One of my favorite Bill Elledge Lines was .. “…and if your’e a pirate KUCRRRRRRgg… make those Neo-Cons walk the PLANK !”

Dear Louis:

The news of Bill’s death comes as a terrible blow. It’s like
reading a headline, “A big and fundamental part of your life
has just been removed.” He was so steady, going about his
business of keeping things working, that it was like a cycle
of nature–the weather, only more reliable. Bill put buckets
under the leaks. Bill went on the roof and straightened the
antenna. Bill carried out the stray opossums. Bill shushed the
skunks off the lawn. And all the while the station kept
running, with equipment that was crisp and floors that were
clean. Bill vacuumed too.

Bill was a man of the old school, the old values, not as a
political program or ideology of any sort, but rather as a
living embodiment of honesty, steady work, sincerity. He kept
newspapers, phone lists, a lot of the stuff that gets thrown
away, not just because he was a pack rat, but because he
appreciated the life that was lived, both his own and that of
others. He knew that the day an item was ready for the trash,
it might constitute a record of what we were doing. He was our
archivist. Who else in the world cared that much about us?

He took photos too, completely professional photos, black and
white, developed and printed by himself. His collection might
chronicle some forty years he spent on campus; if UCR alumni
were ever to see it, they would be surprised. No doubt they
would see images that would bring back memories, bring back
people and give much delight. Once again, he was there, often
not noticed, and he cared.

Bill read history deeply and widely, and retained everything
with a steel-trap memory that was legendary among his friends.
When doing research on a historical matter, I often would ask
him before going to the library or to Google. It was just
easier to see if he knew. His answer, without fail, would
either exhaust the question for me or direct me more
specifically to where I needed to go. He described President
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s illness in his last year and loaned me
two recently published books that turned out to be crucial for
my project. He told me about FDR bugging the oval office and
explained the technology involved. When I obtained an FBI memo
about a Soviet defector of 1944 and the recording of his
debriefing on 16-inch records, I asked Bill. “Ah, yes,” he
said, “they had a special turntable and they could be used for
voice recordings…” And he told me the technology, the date
German audiotapes came into usage, and so on.

He could have written books himself, but chose not to. I think
it was probably because he had too much reverence for history
and too good an understanding of its many-sidedness. He always
tried to soften my criticisms of FDR, which would cause me to
become even more virulent. At that point he would wag a finger
and say, “Now, now.” He devoted more than one of his programs
to the problem of Wilhelm Furtwangler, the great conductor who
chose to remain in Germany under the Nazis. He would touch on
the moral issues, the difficult choices in a real situation,
the good that Furtwangler could do for others, including
Jewish musicians, while serving as Hitler’s prize conductor.
He wrestled with this case, which has no final resolution.

I suspected that his hero was Winston Churchill, probably
because he had something of the Brit’s single-minded, but
jocular character. And also because Bill was something of an
Anglophile. He frequently played the music of Ralph
Vaughn-Williams on his show, especially the “London Symphony”
with the chimes of Big Ben. His favorite conductor was
certainly Sir John Barbirolli, whom he had interviewed for the
Highlander newspaper when the great man came to UCR. He had a
recording of that interview, and we used to play a snippet of
it to publicize the station, followed by Bill’s resonant
voice: “Listen to KUCR–you’ll hear many good things.”

When I listen to classical music now, it hurts to know that he
isn’t around and listening to it himself. This is the way it
is with others too, whose tastes in music I know. One odd
thing about Bill is that he stopped going to concerts. I
couldn’t persuade him to go, even to Mahler’s Symphony of a
Thousand when it was performed at the Crystal Cathedral in May
1996. (I still have the commemorative tee-shirt.) The station
had free tickets, but Bill said he had work to do. He loved
the music, he cared about everyone, but he remained very much
a loner, with his own ways and routines. His pick-up truck
rumbled through the empty streets at night.

It was easy to regard him as a character, and many of us did
at first. But with the years the true character (in another
sense) showed through. The thing I am thinking about Bill is
that he actually meant everything he said. He was perfectly
sincere. He didn’t use irony or sarcasm in his humor that I
can recall. It was just old-fashioned wordplay or
double-entendre. I found it rather quaint, but increasingly
charming. I could go to Bill to relax from the dazzling spin
of digital culture, and talk about music, history, culture,
politics as if with an older and wiser man. Sometimes I would
remind him: “Wait a minute, Bill, I remember that event! I was
a little kid, and you weren’t even born then.” He never
acknowledged that remark.

What the hell, I needed an older brother. We would talk at the
station till 2 or 3 in the morning, then go out in the parking
lot, with the balmy breezes and smell of night-blooming ivy,
and talk a half-hour more. As I turned to my car, I would hear
his standard parting: “Now, you take care.” I knew that he
meant it.

Gary Kern Las Cruces, NM

I’m just stunned. I had heard that Bill was in bad shape, and this is not surprised, but I still feel like I’ve been punched in the stomach. Maybe the heart is more like it.

Bill was here the very first time i set foot in KUCR more years ago than I care to divulge here. He trained me to use the equipment (and no, the bad engineering of my show is my fault, not his.) Any time someone passes on that you’ve known for close to 30 years, it’s a blow.

What I’ll miss most is Bill’s vast knowledge of, well, everything. That’s not meant in a snippy way — he was knowledgeable in many things far beyond radio. So many nights, Bill and I would sit and discuss history and politics. He could go on at length, and in many people, this is an annoying quality.

