Friends,
If you've watched any news today, you've probably seen a mention of the thirtieth anniversary of Elvis' death. I don't know how you felt about him or his music, but I was big fan of Elvis music "back in the day" and even now I've got twenty of his CDs among the five hundred or so in my collection. This morning I picked a couple of those CDs out of the rack so that today I had Elvis on in the background all day at work and on my drive to and from.
I was a Texas A&M graduate student in 1977 and happened to be on my Air Force Reserve duty at Randolph AFB (near San Antonio) when the news about Elvis started being talked about in the halls. That evening I sat down and wrote this short note which was published in the San Antonio Light newspaper on August 22, 1977. In memory of the man and his music, I thought I'd share those thoughts of three decades ago.
Jerry
2 comments:
Thanks for keeping us connected, Gloria. Please feel free to share this if you should feel so-inclined.
Seeing Jerry Ball's comments reminded me that Elvis's life and death had a huge impact on me, too -- and the recent 30th anniversary of his death brought those memories flooding back.
I moved from Wichita, KS -- where I had been the News Director at All News Radio 13 - KWBB -- to Shreveport, LA, in June of '77 to be the morning news guy on KWKH. Six months later, I was the News Director and have been ever since. Except now I'm News Director for all six of our GAP Broadcasting radio stations and do most of my work on NewsRadio 710 KEEL. (You can hear us live on the internet at 710keel.com -- I'm on from 5:30 till 9:00 Central time every weekday morning) For those who don't know, KWKH is one of the legends of American radio. It's been on the air since 1925. It was one of the first 50,000 watt stations in the country. And it was the home of the Louisiana Hayride, which first aired April 3rd, 1948 -- the year I was born.
The Louisiana Hayride was a live Saturday night country music show -- and a rival to the Grand Ol' Opry on WSM in Nashville. The Opry originated from the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville -- the Hayride from the Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport. The Hayride has been nicknamed "The Cradle of the Stars" because 23 members of the Country Music Hall of Fame got their start on that show. When I was growing up in San Antonio, our family would often go out for a Saturday night drive so we could listen to the Hayride. It came in much better on the car radio than it did on any of our radios in the house.
So, how does all of this tie in to Elvis? He, too, got his real start on the Louisiana Hayride. That was in October of 1954. He had recorded two songs for Sam Phillips at Sun Records -- "That's Alright, Mama" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky." He was invited to perform on the Opry but, after his performance, he was told to go back to driving a truck. Then the Hayride took a bold step and invited him to Shreveport. The rest, as they say, is history. They signed him to a contract and he performed here on a regular basis for over a year. (I've got a photo copy of his original contract with KWKH, which was signed by his parents because he wasn't old enough to sign it himself! I THINK I've also got a copy of the buyout agreement that Colonel Parker signed with the station when he stole Elvis away from the Hayride in '55 and made him a star.)
The man who introduced Elvis on stage at the Municipal Auditorium that night in 1954 was KWKH Announcer Frank Page -- the "voice" of the Louisiana Hayride. When I went to work for KWKH in '77, Father Frank was the morning announcer and I was the morning news guy. So he quickly brought me up to speed on many of legends surrounding the radio station, the Hayride, and Elvis. One of our salesmen, Norm Bale, was a backup announcer on the Hayride at the same time and he, too, helped get me up to speed in a hurry. The microphone I used every morning to deliver my news was one of the RCA "bullet" mics that Elvis (and others) had used on the Hayride. You've probably all seen the pictures of Elvis swinging the microphone stand off to the side while belting out a song. Atop that stand is one of those RCA mics.
Well, you can imagine what it was like having to report on Elvis's death from the station where he got his start -- across the glass from the announcer who introduced him -- and doing it on one of the mics he had used on the Hayride. Add to that the stress of having to interview Frank and Norm and others who had been so close to the man during his tenure in Shreveport. Just writing this gives me chills.
For some unknown reason, Frank had saved an audio tape of the night he first introduced Elvis on the stage of the Municipal Auditorium. More than thirty radio stations across the US and around the world called us the day Elvis died -- asking if we had any archive audio that we could feed them. We had it and we fed it. So that introduction was heard again, literally, all around the world.
Frank remains, to this day, one of my dearest friends. I had the pleasure, several years ago, of inducting him into the Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce Walk of Stars. He was in the radio station today to promote the book he's just written and it was great to see him again.
Also among my dearest friends is James Burton. He's one of the best-know guitar players in the world. He's also a Shreveport native and still lives here today. He's the guy that Elvis called upon to put together his TCB (Taking Care of Business) band when he launched his 'Vegas tour. He played lead guitar for The King until the day Elvis died -- and keeps the memory alive today by traveling around the world with a show where he and other members of the TCB band play live while Elvis sings on big-screen video. Remember the old Ozzie and Harriet TV show? James was the lead guitar player in Ricky Nelson's band, too! I also had the distinct pleasure of inducting HIM into the Walk of Stars a few years back.
