Roger “Unkle Rog” McCall was the late-night conscience of Rochester rock radio — a WCMF 96.5 FM fixture for nearly three decades whose dedication to local musicians made him one of the most beloved figures in Western New York’s music history. His unsolved murder in December 2003 at age 52 left a void that the Rochester scene has never fully recovered from.
The All Night Rock
McCall joined WCMF in the mid-1970s and held down the overnight shift for close to 30 years. While most late-night radio was automated playlists and syndicated programming, McCall ran his show live, greeting listeners with his warm, smooth-voiced delivery. His overnight broadcast mixed classic rock staples with deeper cuts, but his most important contribution was a recurring segment called “Homegrown” — a dedicated showcase for Rochester’s local and underground musicians.
Champion of the Underground
In an era before social media, SoundCloud, or Bandcamp, getting airplay on a major FM station was the only path to exposure for most local bands. McCall listened to every demo tape that crossed his desk. He invited garage bands into the studio for live interviews, premiered unreleased tracks, and gave first breaks to artists who had no other way to reach an audience. Rochester’s local music community from the 1980s through the early 2000s was shaped in large part by McCall’s willingness to take chances on unknown acts when no one else at a commercial station would.
Off-air, McCall was equally generous. He survived a bout with terminal cancer and continued broadcasting. He donated to neighbors in need and used his platform to amplify community causes.
A Case Still Open
On December 12, 2003, McCall was shot and killed in what investigators described as a possible robbery or targeted attack. The case remains unsolved more than two decades later, a fact that still haunts the Rochester music community. In 2017, McCall was inducted into the Rochester Music Hall of Fame — a long-overdue recognition of a man who gave more to local music than he ever asked for in return. His legacy lives in every Rochester band that got their first break on the radio, late at night, because Unkle Rog was listening.