I just spoke to his daughter Janet Beerman. Elmo died this morning of cancer. He was 86. He worked at WSB-AM in the early 1940s, went to World War II, did national radio shows in NYC for awhile, started WSB-TV in 1947 and worked as PD and GM at WSB-AM from 1952 to 1982. He made WSB-AM the powerhouse it became for those decades and had an active retirement, writing books and penning newspaper columns until earlier this year. A proponent of local, local, local, he hated the way radio has become. He made a final appearance last month at the WSB-AM alumni reunion, very weak but still strong enough to say goodbye to his peers and colleagues.
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WSB-AM great Elmo Ellis has died
- Thread starter rho01
- Start date
Elmo was one of the greats. When the naysayers were claiming that TV was going to kill radio, Ellis was coming up with one innovative idea after another and turning WSB-AM into the rock solid station it remains to this day.Over the years he also worked alongside or hired an all-star staff, including Douglas Edwards, Ernie Harwell,John Holliman, Roz Abrams, Peter Maer, Aubrey Morris, Larry Munson and many, many more. <P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by jjjohnson on 06/24/05 03:47 PM.</FONT></P>
M
mikekav
Guest
> Elmo was one of the greats. When the naysayers were claiming
> that TV was going to kill radio, Ellis was coming up with
> one innovative idea after another and turning WSB-AM into
> the rock solid station it remains to this day.Over the years
> he also worked alongside or hired an all-star staff,
> including Douglas Edwards, Ernie Harwell,John Holliman, Roz
> Abrams, Peter Maer, Aubrey Morris, Larry Munson and many,
> many more.
JJ -- You are right on the mark in your observations. For others who need to know more about this great man, check out www.wsbhistory.com and click on the name Elmo Ellis.
Please note that WSB Radio will devote 7p to 8p Monday night for a one hour tribute to Elmo Ellis hosted by yours truly. Hope you all can tune in. One story you will hear if I can coax it out of him, is the final visit to Elmo's bedside by former WSB Radio News Director Aubrey Morris. Aubrey tells me he sat down and in his raspy high pitch voice said "Elmo....this is Aubrey Morris!". Elmo grinned ear to ear says Aubrey - a memory he says he cherishes.
Mike Kavanagh WSB Radio
<P ID="signature">______________
Mike Kavanagh</P>
> that TV was going to kill radio, Ellis was coming up with
> one innovative idea after another and turning WSB-AM into
> the rock solid station it remains to this day.Over the years
> he also worked alongside or hired an all-star staff,
> including Douglas Edwards, Ernie Harwell,John Holliman, Roz
> Abrams, Peter Maer, Aubrey Morris, Larry Munson and many,
> many more.
JJ -- You are right on the mark in your observations. For others who need to know more about this great man, check out www.wsbhistory.com and click on the name Elmo Ellis.
Please note that WSB Radio will devote 7p to 8p Monday night for a one hour tribute to Elmo Ellis hosted by yours truly. Hope you all can tune in. One story you will hear if I can coax it out of him, is the final visit to Elmo's bedside by former WSB Radio News Director Aubrey Morris. Aubrey tells me he sat down and in his raspy high pitch voice said "Elmo....this is Aubrey Morris!". Elmo grinned ear to ear says Aubrey - a memory he says he cherishes.
Mike Kavanagh WSB Radio
<P ID="signature">______________
Mike Kavanagh</P>
Elmo Ellis was not only a great broadcaster, he was a very kind man.
Those of us in radio today can't appreciate where the industry was in the early 1950s. Everyone thought TV was going to kill off radio. To leave TV, as he did, and take the GM job at WSB Radio..well everyone thought he was crazy.