Sorry for the lengthy diatribe -- I just thought I'd share some of my memories of The King with you. BTW -- the very first record I ever bought (remember records?!?) was an Elvis 45.
John Lieberman -- AKA John Lee -- (RHS-66)
John Lieberman said...
Thanks for keeping us connected, Gloria. Please feel free to share this if you should feel so-inclined.
Seeing Jerry Ball's comments reminded me that Elvis's life and death had a huge impact on me, too -- and the recent 30th anniversary of his death brought those memories flooding back.
I moved from Wichita, KS -- where I had been the News Director at All News Radio 13 - KWBB -- to Shreveport, LA, in June of '77 to be the morning news guy on KWKH. Six months later, I was the News Director and have been ever since. Except now I'm News Director for all six of our GAP Broadcasting radio stations and do most of my work on NewsRadio 710 KEEL. (You can hear us live on the internet at 710keel.com -- I'm on from 5:30 till 9:00 Central time every weekday morning) For those who don't know, KWKH is one of the legends of American radio. It's been on the air since 1925. It was one of the first 50,000 watt stations in the country. And it was the home of the Louisiana Hayride, which first aired April 3rd, 1948 -- the year I was born.
The Louisiana Hayride was a live Saturday night country music show -- and a rival to the Grand Ol' Opry on WSM in Nashville. The Opry originated from the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville -- the Hayride from the Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport. The Hayride has been nicknamed "The Cradle of the Stars" because 23 members of the Country Music Hall of Fame got their start on that show. When I was growing up in San Antonio, our family would often go out for a Saturday night drive so we could listen to the Hayride. It came in much better on the car radio than it did on any of our radios in the house.
So, how does all of this tie in to Elvis? He, too, got his real start on the Louisiana Hayride. That was in October of 1954. He had recorded two songs for Sam Phillips at Sun Records -- "That's Alright, Mama" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky." He was invited to perform on the Opry but, after his performance, he was told to go back to driving a truck. Then the Hayride took a bold step and invited him to Shreveport. The rest, as they say, is history. They signed him to a contract and he performed here on a regular basis for over a year. (I've got a photo copy of his original contract with KWKH, which was signed by his parents because he wasn't old enough to sign it himself! I THINK I've also got a copy of the buyout agreement that Colonel Parker signed with the station when he stole Elvis away from the Hayride in '55 and made him a star.)
The man who introduced Elvis on stage at the Municipal Auditorium that night in 1954 was KWKH Announcer Frank Page -- the "voice" of the Louisiana Hayride. When I went to work for KWKH in '77, Father Frank was the morning announcer and I was the morning news guy. So he quickly brought me up to speed on many of legends surrounding the radio station, the Hayride, and Elvis. One of our salesmen, Norm Bale, was a backup announcer on the Hayride at the same time and he, too, helped get me up to speed in a hurry. The microphone I used every morning to deliver my news was one of the RCA "bullet" mics that Elvis (and others) had used on the Hayride. You've probably all seen the pictures of Elvis swinging the microphone stand off to the side while belting out a song. Atop that stand is one of those RCA mics.
Well, you can imagine what it was like having to report on Elvis's death from the station where he got his start -- across the glass from the announcer who introduced him -- and doing it on one of the mics he had used on the Hayride. Add to that the stress of having to interview Frank and Norm and others who had been so close to the man during his tenure in Shreveport. Just writing this gives me chills.
For some unknown reason, Frank had saved an audio tape of the night he first introduced Elvis on the stage of the Municipal Auditorium. More than thirty radio stations across the US and around the world called us the day Elvis died -- asking if we had any archive audio that we could feed them. We had it and we fed it. So that introduction was heard again, literally, all around the world.
Frank remains, to this day, one of my dearest friends. I had the pleasure, several years ago, of inducting him into the Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce Walk of Stars. He was in the radio station today to promote the book he's just written and it was great to see him again.
Also among my dearest friends is James Burton. He's one of the best-know guitar players in the world. He's also a Shreveport native and still lives here today. He's the guy that Elvis called upon to put together his TCB (Taking Care of Business) band when he launched his 'Vegas tour. He played lead guitar for The King until the day Elvis died -- and keeps the memory alive today by traveling around the world with a show where he and other members of the TCB band play live while Elvis sings on big-screen video. Remember the old Ozzie and Harriet TV show? James was the lead guitar player in Ricky Nelson's band, too! I also had the distinct pleasure of inducting HIM into the Walk of Stars a few years back.
Sorry for the lengthy diatribe -- I just thought I'd share some of my memories of The King with you. BTW -- the very first record I ever bought (remember records?!?) was an Elvis 45.
John Lieberman -- AKA John Lee -- (RHS-66)
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