Dennis Elsas, 102.7 WNEW-FM New York | 1978
Jan 07, 2005 
23 Comments
Dennis Elsas, who was an AOR jock at a few New York stations, spent most of his time at WNEW-FM. This MetroMedia station was, of course, the FM side to legendary standards station WNEW Eleven Three Oh, and over the course of 3 decades gained it’s own legendary status.
Interestingly, for our younger listeners who listen to Classic or Active Rock stations, you’ll be surprised to hear how subdued WNEW-FM is. This actually was the norm at most AOR stations up till the early 80s. Virtually no imaging, certainly no jingles, and jocks who KNEW the music & artists inside and out.
Notable on this recording: WNEW-FM Concert Happenings, and a lengthy Rock Report with Robin Sagon which described Rolling Stones member Keith Richards’ conviction in Canada on heroin charges. It’s worth mentioning that Richards was sentenced to a year’s probation and ordered to perform a benefit concert for the blind. Remember, this is 1978…
Loading ...
dennis elsas originally started out as a weekend personality on wnew-fm and afterwards became their music director. one of the most significant and exciting momemts in radio history occurred in 1974 when john lennon appeared at the station and spent a couple of hours on the air with dennis. he read live spots on the air and premiered his new album at that time “walls and bridges. this was trully a monumental moment for dennis elsas and wnew fm because this station and its airstaff played every major rock artist way before any other station in its market. this station had credibility with the artists and its listening audience. dennis is very gifted when it comes to creating and crafting musical segues on the radio according to a common theme or some other common link he employs to connect the songs that he has chosen to play. in this particular aircheck of dennis elsas, you will get an idea of how incredibly ecclectic the musical selections were at that time. you will hear excerpts from boston, alan parsons, project, a deep cut from todd rundgren’s something anything collection and something from the pointer sisters. dennis elsas is currently doing afternoon drive on wfuv fm 90.7 public radio from fordham unniversity in new york.
Even though I’m young, 37. I miss WNEW very much. Pat StJohn, Dave Herman,
Scott Mueny,Carol MIller and Tony Pig will be in the back of mind for ever. To this day,I still think WNEW 102.7 fm was the best radio station in the world.The variety of music played by them was magical. I learned and experienced so many classic rock bands that otherwise, I would not have discovered if it weren’t for WNEW. One my wildest dreams is to someday see WNEW back in its full glory with the original format and with the DJs that made the station so special.
If you miss WNEW like I do, check out WFUV 90.7 FM, or WFUV.org. Dennis Elsas does the 2pm to 6pm shift. Alumni Vin Scelsa (Idiot’s Delight) and Pete Fornatale (Mixed Bag) also do their shows on the weekends as they did on ‘NEW. It’s a public radio station out of Fordham University that plays a great variety of some of the stuff you heard on WNEW, but a TON of new stuff from artists you never heard before. Check it out and enjoy!
I was a huge fan of the station for 31 years. In 1989 I participated in a radio contest in which I went to the station and listened to 24 hours of Barry Manilow records to win tickets to see the Who perform Tommy at Radio City Music Hall. I got to meet the DJ’s and sat 5th row left of center for the show. I did it on a dare…what is the most outrageous thing you would do for the tickets to see “Tommy.” I do miss the station and I miss the way they were able to capture the soundtrack of the 60′s and 70′s in the progressive rock fashion they were able. I really don’t think, in this age of such tight corporate ownership, you’ll ever see another station come along like that. Just as an update: Pat St. John is at Q104.3 in New York doing a Saturday morning show, Carol Miller does an overnight on Friday nights and Ralph Tortora, the last DJ to actually do a regularly scheduled music show there on 9/13/99 is also there.
I started listening to NEW in 1964 because i was getting tired of the AM format (Cousin Brucie; The Good Guys, etc. As soon as i heard Roscoe, I knew this was the station for me. I will always miss people like Roscoe, jonathen Strauss, Vince Scelsa, Allison Steele, etc. Wnew 102.7 NY will be sorely missed by me.
I was 15 when I started to listen to NEW around 1967. No other radio station came close to their format and playlist. Where else would you hear Clear Light, Lothar and The Hand People and The Illusion? I had met Vince Scelsa at a charity softball game back then and he was hilarious. Does anyone remember the NEW-FM calendars? Listeners were requested to send in their photos and maybe be selected for the centerfold. I was lucky to get picked 3 different years.
closest we can now get to the old NEW is on XM RADIO on Deep Tracks – can be hit or miss though
Hi.
