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One Sunday morning in May 1979, Patrick Ellis was nervous.

To calm his nerves, he envisioned a sunroom with floor-to-ceiling windows and French doors open for friends to gather for a Sunday morning brunch, set to gospel music.

In reality, Ellis was sitting in front of a microphone at the WHUR 96.3 radio station at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and was about to embark on his first day that May 27 as host of "Sunday Morning Gospel with Patrick Ellis."

Since then, Ellis' nerves have eased —he has hosted the now-acclaimed Sunday morning show for the past 30 years and said he has no plans to retire anytime soon.

In honor of his 30-year broadcast achievement, Ellis was named the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area's longest running on-air personality and ratings leader, with a proclamation June 16 presented by Prince George's County Councilmember Andrea Harrison (D-Dist. 5) of Springdale at the County Administration Building in Upper Marlboro.

This is Ellis' fourth proclamation in 20 years. He received the first in celebration of his 10th anniversary at WHUR, the second from former Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R) and the third from Annapolis Mayor Ellen Moyer (D).

"I don't take them for granted — I'm very thankful to over the years be recognized for my role in the broadcast industry," said Ellis, 66, of Mitchellville, father of Susan Cooper, 42, and Adina Ellis, 33, and husband to wife Angela of 10 years.

Renee Nash, the director of information and public affairs for WHUR and a personal friend, said for nearly 30 years, Ellis' show has been the top Sunday morning radio show in ratings in every demographic in the Washington, D.C. area.

The show airs every Sunday from 6 to 11 a.m., providing listeners with music, information and community programming.

The proclamation states that 55 percent of Prince George's County residents who listen to the radio on Sunday mornings listen to Ellis.

Ellis said his show reaches listeners in a 75-mile radius in five states — including Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia — and in Washington, D.C., and estimates the show has nearly 250,000 listeners.

"For 29 years the show's been number one without fail — that's pretty historic. In addition to that, Patrick is very community-minded — that is part of the success of the program," Nash said.

The proclamation also states that Ellis hosted 60 church-related events in 2008 and performed 240 hours of volunteer service. Ellis is also involved in station-sponsored community events, like WHUR's Thanksgiving food fundraiser.

Ellis said his passion for radio came from listening to it while growing up in the 1940s and 1950s.

"My grandmother kept me during the day when my folks were at work – my grandmother cooked, did housework and we listened to the radio," Ellis said.

Ellis attended Howard University in the District in the 1960s with the hope of becoming a doctor. He dropped out of school in 1965 after getting married and with his first daughter on the way, but completed his degree nearly a decade later, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication studies.

In the early 1970s, while Ellis was working at the Gillette Research Institute in Rockville, he learned about WHUR from his former sister-in-law, who worked at the station at the time.

"At the Sunday dinner table in 1971 I had no idea this was going to be the beginning of a 30-year career," he said.

In his late 20s and early 30s, from 1971 to 1975, Ellis worked at WHUR as an unpaid employee on weeknights and weekends. It was four years before he became a paid employee.

"I got to love it," he said.

He was hired as a full-time producer in 1975.

"I said OK, this might be a good professional challenge," Ellis said. "I'd been behind the scenes and I hadn't done live radio — I gave it a shot."

Despite his initial nervousness about being on-air, he quickly learned to be comfortable in the medium, by envisioning the bright and inviting sunroom.

"It just helped me psychologically to get through cracking this [microphone] to thousands of people," he said. "In time I threw that away as I became more comfortable and didn't need that crutch."

Longtime friend and former colleague Jesse Fax of Bowie attributes Ellis' success to him listening to his audience.

"He's very intelligent and I felt he would be a good host," said Fax, who recommended Ellis for the position. "He takes his job very seriously."

Nash described Ellis as legendary.

"You don't find too many air personalities, and I say that with a loose term, that have worked at the same radio station for as long as Patrick has been at [WHUR] and as long as he's done the show," Nash said.

"He's been doing it for so long, it's his personality," Nash said. "He obviously has a true passion for what he does – caring, sharing and giving back."

E-mail Liz Skalski at eskalski@gazette.net.