But, Elmo realized before most others in the business..that a single station couldn't be all things to all people. He eliminated the block music programming and WSB focused on middle of the road music and lots of local news, sports and weather. Instead of the formal presentation so prevalent on radio at the time, WSB created a more intitimate relationship with the listeners. The WSB Dialing for Dollars contest may sound hokey for a 50,000 watt Clear Channel station today...but having listeners call the radio station and talk over the air to the announcer was unheard of. This lead WSB to incredible high audience shares and a loyalty from the listener who thought of WSB as a friend. A friend of mine finally had a chance to buy a station in the mid 1970s. He told his partners he didn't care where it was located, as long as you couldn't hear WSB. That was pretty hard back then...I recall listening to WSB all the way from Cordele GA all the way to Gatlinburg, TN and WSB was listenable, daytime, all the way!
As a young kid growing up on a peanut farm in South Georgia, I would listen to WSB's weak signal day and night. We were too far from Atlanta to hear it well in the day..too close to hear it at night but the things they did so well in the 1970s..we still emulate today in our radio company...strong community involvement....music that appeals to the masses in our markets...first and foremost..local news. If bad weather breaks out, we're on the air continuously til the emergency passes. Elmo Ellis brought these ideas to radio in the 1950s. He did it so well, he was one of the most sought after broadcast speakers in the industry.
In 1988 when the first station I co-owned, WMGA, received GAB's station of the year, Elmo Ellis sought me out in the crowd. I was a nobody. He was a legend. He came over and congratulated me and thanked me for doing my part to keep good community radio alive. When I told him it was really he that got us this award...after all, we were just copying all the things he did on WSB through the years, he chuckled. But, it was true.
A great broadcaster...but more importantly...a real gentleman who saw broadcasting as more than just a job or a financial windfall...it was serving your community, advertisers and listeners...and doing it well.
Art Sutton
Georgia-Carolina Radiocasting Companies
Toccoa, GA
> > Elmo was one of the greats. When the naysayers were
> claiming
> > that TV was going to kill radio, Ellis was coming up with
> > one innovative idea after another and turning WSB-AM into
> > the rock solid station it remains to this day.Over the
> years
> > he also worked alongside or hired an all-star staff,
> > including Douglas Edwards, Ernie Harwell,John Holliman,
> Roz
> > Abrams, Peter Maer, Aubrey Morris, Larry Munson and many,
> > many more.
>
> JJ -- You are right on the mark in your observations. For
> others who need to know more about this great man, check out
> www.wsbhistory.com and click on the name Elmo Ellis.
>
> Please note that WSB Radio will devote 7p to 8p Monday night
> for a one hour tribute to Elmo Ellis hosted by yours truly.
> Hope you all can tune in. One story you will hear if I can
> coax it out of him, is the final visit to Elmo's bedside by
> former WSB Radio News Director Aubrey Morris. Aubrey tells
> me he sat down and in his raspy high pitch voice said
> "Elmo....this is Aubrey Morris!". Elmo grinned ear to ear
> says Aubrey - a memory he says he cherishes.
>
> Mike Kavanagh WSB Radio
>
Those of us in radio today can't appreciate where the industry was in the early 1950s. Everyone thought TV was going to kill off radio. To leave TV, as he did, and take the GM job at WSB Radio..well everyone thought he was crazy.
But, Elmo realized before most others in the business..that a single station couldn't be all things to all people. He eliminated the block music programming and WSB focused on middle of the road music and lots of local news, sports and weather. Instead of the formal presentation so prevalent on radio at the time, WSB created a more intitimate relationship with the listeners. The WSB Dialing for Dollars contest may sound hokey for a 50,000 watt Clear Channel station today...but having listeners call the radio station and talk over the air to the announcer was unheard of. This lead WSB to incredible high audience shares and a loyalty from the listener who thought of WSB as a friend. A friend of mine finally had a chance to buy a station in the mid 1970s. He told his partners he didn't care where it was located, as long as you couldn't hear WSB. That was pretty hard back then...I recall listening to WSB all the way from Cordele GA all the way to Gatlinburg, TN and WSB was listenable, daytime, all the way!
