NYC Radio: Elvis Duran 'Most Popular' On Staten Island

Top-rated WHTZ 1003. FM Z100 "Morning Show" host Elvis Duran — who turns the big 5-0 Tuesday — also received another, more grassroots gift: readers have voted him "Favorite Radio Personality" in the 2014 Staten Island Readers' Choice Awards.

"Congratulations to the finalists, I am so glad we all share a common desire to benefit the community of Staten Island," says Duran, striking a typically humble note.

The 30-year radio veteran took the lead early last week and never let up for a second. He ended up with a landslide 56 percent out of nearly 10,000 votes. Still, one commenter griped that it's a "disgrace" because Duran doesn't live on Staten Island.

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Duran began hosting his daily radio show on New York’s Z100 in April 1996.

Since then, the show has enjoyed much success with the country’s leading radio syndication company, Premiere Networks, a subsidiary of Clear Channel.

"I had a little radio and I listened to music in my bedroom when I was supposed to be sleeping," Duran told HuffPost Entertainment on the ocasision odf his 50th birthday.

"I was probably 6 or 7 years old and I loved the DJs who would come on and talk about the artists and the songs they were singing and they gave away prizes. I was like, 'This is a cool job!' I loved how they used theater of the mind, and colorful words to describe things -- I thought that was so me," he continued. "So as I say to people, I was seduced by radio at a very early age. Before 10 years old, I knew exactly what I wanted to do."

Elvis with Mariah Carey 1990

For the past two decades, Duran has fulfilled that childhood dream: He's the host of Z100's beloved radio program, "Elvis Duran and The Morning Show", which originates from New York, but airs in over 70 markets, including Philadelphia, Miami, Cleveland, St. Louis and Austin. With more than seven million listeners per week, Duran hosts the No. 1 nationally syndicated and Top-40 radio show in the country.
What's the best advice you got along the way?

Duran says the best advice he ever got was "Be yourself. It's very simple, but if you want to be a communicator in your business, my business or any business, never underestimate who's listening to you, because they know if you're full of crap or not. People are very smart. So if you're yourself, they may not like what you're saying, but they should at least appreciate that it's coming from a very honest place. Honesty and being yourself."