Comments on: Dennis Elsas, 102.7 WNEW-FM New York | 1978

By: walt z

walt z — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 01:01:02 +0000

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.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 03:58:14 +0000

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).

By: george

george — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:47:57 +0000

celebrating wnew-fm´s 25th anniversary

By: Sal DeMarco

Sal DeMarco — Sun, 31 May 2009 01:50:12 +0000

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.

By: Bob

Bob — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:35:21 +0000

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.

By: Tony

Tony — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 02:08:23 +0000

Is this still active

By: Rod Johnston

Rod Johnston — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:19:48 +0000

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.

By: Phil Sikora

Phil Sikora — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:14:01 +0000

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.

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 05:04:29 +0000

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.

By: Dan Minutillo

Dan Minutillo — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 17:49:24 +0000

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.