“ ‘Keep it simple’ is my motto,” Mr. Ellis told The Washington Post in 1983. It also served as a community bulletin board where announcements from churches and nonprofit organizations were broadcast by Mr. Ellis at no cost. “I’ve come to understand that, like it or not, the Sunday gospel program affects many people,” he told Washingtonian magazine in 1996. Mr. Ellis attended Washington public schools before being sent to the private Westminster School in Simsbury, Conn. Mr. Ellis spent 30 days preparing for the job, visiting church record stores and bookstores and eavesdropping on conversations about gospel music.

Source: Washington Post July 17, 2020 14:10 UTC