When I was about 10 years old someone teased my parents and said, “That kid was vaccinated with a Victrola needle”, meaning I talked a lot. Given my Irish heritage, I was told it was something to be proud of. “You have a gift for the gab”.
No surprise then I ended up in broadcasting. Mind you, having this gift doesn’t necessarily make me gregarious, it merely means, I think, I was given a way of seeing things, and a boat-load of words to use up. You know the type. As a reader here, you’re either a talker or a listener, or both, but my guess is, radio is a love of yours.
We’ve all had favorite DJ’s. Scanning across the years and the dial, perhaps back in the day you tuned in to hear Alexander Scourby, Murray the K, Cousin Brucie, Wolfman Jack, Arthur Hoehn, Robert J. Lurtsema, or Karl Haas. Great and enduring voices. Maybe these days you enjoy Robert Aubrey Davis, Terry Gross, Garrison Keillor, Fred Child, or Michael Barone, each of whom fills the speakers in their own unique and engaging way. Listen long enough and familiar local voices become close friends, trusted guides and companions. Without these voices, radio becomes a soulless medium. Those services are out there if you seek isolation.
This past week saw the passing of one of those special companions, one of the good ones, Pat McElroy of All Classical FM here in Portland. Pat’s was the first voice I heard a few years back as I listened on-line to Portland’s classical music service. I’ll never forget that moment and his back-announce of Loch Lomond as sung by the Dutch vocal ensemble Quink. “Melifluous” is over used to describe warmth in a DJ’s voice, but in Pat’s case, it was spot on.
Pat McElroy was our Saturday morning host and opera impresario. Formerly heard in Detroit at WQRS, Classical 105.1, he was also an accomplished actor, having performed in numerous plays and films, including the role of Jesus in the award-winning film Divine Mercy No Escape with Helen Hayes.
Pat taught music appreciation for Dearborn Adult Education and regularly gave pre-concert talks for the Oregon Symphony’s guest conductors.
Sadly, Pat died on February 17, 2010. He was a broadcaster, a true veteran right up until the end. As a matter of fact, a family member shared in a eulogy on Saturday at Pat’s funeral Mass that even though Pat was struggling with the return of cancer (none of us knew) he recently spent the night at the station the night before his shift due to a weather forecast of snow and ice. He packed a lunch and bedroll and camped out alone on the floor of the station. The show must go on.
If you work long enough, work involves hiring, firing and layoffs , but rarely does it include the death of a beloved colleague, one actively working in our midst. Pat McElroy was a true broadcaster who passed bravely, quietly and with great dignity into the ethers, the “air” he loved so much.
My feeling is that old broadcasters never really die, they just change frequencies.
Miss you brother.
Onward & upward.
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We loved Pat here in Detroit, both on WQRS-FM and WJR-AM. Pat was a true pro. He was a hard worker and passionate about the business. It is so sad. He will truly be missed. God Bless you Pat.
a magnificent life; a magnificent recounting of same.
Your heartfelt tribute to Pat is strongly appreciated by those of us who were lucky enough to know him. I worked with Pat at WQRS, and prior to that listened to him for years on the old “Night Flight 760” program on Detroit’s WJR. Pat was a pro. He was also a warm, creative and interesting man, who always had a kind word for this broadcast neophite. I got to know him personally, and I will remember him with great admiration and affection. You are right. Old broadcasters never die….
Ron Nolan
Pat McElroy was a solid radio pro, as enjoyed by his audience as he was respected by his peers. A real class act.
Thank you, Mr. Allen, for the fine tribute. I wouldn’t have known of this if I hadn’t had the volume up (Detroit’s WRCJ FM)today. “Aww,.. Pat. So you moved to Oregon, huh?” I lost touch with Pat over 25 years ago. It must have been in the early eighties that we were friends. I was a WSU student. I recall sitting with him in his studio atop the Fisher Bldg. He once made a cassette tape [surprise] for me called: ‘the subjective Jeff R. tape’ with selections which reflected how he perceived me. I still have it. I recall our Lebanese lunches in Dearborn, as well as hanging out in Detroit’s New Center and Greektown with him. On a whim one Saturday night he took me on a tour of Detroit’s River Rouge Complex [@ 4am].
Like a beloved teacher, he could get me to listen through his ears and see with his eyes. Yes, he was very special. I was blessed to have known him those few years that I did. “Thank you, Pat, for you contribution to my life.”
Jeff
I started working with Pat here at All-Classical FM about eight years ago, taking the board from him every Saturday at noon. I soon started coming in half an hour early because I so much enjoyed chatting with him. Enjoyed listening to the music with him and hearing his take on the music. Before long I was coming in an hour or two early to share his company.
Pat was a passionate man and he was a gentle, good man.
Flights of angels, buddy!
My friendship with Pat McElroy goes back to the mid 1960’s. First of all, he was a friend that I listened to on the radio. Later he became on of my colleagues when we worked together at the old WQRS, and we saw many changes and permutations in the radio business from the later 1960’s through the present time.
No matter what mood Pat was in, and no matter what was happening off the air, when the microphone was opened, there was Pat; entertaining, knowledgable, whimsical, warm and entertaining.
He was the consumate brodcast professional. Jack’s story about how Pat spent the evening sleeping at the radio station so he would not be encumbered by a minor inconvenience like a major snowstorm is vintage Pat McElroy. He was a broadcaster, and a person, that you could count on in many different ways.
One of my favorite recollections of Pat was a concert that I helped arrange with Pat reading the poems of Paul Claudel, while Marilyn Mason of the University of Michigan played “The Stations of the Cross’ by Marcel Dupre. The program was pure magic, thanks to Pat’s dramatic reading which fit with the music perfectly. I’ve never heard a better performance since.
Dave Wagner
WRCJ Detroit