RALEIGH - Bobby L. Rogers had several on-air names on Raleigh R&B station WLLE in the 1960s and 1970s. He was "Sweet Bob," spinning records and dedications, as well as "The Big Round Mound of Sound," a smooth-voiced plus-size charmer.

"If you had a girlfriend or a wife, she did not belong to you whenever Sweet Bob was on the air," said James Covington, former WLLE gospel announcer.

"He was the sweetest-talking DJ probably ever," Covington said. Women loved him, and men loved to hate him. But there was nothing they could do about it because he was such a fun-loving guy."

Rogers, 67, died Sunday night after a long battle with prostate cancer. An accomplished athlete during his school years, he was also a lifeguard at Chavis Park pool. Ralph Campbell Jr., who was later a three-term Raleigh City Council member and state auditor, remembers Rogers teaching him to swim as a child.

Rogers first emerged as an on-air presence in the 1960s. WLLE, 570-AM, played classic R&B records and could be heard as far away as Greensboro. Sweet Bob was one of the station's signature personalities.

"He was a homegrown icon of radio deejaying of that era," said Henry Monroe, who owned WLLE with his wife in the 1980s and 1990s. "He had a great sense and feel for music, and also the local community. He'd take a song and the lyrics and formulate a story of his own to make the audience chuckle."

After his radio days, Rogers worked in the emergency call center for the Wake County Sheriff's Office. One can only imagine the calming effect his voice had on incoming callers. Wednesday afternoon, you could still hear Sweet Bob's voice on his home telephone answering machine.

"I'm going to leave him on there for a while," said Janice Rogers, his widow. Today would have been the couple's 38-year anniversary.

"I'm OK," Rogers said. "We miss him, but he'd been so sick and in so much pain. It's all right, he's in a much better place. He touched a lot of people's lives, in radio and in person. It's all intertwined."

Lea Funeral Home is coordinating services. Visitation is set for 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at First Cosmopolitan Baptist Church, 1515 Cross Link Road in Raleigh. The funeral will be noon Saturday, also at First Cosmopolitan.