Interviews

I was working the night shift in radio and TV in Youngstown, Ohio. After my shift ended, I returned to the apartment I shared with a TV director (I was very young on-air “talent”), wound down a bit with MTD, then went to bed and fell asleep with the greatest radio show I ever heard. Gawd, how I miss it!

Similarly, I survived many an “all-nighter” while at Marquette University and U of I in Champaign with Jay and Music Til Dawn in the background. I can’t imagine studying these days in this world of ever-increasing noise and distractions. I loved his comments about the beautiful season of Fall. Many of today’s students won’t even know when Fall arrives unless they receive a “Tweet” informing them.

Jay Andres taught me music. I was from a little mid-west farming community and listend to Jay’s show, soaking up all that great music. I remember the enthusiasm and the joy he projected. It was absolutely inspirational. Many of the tunes I heard on Jay’s show I Iater performed in the forty years I worked as a trombone player in the St.Louis Symphony. I wish I would have been able to thank him in person.
Thanks Jay.

The immeasurable accomplishment of Jay Andres – in addition to providing very good company for “night people” – was to introduce countless people to a kind of music shunned by the majority as “elitist” and what used to be called “highbrow”.

As a teenager, during the mid-1960’s, I listened religiously to “Music Til Dawn” … but what Andres gave me more than anything else was the feeling that I was not totally alone with my love for classical music (the public library in my mid-sized Arkansas town fortunately had a wonderful library of classical music recordings, which, as a child, I had curiously explored to the limit). Also, as a teenager, I wrote to Andres (I forget about just what) – and got one of the kindest letters I have ever received from anyone in reply.

In the meantime, classical music is still seen as an elitist affair – a situation which has a long history – not to mention a set of causes easily accessable mainly to specialists. Briefly, to say that the educational system has failed to expose people to classical music is highly inaccurate when set againt the fact that classical music was never really on the educational agenda to begin with. This is precisely what made people like Jay Andres so invaluable (why they are still invaluable): he had the great gift to introduce people to something they barely knew existed – and they came away loving it.

Among the handful of “important people” in my life, Jay Andres remains one of the most prominent.

I would listen to “Music til Dawn” when I was in college and I was never able to stay awake listening because Jay Andres had such a mellow toned voice it would put me to sleep. I only wish we still had a radio station like WGN was with the air talent that made people relax and forget about their troubles.

May I second everything that has been posted about Jay Andres – but also the eloquence of Jane MacKenzie, as she expressed such poignant thoughts regarding that very classy era, not only in terms of radio but also certain of our domestic airlines. How far we (sadly) have come.

But, if there’s one positive thing to be said of reaching one’s golden years, it is that we are old enough to have experienced those times, even if a fuller appreciation does not dawn until later, when comparing them with what ensued.

I fondly remember – and your air check of Jay hosting MTD makes it all the more vivid – as a very young classical music broadcaster in Washington, I would end my shift at midnight, go out to my 1963 Ford Galaxie 500, and tune its superb AM radio to WBBM for my homeward drive. The one-hour time zone offset meant I could hear that swelling orchestral fanfare and the friendly rich baritone of Jay Andres…”American Airlines greets you with Music ‘Til Dawn.” Talk about making the night magical…and sounding like it was a local station…

Of course, Jay had the kind of voice that transcended any reception issues and his companionable style absolutely engaged the listener. The voice, delivery, and music were a rare match. Jay Andres was an inspiration and would become a role model for me as I matured as a broadcaster.

The concept of Music ‘Til Dawn was exceptional as well, in that – unlike most “classical” programming – it presented quite “accessible” classical music, but also integrated other quality types of music – lush instrumentals and the like – that would fall between the cracks as radio changed and became so format-bound.

And listening to MTD also enhanced my admiration for CR Smith’s American Airlines, such was the close identification of this classy program with one of America’s then-proudest, classiest legacy carriers.

My first flight on American was in 1963, and while, as an airplane lover, I was star-struck with the appearance and sound of the shiny silver and orange Lockheed jet-prop “Electra II Mainliner” as it approached the terminal, I must say another sound was intertwined in my mind with that of the big Allison turboprops – and continued to be for years whenever I’d board an AA Electra – the swelling open to “That’s All” and the voice of Jay Andres introducing Music ‘Til Dawn.

Thanks so much for these great memories.

When I studied, in both high school and college, Jay Andres Music Til Dawn was for me an oasis of tranquility in a bustling world. I studied to it every night, relaxed to it, drove down the outer drive to it, lived for it. I still miss it, but I’m grateful for the few years, and to Jay Andre, it was a formative experience of my youth.

What a pleasure to come across this web site. Jay Andres had one of the finest voices in broadcasting. Music Til Dawn was a unique concept in radio which, to my knowledge,has never been duplicated. During the late 1950’s in Wisconsin and while attending Drake University in Des Moines Iowa in the 1960’s, I was a regular listener. Over the years I did hear other versions of MTD but Jays’ was the best, by far. My first jet flight from Chicago to San Francisco was on American Airlines and it was fantastic.

Again, thank you for the opportunity to hear That’s All and the wonderful voice of Jay Andres.

When I was a rabbinic student at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio during the late ’60s, I would listen to Music till Dawn as well as a similar program sponsor by Holiday Inn with the hostess: Dolly Holiday. It was wonderful music peppered with commercials for, what else? Holiday Inn!

Those were and are wonderful memories- after 40+ years they still bring a smile to my heart!

Wrote the only fan letter of my life to Jay as I was graduating from the U of I in Champaign in 1961. My appreciation was for his smooth commentary and the classical music that helped “get me thru the night”– late studies and ID design projects that often required “all nighters”.
He even answered me and his letter may be tucked away in a secure folder.

Also listened late on my weekend photog job at Illini Studios that brought me home after midnight driving back from neighboring U’s shooting Frat and Sorority dances. Late return drives after dates or carousing in the Windy City Near North area (especially the Outer Drive) and back to Downers Grove was always accompanied by Jay.

My music days in the grades, HS and coll. on piano and the French Horn were always renewed as I listened to his classics and the other “muzak instrumentals” of the day. His theme “That’s All” was naturally my fave as it opened with the horns–“I can only give you love that lasts forever…”. And of course sponsor AA was THE prime airline. Graduation led to Navy Preflight and then flying from carrier decks…far and away from Jay’s mellow voice (RIP) and music…to WestPac.

My Dad used to listen to these late night shows, especially Franklyn MacCormack, Jay Andres and John Doremus. He used to kid me about my love of Beethoven, Brahms, Bach and of course Mahler. He used to say, “Das is die Musik für die Toten” (Music for the Dead). Well, he used to listen to the music on these shows to go to sleep with radio, and I would hear it through the walls and later on cassette tapes. Now, when I hear the themes such as introducing MTD, Music Through the Night, and Torch Hour, I shed a tear, since that music is associated with the old days in the early 60s before things got crazy.

Noticed that “Umbrellas of Cherbourg” was played by Jay at beginning of the program.That song was nominated in 1964 for best song at Cannes and so the 1960 date of this “Music Til Dawn” show may not be accurate. Suggest 1964 or 1965.Great interview.Thanks.