Jay Gordon
Elvis Expert
Staff Announcer -- WODS/Boston 1987-2001
Internationally recognized authority on life and music of Elvis Presley
Guest Host on QVC Elvis Special
Spearheaded campaign for the Elvis Postage Stamp
Ready to bring "Elvis in your building!"
Just this month, following a month we all know is very special on the Elvis calendar, I had the opportunity to speak with a very important person (VIP) from the world of radio, Mr. Jay Gordon.
CT: Jay, on behalf of EpGold, Andylon and myself, thank you so much for giving me a bit of your time. I know you just got back from Memphis not too long ago and had a great time, so both myself and the readers are very much interested on getting your take on things.
JG: It was very exciting, but I am also glad I am back and have the opportunity to sit down and talk with you. Thank you for having me.....
CT: Ok, let's get down to it then. For those who don't know you Jay, why don't you give us a little thumb nail sketch about your background.
JG: I am a 37 year old Elvis fan. When I was growing up, in Massachusetts, my father had a collection of several Elvis albums. This was in the early to mid 1970s I would say and I would listen to them often. The music just really appealed to me so it's no surprise then that I am partial to 70s Elvis.
Brooke Presley Tyler
CT: Now you were very young at this time right? What about the music of a more mature Elvis Presley appealed to a young kid as you were at that time?
JG: Elvis' 70s music appealed to me as a kid because that's the Elvis I heard in my home. That's the music my father was listening to. He'd come home with Good Times or Elvis Presley Boulevard and play them over and over again. Had he been playing the 50s music, I'm not so sure I would have been as captivated. The 70s stuff - being current at that time - didn't sound very different from the music I was hearing on the radio.
CT: So you're listening to the music and did that lead to a desire to see Elvis in concert or was it too late.
JG: No, thankfully I can say I had the privilege of seeing Elvis himself live. In 1976 I was 11 years old when my parents took me to see Elvis in concert at the Providence Civic Center. In fact, I saw both the afternoon and evening concerts on June 26, 1976 where he wore the Blue Bicentennial suit. At the evening show, I managed to sit next to the sound engineers..in the first row to the side of the stage. I remember trying to grab one of those scarves..but it wasn't to be.
CT: At the evening show, being so close to Elvis, what was it like? Could you sense being in the presence of a great man or was it just the music, or perhaps both?
JG: What I remember most is the strength of his presence. All he had to do was stand there on stage! Look to the left..bedlam...turn around..bedlam. And all the while, the flashbulbs from those cheap cameras kept going off. His personality was so strong that his mere presence made the music secondary. That probably bugged him...
CT: After you saw Elvis in 1976, was that the last time you saw him?
JG: No, I saw Elvis again in Providence on May 23, 1977 where he wore the now famous sundial suit. And when he died later that summer, I started listening to my Dad's albums on my own. Naturally, Moody Blue and Elvis In Concert got a lot of plays. I also was very fond of From Elvis Presley Blvd. So, as the 70s turned into the 80s, I started buying the Elvis albums my father didn't already have. So, it's fair to say that I, as a second generation fan, grew up on Elvis.
CT: You mention Moody Blue, Elvis' last album, and the two others. What songs stand out to you most from those albums and why? I've always been partial to Hurt from Elvis Presley Blvd., as it was not only recorded at Graceland, but also because the song personifies what we now know Elvis was going through at that time.
JG: I love almost all of them. It's Easy For You, Never Again, Danny Boy are three that still provoke an emotional reaction, after all these years. I remember listening to the Elvis Presley Blvd. album the day I saw Elvis in Providence. I was really into The Last Farewell, and thought perhaps he'd close the show with it. (At the time, I didn't realize he had a standard closer in Can't Help Falling In Love.) I like the Jungle Room stuff because the emotions Elvis projects seem so honest. Maybe it was the intimate setting. I never tire of hearing the outtakes and alternates from those albums.
Elvis In Concert was special to me as well, because I had seen him in May of 1977 and the album was recorded only a few weeks later. It was the first new album after Elvis died. I loved My Way, Hurt, And I Love You So and How Great Thou Art. Even at the age of 12 and 13 I was struck by the intensity of these performances, especially having seen how ill Elvis had looked while delivering them. It's hard for me to express. There was just some sort of purity that was coming out of him. Even at a very young age, I guess I could sense it.
CT: Now as to your career in radio, when did it all begin?
JG: When I was in high school, I worked at a local radio station. I fell in love with radio, and by the time I was in college, I was working on-the-air at major radio stations in Boston. These stations didn't play Elvis, rather the hits of the day (this was in the mid-1980s)
CT: So, how then, did the concept for an "Elvis Only" show evolve and ever come to be?
JG: Well, as you probably know, a lot of things in life have to do with timing. So I guess you could say in 1987 I was just in the right place at the right time. It just so happened that the station I was working at changed its format to Oldies. That's when the thought occurred to me to develop a once-a-week Elvis hour for them, and name it "Elvis Only."
CT: Had creating an all Elvis show been something you had thought of in the back of your mind?
JG: I started working in radio in my senior year of high school. It was through a school internship. I went downtown to our local station a few afternoons a week, and just really liked being there and being part of the action. I got on the air at my college station in 1983 and within a few months, managed to land a weekend shift at a Boston Top 40 station. Naturally, top 40 in 1985 meant "No Elvis." In fact, none of the stations I worked at back then played Elvis. They focused on the hits of the day. So, radio was one thing and Elvis was another. I understood and accepted that those paths weren't likely to cross. It was just good fortune that I was at a station that was changing from a failing soft rock format to a revival of the Oldies format. I had never really thought about doing an Elvis radio show because at the time there weren't any stations that were playing him. When Oldies 103 launched in Boston in 1987, all that changed, and Elvis was more than welcome.
CT: So how has the show been received?
JG: If I can set modesty aside for a moment, although I know Elvis is the real star, "Elvis Only" has been an absolute success!!! It has aired on WODS/Boston every single Sunday since January, 1988. Beginning in 1991, I began syndicating the program to other radio stations. The show is now currently heard on 34 stations in both the US and Canada.
CT: That's great Jay. Now, in reference to the show, how do you go about picking out the material? Do you have some sort of innate sense as to what people want to here?
JG: When I am on the air, I am always aware that I am trying to serve two masters. There are really two audiences. One is the longtime Elvis fan, that wants to hear Elvis songs not typically played on the radio. The other group is comprised of "regular people," that like Elvis somewhat. They want to hear the Hound Dogs and Don't Be Cruels. Just as Elvis encountered during his concert career, you cannot ignore one group at the expense of the other. Thankfully, we seem to be doing it right as our ratings have been very strong.
CT: As with anything else in life, I suppose, balance is the key. And as a listener to your show I can definitely say that you are doing it right. I've also heard that you recently had a special guest on the air, is that not the case?
JG: Not too long ago, I recorded an interview with JXL, which was broadcast the weekend of August 16-18. It was great talking with him and I was thrilled to discover that he is a 34 year old fan that was also introduced to Elvis by his father!
CT: That's great Jay, and it just goes to show that Elvis's fans can be found in every age demographic. It's great too that JXL's Elvis remix has been so popular throughout the world, reaching number 1 worldwide, just a bit ago. Did you glean any interesting insights from JXL on how the idea for the remix came about?
JG: I was surprised to discover that like me, Tom Holkenborg (the guy behind JXL) is in his mid-thirties and was turned onto Elvis by his Dad. How's that for a coincidence? Tom had done some work for Nike, and they asked him to come up with some ideas for their World Cup advertising campaign. He knew A Little Less Conversation because his father had the video of Live A Little, Love A Little. The Nike people wanted him to focus on "action." Tom remembered the song from his childhood. And so it went.... The rest is history and Elvis was again had a worldwide hit.
CT: That is a pretty cool coincidence and really interesting that JXL made the decision to turn to Elvis for the Nike, World Cup ad campaign. I guess, too, that tells us a lot about the roles of dads in the lives of their children. If it had not been for your Dad or JXL's, I think it's safe to say, the world would have been denied some really great Elvis projects. So needless to say, with Elvis still prevalent throughout the world and so culturally significant, do you foresee the show continuing into the future?
JG: As far as my show goes..as long as there is an audience that will listen and as long as there are stations that will air us, "Elvis Only" will continue. It is a labor of love.
CT: What about people who are not fortunate enough to be in the markets to hear your show Jay? Is there anyway they can pick it up on the world wide web?
JG: Internet listening...this is a tough issue. The music industry has effectively shut down radio broadcasting on the Web. They made it too expensive for the stations to deal with. Two years ago, we had a 24/7 webcast...the current week's show looped over and over. That's gone and won't be coming back. The lawyers saw to that. For now, we encourage people to call their local Oldies station, or "Classic Country" or "Adult Standards" station, and ask them to run "Elvis Only." The station managers can visit our website, www.elvisonly.com, and hear a demo of the show and ask to sign up. We've just been added to KIXI/Seattle in the past week too. The fans need to speak up!
CT: If there are two things that are a constant in life Jay, it is that lawyers will screw a good thing up and the Elvis fans are both dedicated and vocal. Jay, let me say, it has been great having you and I want to personally thank you for all do to keep Elvis' memory alive. So to close, I think it's fitting to get your personal thoughts on Elvis, on this, the 25th anniversary year of his death. What do you think, when people think of Elvis Presley, they should remember about the man himself?
JG: There's a story I like a lot that was told to me by Marian Cocke. I thought of it recently when the media was dredging up those tired old stories about Elvis stealing music from blacks and making negative comments about black people. She told me about a teenage black girl named Maggie. Elvis was at a car dealership and he noticed Maggie looking at cars. It was obvious that she was just looking. Elvis made a connection with this young girl. After all, it wasn't so many years before that he was a poor kid dreaming about fancy cars and clothes. Maggie mentioned something about dropping out of school to work full time. Elvis wound up giving Maggie a job. She was to come to Graceland every day after school with her homework. Her job was to sit by the telephone, do her homework, and answer the phone when it rang. Needless to say, Maggie took the job. That story, to me, typifies the Elvis that most people never hear about. That is the real Elvis and the Elvis people should remember.
CT: Great story Jay, and again, thank you so much. I know Andylon appreciates you taking time out of your schedule to do this.
JG: I've enjoyed it Chris and hopefully EpGold's readers will now have an opportunity to listen to "Elvis Only" or get their local station to carry it.
CT: All the best Jay. And as Elvis would say, "Adios, may God bless you until we meet again......"
Jay Gordon