I’m listening to “Dick” Neer (sorry, Richard)on the fan:a caller informs Richard about a new web site commemorating the greatest rock station ever..WNEW.IWondered why Mr. Neer was not privy to this great project. Water under the bridge!For whatever reason there may be,please get him involved.He is part of the class and free- form history that helped shape the greatest rock station ever.
Qiuck trivia question.Do you remember what the name of the un official anthem was nfor WNEW?
A song called “The Wind”by Circus Maximus.That is a great song,today.i HAVE SO MUCH MORE i’D LIKE TO TALK ABOUT.WNEW has been a part of my life since my older sister introduced me to it in 1967.WNEW:Where rock lived…and will always be remembered.I only wish we could revive it.I’m willing to try,if you have any ideas let me know.
LONG LIVE FREE FORM RADIO!!!!
Ron C. S.I.N.Y.
Nothing like it. Scotty’s show on a rainy afternoon playing songs that just fit with his comments or Roscoe reciting stories about “when she puts her clothes on” or the three guys who won’t be coming back from Nam. You know these stories that he’d do. His friday night close of Lee Michaels sing along(Hiddy-Hi). Yeah you remember those. Allison with the flute opening and readings to join her night flight. No one talks about Zackerly(before he went to 95.5) he rocked them too. Or Johny Michaels in the morning if he was sober. All this with the war going on the draft looming and the tension in the air, you guys know what I mean. These were dangerous times for young men and women, the music was vital and alive. WNEW stepped out and distanced itself from top 40 bullshit to unreal jams presented by radio personalities that seem to turn ordinary radio into something different and interesting. Where has it all gone?
Kyran Brennan
Paso Robles,Ca.
WNEW-FM 102.7 was TRULY the greatest rock & roll station of our time, I’m 54 years old, I remember the John Lennon interview, I remember when someone wanted to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge, and the only person he wanted to talk to was Scott Muni, and Scott talked him out of doing it, and it was all captured LIVE ON THE AIR !!!!!
I can go on and on, but there isn’t enough time, the music was incredible and the on-air personality’s were one of a kind, Dave Herman, Pete Fornatale, Dennis Elsas, Scott Muni, The Night Bird Allison Steele, Jonathan Schwartz, Vin Scelsa, Tom Morrera, It’s a time and place that I miss very much.
I am trying to get some information on Tommy Morrera. Can you help me out? What is Tommy up to today?
Thanks.
All I can say is WNEW FM 102.7 Where Rock was born and used to live.
Thank goodness for Sirius. I can still here some of the NEW air personalities. Thats what they were and are. They were not DJ’s.
All the memories and live concert broadcasts. You don’t get much of that anymore.
Yeah, I remember. Jonathan reading a story about the picture on a cigarette package. Rosco offering a comment to use when attacked for something (“Yeah, you’re right. But I’m working on it”.). Late night craziness with Zacherly. Cheech and Chong reading the traffic report w/ Dave Herman. It doesn’t seem that long ago. But it does seem to be needed now.
Ah yes, 102.7 in metromedia stereo. Dan (above) has listed the personalities that I remember most plus, Pat St. John. I recall absorbing 102.7 at the ocean on a blanket at West End 2 where one could easily see the twin towers and lower Manhattan in the distance. 102.7 was mandatory for those in the music know. I loved it. The first song I heard on 102.7 was the album version of Light My Fire. Doesn’t seem like much today but it was back then. I recall traveling down Ocean parkway the first time that I heard a cut from Who’s Next – Baba O’Reily. I nearly drove off the into dunes. Couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The Schaefer Music Festival, King Biscuit, 24 hour relief. After leaving NY for the west, when I would return to NY, I would re-program everyone’s car to 102.7 and to a lesser degree, WLIR (92.5?). But through those hot humid nights and cold winter days, it was there, like the air we breathe. I remember driving home from college in upstate NY. At school, I could sometimes get CHOM out of Montreal but it wasn’t enough. As I’d approach Highway 84 and Newburgh, I’d dial in the bright green Panasonic 8-track to 102.7. Gradually, the static and atmospheric noise would give way to musical magic and fill my Ford Galaxy with the right chords…with the notes I needed. Could be Tull, Stills, Alice, Blodwin Pig, Yes, anybody and usually English. Like a drink of mountain-fresh water, the music would welcome me home, her signal getting stronger all the time. Do I miss it? You bet I do. I thought it would never end. How foolish. Slowly, 102.7 evaporated to modern trash. I find remnants of 102.7 on channel 40 and 46 on Sirius/XM. Dennis and Pat are there. 102.7 is one of the few favorable memories of years gone past that does not lie. Radio and music then was better than anything from Disco on. 102.7 is still rooted in my soul. Sign me in. Rod Johnston, Burnsville, NC.
