Dennis Elsas

Dennis Elsas is an American disc jockey in New York City, whose radio and voiceover career has spanned more than 50 years, most notably his more than 25 years at WNEW-FM in New York City, where he debuted on July 11, 1971 and served as music director, as well as his current duties hosting an afternoon show on WFUV in New York (90.7 FM) and shows on Sirius XM Satellite Radio's Classic Vinyl and Sirius XM Satellite Radio's The Beatles Channel.^[1] On the Beatles channel he can be heard on a live weekly call-in roundtable show, "The Fab Fourum," and "Across the Universe," celebrating the life and music of John Lennon.

Dennis Elsas
Born	Queens, New York City, U.S.
Alma mater	Queens College
Career
Show	Classic Vinyl, The Fab Fourum, others
Stations	SiriusXM WFUV WNEW-FM
Country	United States
Website	www.denniselsas.com

Early life and education

Raised in Jackson Heights, Queens, Elsas attended Queens College of the City University of New York, graduating in 1968. During his time at Queens College, he was active as a disc jockey and program director and in 1966 helped establish WQMC, the campus radio station.^[2]

At the same time, the rock radio landscape was changing and some FM radio stations experimented with a more alternative approach to presenting the music in sharp contast to the tightly formatted AM radio Top 40 stations of the time. Progessive album-oriented rock emerged as a format that gave album rock a larger platform and the DJs more freedom and influence over what music listeners heard. In 1969, Elsas joined WVOX, a suburban FM radio station in New Rochelle, New York, creating "Something Else Again," a weekly program that showcased his unique approach to presenting music within the progressive rock format.

Career

On July 11, 1971, Elsas launched what would become a 25-plus year career at WNEW-FM in New York City. Elsas was hired at WNEW-FM by the station’s program director, Scott Muni, one of the legendary DJs he had grown up listening to. He quickly ascended to the position of Music Director, and received the rock ‘n’ roll music industry education of a lifetime. The station was emerging as one of the premiere rock radio stations and Elsas was integral to creating its sound. During this time he was the station's music director in addition to hosting nighttime, mid-day and weekend shows. He was also meeting and interviewing a stream of his rock ‘n’ roll heroes, including Elton John, Pete Townshend, Paul McCartney, and John Lennon. While at WNEW-FM, he became an important voice in the progressive rock FM movement. Elsas left WNEW in 1998.^[3]

From 1979 to 1981 Elsas was the announcer for the Robert Klein Radio Show.

In 1984-85 he was the rock correspondent for the nationally syndicated TV show PM Magazine interviewing Little Richard, Jerry Garcia, Roger Daltrey, and more.

Additional syndicated radio shows in the 1980's included Rock Today, Rock ‘n Roll Never Forgets, Billboard Entertainment News and assorted Westwood One specials.

John Lennon interview

On September 28, 1974, Elsas interviewed John Lennon in a two-hour interview, which holds a special place among Beatles fans and scholars. Highlights from the interview have been featured in numerous Beatles documentaries and books, including in the permanent collection of the Museum of Television and Radio. Excerpts of the interview were used in the Beatles Anthology, the PBS film LennoNYC, and Ron Howard's documentary The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years.

What began as an opportunity to promote his new album Walls and Bridges turned into two hours of rare Beatle stories, speculation on the possibility that they all might work together again, insights into his immigration struggles, his love for NYC and John as the DJ, introducing and commenting on all the music, commercials and weather.

Considered by many to be the ultimate Lennon broadcast interview, Elsas got the story of the infamous Beatles "butcher cover."^[4] Elsas recalled, "I was asking the right questions, about the album art. While we were off mic, I mentioned something about the Beatles, and he lights up. He turns around, and there's a huge wall of albums, I picked out an album and he said, 'Oh yeah, the one with the dead babies,' and begins telling me the story.... I said, 'John, do you mind telling me that on the air?' It was all live. We only had two turntables so I had to cue something up. It's that sort of on-the-fly-stuff. If they're comfortable, then you can ask the question."^[4]

WFUV and SiriusXM

Since the summer of 2000, Elsas has hosted weekday afternoons (2-6PM) on New York's WFUV (90.7 FM, and streaming at WFUV.org). He presents a wide variety of rock, folk, jazz and blues in the tradition of progressive radio he helped to create. He has interviewed numerous artists in studio including Elvis Costello, Ben Folds, Patti Smith, Edie Brickell and Ringo Starr.

In May 2004, Elsas joined SiriusXM's Classic Vinyl (26). Focused on classic rock music, history and memories, his show airs Saturday and Sunday from 6pm-12am ET.

On May 18, 2017, SiriusXM launched The Beatles Channel and announced Elsas as host of the call-in show The Fab Fourum In October 2022, Elsas launched another regular weekly show on Sirius Beatles Channel, "Across the Universe-The Life and Music of John Lennon."

Rock 'n' Roll Never Forgets

In 2010, Elsas created Rock ‘N’ Roll Never Forgets, a live multi-media event that showcases his historic radio interviews with music legends such as Elton John, Jerry Garcia, Pete Townshend, and John Lennon along with his personal memories and behind-the-scenes stories, starting with the Top 40 radio that he grew up with, the progressive evolution of WNEW-FM, and his current work on WFUV and Sirius/XM.^[5]

Fordham University

In 2011 Elsas created and taught a Fordham University course, "The Rock Revolution in Music and Media" on both the graduate (2011) and undergraduate level (2016). The course is still part of the Fordham curriculum.^[6]