As a young kid growing up on a peanut farm in South Georgia, I would listen to WSB's weak signal day and night. We were too far from Atlanta to hear it well in the day..too close to hear it at night but the things they did so well in the 1970s..we still emulate today in our radio company...strong community involvement....music that appeals to the masses in our markets...first and foremost..local news. If bad weather breaks out, we're on the air continuously til the emergency passes. Elmo Ellis brought these ideas to radio in the 1950s. He did it so well, he was one of the most sought after broadcast speakers in the industry.
In 1988 when the first station I co-owned, WMGA, received GAB's station of the year, Elmo Ellis sought me out in the crowd. I was a nobody. He was a legend. He came over and congratulated me and thanked me for doing my part to keep good community radio alive. When I told him it was really he that got us this award...after all, we were just copying all the things he did on WSB through the years, he chuckled. But, it was true.
A great broadcaster...but more importantly...a real gentleman who saw broadcasting as more than just a job or a financial windfall...it was serving your community, advertisers and listeners...and doing it well.
Art Sutton
Georgia-Carolina Radiocasting Companies
Toccoa, GA
> > Elmo was one of the greats. When the naysayers were
> claiming
> > that TV was going to kill radio, Ellis was coming up with
> > one innovative idea after another and turning WSB-AM into
> > the rock solid station it remains to this day.Over the
> years
> > he also worked alongside or hired an all-star staff,
> > including Douglas Edwards, Ernie Harwell,John Holliman,
> Roz
> > Abrams, Peter Maer, Aubrey Morris, Larry Munson and many,
> > many more.
>
> JJ -- You are right on the mark in your observations. For
> others who need to know more about this great man, check out
> www.wsbhistory.com and click on the name Elmo Ellis.
>
> Please note that WSB Radio will devote 7p to 8p Monday night
> for a one hour tribute to Elmo Ellis hosted by yours truly.
> Hope you all can tune in. One story you will hear if I can
> coax it out of him, is the final visit to Elmo's bedside by
> former WSB Radio News Director Aubrey Morris. Aubrey tells
> me he sat down and in his raspy high pitch voice said
> "Elmo....this is Aubrey Morris!". Elmo grinned ear to ear
> says Aubrey - a memory he says he cherishes.
>
> Mike Kavanagh WSB Radio
>
I am going to be driving on Monday evening and will be between Mississippi and Louisiana. The skip is just marginal in that area. By chance is the tribute program going to be made available on a website to hear later? I really would like to hear that show.
One thought, I have a cellular data card for the laptop, I guess I could stream it live off of WSB Radio's website. It would be great if the show is going to be archived somewhere.
One thought, I have a cellular data card for the laptop, I guess I could stream it live off of WSB Radio's website. It would be great if the show is going to be archived somewhere.
M
mikekav
Guest
from: Mike Kavanagh WSB Radio. We aired the Elmo Ellis tribute show Monday night and I am now working to get the show on the station's web site at www.wsbradio.com - I will let board readers know when that happens. Thanks!
> I am going to be driving on Monday evening and will be
> between Mississippi and Louisiana. The skip is just
> marginal in that area. By chance is the tribute program
> going to be made available on a website to hear later? I
> really would like to hear that show.
>
> One thought, I have a cellular data card for the laptop, I
> guess I could stream it live off of WSB Radio's website. It
> would be great if the show is going to be archived
> somewhere.
>
<P ID="signature">______________
Mike Kavanagh</P>
> I am going to be driving on Monday evening and will be
> between Mississippi and Louisiana. The skip is just
> marginal in that area. By chance is the tribute program
> going to be made available on a website to hear later? I
> really would like to hear that show.
>
> One thought, I have a cellular data card for the laptop, I
> guess I could stream it live off of WSB Radio's website. It
> would be great if the show is going to be archived
> somewhere.