Is this still active
Wow. Where do you start to talk about the greatest Rock and Roll station EVER. All the live broadcasts, from The Bottom Line, all the Grateful Dead shows, Springsteen…too many to list. Things from England, all the great rock stars paying Scott and others a visit, and a very memorable rainy Saturday afternoon in 1974 with Dennis Elsas and John Lennon. Plus I won a few contests on this here station. Tickets to Billy Joel in 1987…The Grateful Dead in 1994 AND I won a trip to New Orleans after Scott Muni(RIP)picked my name. There will never be another station like this, but thank goodness we have memories.
In the late 70’s when I was down at the Jersey Shore (the “beach” for non-Jersey folk) for a weekend and it rained the whole time. If I remember this right, we started playing cards and drinking vodka, and drove to the liquor store for more when the bottle was finished. Tuned in on the radio was WNEW FM which got me through the 70’s, and DJ Dennis Elsas, or maybe it was Vin Scelsa, played Springsteen’s “Born to Run”…the album was just out and we were just singing at the top of our lungs. Then, the Dennis or Vin said, “man, that was hot, I’m gonna play it again.” At the end of the second play he played it a third time. It was a perfect thing to do at a perfect time.
celebrating wnew-fm´s 25th anniversary
The concert referenced in this clip (Rockpile at the Bottom Line) is featured in its entirety on Wolfgang’s Vault. And I believe it was that night that Keith Richards guests with Rockpile on one song, after the decision was rendered in his case in Toronto.
Always great to hear the much mythologized WNEW-FM. They got more upbeat and lively toward the close of the seventies but they were pretty laid back. They also played a very broad mix of music (I remember distinctly that around 1977 Peter Allen was a staple of the playlist–they played a bunch of things you wouldn’t expect).
Just reading this blog while sitting in a bar in Hollywood, FL and can’t help but remember all the GREAT radio personalties on WNEW in the late 60s and 70s thank u all.
Thank god for satellite radio where some are still broadcasting.
Does anyone recall a free concert presented by WNEW at the Naumberg band shell in Central Park back on a really hot day in 1969 or 70? It was fantastic but I can’t find any reference to it.
The New Riders of the Purple Sage played. Allison Steele MC’ed.
Jesse Collin Young might have also appeared.
If anyone could fill me in on the date of this concert I would appreciate it.
I am also astounded that I can find no information on the web about the great WNEW “simulcast” back around the same time. The simulcast was an innovation back in those days: the concert was broadcast on New York’s channel 5 (WNEW) and the sound was simultaneously broadcast on WNEW FM. The incredible lineup of that concert included Iggy and the Stooges, Alice Cooper and the MC5. The video must exist somewhere and I’m sure there’s large audience for it.
Any have any info on that concert? Those were the days! billd210@aol.com
What were the DJ’s theme songs ? I know Pete Fornatale’s was “Icarus “. Didn’t somebody have ” Cast your fate to the wind” ?. I really miss WNEW-FM.
I miss those great days of WNEW-FM. Scott Muni, Carol Miller, Dave Herman, Dennis Elsas, etc.
I still have the letter from Dave Herman regarding the Dark Side of the Moon/Wizard of Oz. For those not around at the time you would turn off the sound on Wizard of Oz and play the music of Pink Floyd. Long story. But fun.
I miss those great free concerts sponsored by WNEW-FM that were held in Central Park at the Band Shell.
I remember my friends and I went to see Harry Chapin and some other groups perform a free concert in the park. (At the Band shell. Not Schaefer Music Festival) I’ve been trying to find out the date of the concert and what other performers were there. Anyone out there remember that show. Harry was amazing.
You can e-mail me at Septemberguy920@AOL.com (Put concert in the subject line)
Thanks.