But not in Bill. He kept me fascinated many hours, both in person and on the radio. I wish I had a dime for every time I was about to leave the station, and Bill would start on some subject I hadn’t thought much about, and an hour later I was still here.

Thanks Bill, wherever you are. You will be missed.

Robert Kreutzer

Bill Elledge was an amazing man to say the least. I often talked to him before his show on Wednesday’s when i did public affairs during that slot. It was definitely entertaining as well as inspiring to hear what Bill had to say. He will be missed

Louis;

Our sympathies and prayers go out to Mr. Elledge’s family, you and the KUCR family.

What a great tribute you’ve given to the life of your friend and colleague……who must have been a tremendous inspiration to you.

Please keep us posted on any memorial services.

God bless you and everyone at KUCR;

Steven M. Nakada AIA
KUCR Building Architect (Barn Complex)
NAKADA+ASSOCIATES
The Pacific Mutual Building
Los Angeles, California

I first learned Bill was in the last stages of cancer from a letter he wrote me in January. (That was like Bill not to talk about his own ills.) So his passing was not unexpected, but still a shock when I learned about it from checking the KUCR site. Somehow I had hoped he would have more time on this Earth. It is a great personal loss, since Bill had been a good friend since we first met when he had just started working as a student at KUCR and came into the Highlander where I had just joined the staff. Sometime in 1967. We went on to work together on both the Highlander and the 1970 Tartan, which he edited. And all the while he was also instrumental in KUCR’s development. He was a great interviewer, and that one with Sir John Barbirolli was certainly his favorite.
Bill’s death is also a tremendous loss for UCR.
Gary Kern, you captured Bill’s essence really well. I’d add that as serious as he seemed, he had a wonderfully wry sense of humor, and as much as he studied and cared about history, he cared equally for current events and the state of the world, albeit with the perspective of a historian and an old-fashioned sense of justice and often indignation at the injustices that plague the world.
I haven’t had many chances to visit Bill in person since I graduated from UCR and went into a career in jouralism, but he wrote me long letters (self-edited in the old-school pre-computer newspaper way) about politics, photography and always keeping me up on what was happening on campus and with KUCR, which I think was like a child to him. And yes, Louis, he often mentioned you.
We shared a love of history, photography, music (although my tastes ranged much broader than classical) and writing, and even electronics, where Bill was a natural genius.
Bill did chronicle 40-plus years of history of UCR, and I hope some of it has somehow survived for future generations. Certainly, at least, the work he did over these many years at KUCR is a lasting contribution to generations of students to come.
Thank you, Louis, for allowing us to share our memories of Bill.

Bruce Henderson
Ormond Beach, Florida

Louis,

I was just checking in on the KUCR site to see what was up with the old station and if you and Bill were still there. Imagine my shock. Bill was a KUCR institution. He taught me everything I needed to know about the equipment, station history, making PSA’s, doing the news, doing a show when I would sit in for someone and gave me a perspective on UCR and life that I appreciate to this day. Bill was first and foremost a gentleman in the old fashioned sense of the word. I loved talking with him and spent many late night hours just listening to him. I am saddened that his time with us was cut short. I will miss him.

Joanne Wolf Preston
Colorado Springs, CO
KUCR 1970-1975

Bill was a phenomenal man and a KUCR icon. Who could forget that monotone bass, that dry humor, that ability to construct a radio station out of 2 “D” cell batteries and some aluminum foil. Bill dubbed our 1994-95 KUCR Sports team “Brilliance in Action,” but he was the one that was truly “brilliant in action.”

Bill was the one who made sure the KUCR Sports team was always on the air, even engineering games while suffering through painful kidney stones in 1993-94. Bill jury rigged a 1960s black telephone so we could broadcast from the old gym after the school cut our land line. Bill assembled the mysterious “grey metal box” that I still see used by KUCR to this day. We lugged that box to and from Louisville in 1995 and Bill insisted that we carry it on so some baggage handler wouldn’t drop it and destroy all of his hard work. I am positive that in this post-9/11 world of airport security there is no way would have been able to get that box onto a plane, let alone through airport security.

I am sad that I will no longer see Bill’s blue truck parked at KUCR on basketball game nights.

I am sad that I will no longer hear Bill on Wednesday nights when I am driving around.

I am sad that KUCR and UCR community as a whole lost a wonderful, kind and selfless man.

Rest in peace, Bill

Matthew Nelson
KUCR 1991-95 (Sports Director, News and DJ)

I knew Bill was ill at the tail end of last year. I worked with Bill from 1988 to 1993 at KWDJ/KPRO in Riverside. Bill was a private man but a very typical nocternal engineer…doing his work late at night and early in the morning. He did keep both stations always humming. My fondest recollection was went we were going to do some satellite/computer programming. When something was totally new…his answer was “It can’t be done”…but that only lasted a few minutes…especially when I told him 15 other engineers had done the same thing…and it was sounding great. That perked his curiosity…and yes…”It could be done”…He was truly a special person and will be missed..

Bill Georgi
Rialto, CA

I knew Bill from working at KPRO-AM 1570, of which he was also the engineer. He was a really nice person and did a great job with the antiqutated equipment there. His passing is truly a great loss.

Bill E. was a gentle soul and he will be missed. I am happy to have spent time in his presence and can attribute some of my success in my present career to his faithful encouragement to continue my academic studies and avoid putting too much credence in a career in broadcasting.”Requiescat in pace…that’s all she wrote”.
Fred Malkin (late show W.E. D.J. )
California