Rod made a phone call to ELO, for backing on record (5,4)
I believe the answer is:
range pole
'rod' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'made a phone call to elo for backing on record' is the wordplay.
'made a phone call' becomes 'rang' (I've seen this before).
'for backing' is a reversal indicator.
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'record' becomes 'EP' (abbreviation for extended play record).
'elo' in reverse letter order is 'ole'.
'ole' put after 'ep' is 'epole'.
'rang'+'epole'='RANGE POLE'
(Other definitions for range pole that I've seen before include "It's a feature in survey" , "Rod" .)