to a "hot talk" format replacing the Sports Guys sports talk show hosting "Sports in the Morning—powered by the FAN" up until the time the station started stunting CHR before its flip to Blink.
Neer remains at WFAN doing sports talk, working Saturday mornings and some nights. He hosted New York Giants NFL broadcasts for several years.
Neer's deadpan, unemotional style of speaking has prompted Bob Raissman, sports media reporter for the New York Daily News, to refer to Neer as "Sir Sominex," suggesting that Neer's delivery is soporific.
Neer's brother Dan Neer is also a disc jockey, and currently works at XM Radio.
Read more about this topic: Richard Neer
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