A grandson of William Cauldwell, publisher of the New York Sunday Mercury, Rogers was allowed to start working for that paper when he was 12.
By 1893–94, Rogers became the paper's publisher while attempting to become a daily publication, a venture which failed in 1896.
In 1904, he became a manager of the Commercial Advertiser, a low-circulation paper (around 12,000) which traced its founding back to 1793 by Noah Webster.
[2][3][4] Rogers' dedication to high quality and serious reporting was a bit at odds with Munsey's typical operations, and as he had no ownership in the paper, he had no control over this turn of events.
A year later, Rogers attempted to create a new paper in the mold of Globe, but was unable to draw sufficient investors.