>
<P ID="signature">______________
Mike Kavanagh</P>
M
mikekav
Guest
reply from Mike Kavanagh WSB Radio. We aired the Elmo Ellis tribute last night and YES... one of my guests mentioned the various WSBeaver promotions. It was a reference to a more innocent time in broadcast history. Today of course, such promotions would be laughed off the air. Kinda sad I think.
> I wonder if the trubute show will include any reference to
> the "W-S-Beaver Patrol?"
>
> LF
>
<P ID="signature">______________
Mike Kavanagh</P>
> I wonder if the trubute show will include any reference to
> the "W-S-Beaver Patrol?"
>
> LF
>
<P ID="signature">______________
Mike Kavanagh</P>
B
Braswell
Guest
> Elmo Ellis was not only a great broadcaster, he was a very
> kind man.
Well said.
I still remember the thrill from attending my 1st GAB summer convention in 1979. While many things were intoxicating (and I don't mean the hospitality suites), the top of the heap was getting to sit at the table with Elmo & Ruth at the awards banquet. He immediately sought to communicate with me, asking me about my station, and where'd I'd worked, and so on.
From then on, every year that I was able to attend, he'd always speak to me, and ask how things were going.
Yessir, I'll always cherish Elmo's "noticing" me, along with things like taking a smoke break with Charlie Smith ("you don't have to call me sir...Your Grace will do nicely"), discovering what a keen sense of humor Milt George had (Milt had been a ham operator so long, that he had a 4 letter/number call sign), discussing Georgia radio history with Rhett Turnipseed, kidding John Holliman about being the agriculture reporter on the APRadio Network, the incredible kindness and humanity of Bill Chapman, watching Terry Sams (Trooper Terry from Channel 6 in Augusta) sip on his scotch and smoke a Winston long, while telling slightly off-color jokes in that booming baritone voice, relentlessly teasing Ott Stephens about his singing his song "Robert E. Lee", enjoying the child-like silliness of Ludlow, and so much more.
I haven't attended a GAB event in a good while now...the last couple of times were just kinda boring. After all, Charlie William's Pinecrest Lodge is gone, so what's the reason for attending the Winter Institute? Plus, I don't even know how to spell GAB without Bill & Marlene Sanders.
Rest In Peace, Elmo.<P ID="signature">______________
Jay Braswell - Moderator
Atlanta/North Florida/South Carolina/Georgia Boards</P>
> kind man.
Well said.
I still remember the thrill from attending my 1st GAB summer convention in 1979. While many things were intoxicating (and I don't mean the hospitality suites), the top of the heap was getting to sit at the table with Elmo & Ruth at the awards banquet. He immediately sought to communicate with me, asking me about my station, and where'd I'd worked, and so on.
From then on, every year that I was able to attend, he'd always speak to me, and ask how things were going.
Yessir, I'll always cherish Elmo's "noticing" me, along with things like taking a smoke break with Charlie Smith ("you don't have to call me sir...Your Grace will do nicely"), discovering what a keen sense of humor Milt George had (Milt had been a ham operator so long, that he had a 4 letter/number call sign), discussing Georgia radio history with Rhett Turnipseed, kidding John Holliman about being the agriculture reporter on the APRadio Network, the incredible kindness and humanity of Bill Chapman, watching Terry Sams (Trooper Terry from Channel 6 in Augusta) sip on his scotch and smoke a Winston long, while telling slightly off-color jokes in that booming baritone voice, relentlessly teasing Ott Stephens about his singing his song "Robert E. Lee", enjoying the child-like silliness of Ludlow, and so much more.
I haven't attended a GAB event in a good while now...the last couple of times were just kinda boring. After all, Charlie William's Pinecrest Lodge is gone, so what's the reason for attending the Winter Institute? Plus, I don't even know how to spell GAB without Bill & Marlene Sanders.
Rest In Peace, Elmo.<P ID="signature">______________
Jay Braswell - Moderator
Atlanta/North Florida/South Carolina/Georgia Boards</P>
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