Legendary New York Radio Icon Vin Scelsa to Retire

RADIO ONLINE | Monday, March 30, 2015

Vin Scelsa

Legendary Vin Scelsa is hanging up his headphones. A pioneer of free-form FM radio and a New York icon for five decades, Scelsa announced on Saturday night during "Vin Scelsa's Idiot's Delight," his weekly program on WFUV-FM (90.7), that he will do his final show on May 2 from 8-10pm. His final satellite radio program on SiriusXM's "The Loft" channel will be on Thursday, April 30. As a sendoff, the Fare Thee Well Concert for Vin Scelsa, with many musical guests, will take place on June 8 at City Winery.

"I am incredibly lucky to have spent my entire radio career doing exactly what I've wanted," said Scelsa. "The kind of programming autonomy I've enjoyed, on both commercial and public radio over all these years, is unique. I am grateful to all the stations I've worked on for the privilege of being allowed to wander through their airwaves wherever my interests have taken me. I am grateful to my listeners for their support and their indulgence as we shared this journey together."

Scelsa's radio career began at WFMU in East Orange, NJ, in November, 1967, and has included stints at WBAI, WABC-FM (WPLJ), WLIR-FM, WNEW-FM, WXRK-FM (K-ROCK, where he began calling his program Vin Scelsa's Idiot's Delight), back to WNEW-FM, and finally WFUV in 2001. At every stop he has stayed true to free-form radio which includes flowing musical sets spanning multiple genres, readings from his favorite books, musings on music and the world and live studio performances.

Scelsa's guests have included Elvis Costello, Tim Robbins, Steve Buscemi, Norah Jones (her first radio appearance ever), Lou Reed (many times), Sheryl Crow, Joey Ramone, Emmylou Harris, John Sayles, Allen Ginsberg, Joseph Heller, Leonard Cohen, Yo La Tengo, Eddie Izzard, Laura Marling (her first U.S. radio appearance), Paul Auster, Jeff Buckley, Laurie Anderson, and countless others. In 2007 he received the ASCAP Deems Taylor Radio Broadcast Award for his work.

"Calling this the end of an era is truly an understatement," said WFUV General Manager Chuck Singleton. "We're honored that Vin made WFUV his radio home for 14 years, and we're all richer for the time he shared with us."

"Vin was a huge influence on several generations of listeners and DJs, including me," added WFUV Program Director Rita Houston, who considers Scelsa both a mentor and a friend. "He perfected the Art of the DJ, and we followed his lead. WFUV absolutely believes in the credo he adopted from David Fricke: