July 4, 1956: Elvis at Chattanooga train station (Alfred Wertheimer collection)
Forty years ago, our world was rocked by the death of the guy who rocked our world. It was big news when Elvis Presley died suddenly at the age of 42, unless you were Walter Cronkite. His “CBS Evening News” didn’t consider Elvis’s death to be the lead story that night. (Good old NBC did, thank you very much. Or as Elvis would have said, “thankyouverymuch.”)
In August 1977, I worked in the family store by day, attended college by night, worked at WGOW in Chattanooga on Saturdays, and at WEPG in South Pittsburg on Sundays. The 16th was a Tuesday, and I had a report to write for a class that night. I was working on it around 4:30 that afternoon with a “The Brady Bunch” rerun in the background. Why? I don’t know. Maybe Marcia Brady helped me stay awake while I was writing about (yawn) business management.
Channel 9 interrupted the Bradys, with a voice-over report. There was no video, just a “Channel 9 Bulletin” slide on the screen. I had the volume on low, so I missed the first part. By the time I started listening, all I heard was that someone had died at Baptist Hospital in Memphis. Who, in Tennessee was so important that they rated a news bulletin at 4:45 p.m.? (In those days, the local news didn’t come on until 6:00). But I had a paper to write, so I kept going. A few minutes later, the voice came back on, and again, I only heard the last few words. Maybe it was Governor Ray Blanton. After all, he had been in the news a lot, and was under fire for all kinds of misdeeds. Maybe, I thought, the stress (or the booze) had gotten to him.
My curiosity got the best of me, so I turned on the radio. It was set on WGOW, and they were playing an Elvis song. That was not unusual, since “Moody Blue” had been a hit recently, and “Way Down” had just been released. I switched to WFLI, and they too were playing an Elvis song. Just a coincidence, maybe. Continuing my tour of the AM dial, I tried WEPG, and you guessed it, there was Elvis. I recorded Dave Daffron’s announcement of Elvis’s death, and found it in my files just recently. I don’t think anyone has heard this in 38 years:
Here is the actual AP bulletin received by media outlets, courtesy of Earl Freudenberg, who was news director of WDOD at the time:
He wasn’t old enough to die! He was only 42. Sure, he was overweight. But that was just a phase, we thought. He gains it, he loses it, like many of us do. He had just appeared in concert in Huntsville a few months before. My sister Elaine, THE Elvis fan in the family, had invited me to go. I passed, for some reason or other. “I’ll catch him next time,” because there’s always a next time. Not this time. I never got to see Elvis, and have kicked myself ever since.
As the news spread, the huge reaction surprised even me. I was little when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, but the public outpouring of grief made a huge impression. A few years later, the violent deaths of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were equally shocking. All of them, gone in an instant, far too young.
And now Elvis was gone. It may be hard for today’s kids to understand, but in the pre-internet/smartphone era, we had TV, movies and radio. Period. Elvis dominated them all just as baby-boomers were coming of age. Before my time, he shook up the sleepy 1950s with his swiveling hips and rockabilly hits. In the 1960s, he was overshadowed on the radio by the British Invasion, so he made movies. Late in the decade, he reinvented himself with a dynamic TV special and began paying more attention to his music, resulting in some of his best, biggest hits ever: “Suspicious Minds,” “Kentucky Rain,” and “Burning Love” to name a few.
Then, we’re told he became dependent on all kinds of drugs. His outfits were too tight, and his live shows were sloppy. He became the butt of jokes. Then suddenly, he was gone. America, especially under-35 America, mourned. One of our local newspapers, with a very conservative viewpoint, rarely mentioned Elvis during his lifetime. But sensing a financial windfall, they ran special “Sunday Elvis” sections for several weeks after his death. Even now, RCA is still releasing “new” Elvis music, unearthed and remixed from deep in their vaults.
Although I was a little young to have been an original, die-hard Elvis fan, I understood his appeal. I played his songs on the radio, and still enjoy many of them today. Other music legends who left us at a young age, like Michael Jackson, John Lennon, and Whitney Houston, certainly left their mark. But he may have been the most original, and apparently had the biggest impact. Otherwise, why would so many be imitating him today?
July 4, 1956: Elvis at Chattanooga train station
I was 7, and my family was getting ready to go out for dinner when the news bulletin with Bob Johnson that you spoke of, interrupted. Scared me half to death!
My dad was in the Navy and we were stationed in Charleston South Carolina and I was 14 was playing outside with some friends and went inside to get something to drink and the t.v. was on and interrupted the program with the news.
Driving home from Dunlap, Tennessee after working as a salesman for Instutional Wholesale Company. Couldn’t believe it.
David…I was working the newsroom at channel 3 when I heard the bell ring on the AP machine. With the Bulletin in hand, I ran
to the control room and
I broke the news that Elvis was dead. The switchboard lit up, people calling in disbelief. It was somber day that I will always remember by the ringing of that bell. Jerry Wilson.
Was sitting in a control room in Oak Ridge, TN. And heard the bells on the AP machine, just when Mutual News was coming on. I changed the record on the Gates, cued up “Moody Blue” and opened up the phone lines and let folks vent. It was all you could do. Barely made it through airshift without losing it. An end of an era. After shift finished, went to the Music Box and purchased “Moody Blue” and “Way Down” on 45 RPM.
I was 17, working at Red Food in Rossville. A co-worker came to work telling us she had heard it on the radio.
In 1976, I went with some friends to see him at the Omni in Atlanta.
And, now I am friends with someone who dated him at some point when she was younger. I have pictures to prove it. She was one of the Hee Haw girls too.
On a Greyhound Bus bound for Columbus, Ohio…
Somewhere in Kentucky the bus stopped for a break. As she was boarding, a woman was crying and could barely get the words out. Elvis had died. Disbelief, then quiet. The engine revved up to begin the last let of our trip. Hardly anyone spoke, but there were some soft sobs coming from different seats on the bus, even as we rolled across a bridge spanning the Ohio River.
…last leg of our trip. :/
After getting Tired of the Revolving Door or Rock&Roll Radio Hitting me in the Butt I had gotten into the Ice Cream Vending business with my first Custom Built Truck and was working in Michigan just North of Toledo in Dundee,,Petersburg,,Britton,,Tecumseh,,Clinton areas. It came over the radio. And customers were telling me.
My ex and I had seen him twice the same day at the International in Las Vegas just a few years before.
My young son told me that Elvis had died — I thought he was telling me a joke………….
I was driving home from work when I heard it on the radio. I am and always have been a HUGE Elvis fan and I didn’t believe it at first. The first broadcast I heard was so rude and disrespectful, I thought this has to be a joke. The radio announcer said “Too bad ladies, the king is dead”. I turned to a different station and discovered it was true – Elvis was gone. I fell in love with Elvis when I was 5 years old at the Wink Theatre watching Girls, Girls, Girls and I never lost that love for him. I watched all his movies, had all his albums, watched every T.V. Special. My biggest regret was that I never got to see him perform in person. I thought I had plenty of time, he was so young.
I was living and working in Mexico City. A friend of mine from Sacramenot, Ca. came to visit with me, and she gave me the news. Lois was a die-hard fan of Elvis and I grew up in the 60’s era, always listening and dancing to his music, and seeing his movies. Elvis was exceptional, and his music and our memories of those fun days, will always live on.
I couldn’t believe the news, because he was such a giant to me and everyone else in the world; as I grew older, I realized that “giants” don’t live forever.
Thank you Elvis, for your spiritua, and musical contribution to our lives.
Singer/songwriter Jimmy Payne (“Woman Woman”) was recording a Gospel/Christian album for release in England. Jimmy was an old friend and he was kind enough to ask me to engineer the sessions. He had studio in his basement where we were recording. Jimmy’s wife came downstairs and told us about Elvis’ passing. We were all stunned at the news. We were recording “Amazing Grace” at the time. Nashville TV stations were all over the story so we kept switching channels to get the latest news. Being a part of the music community in Nashville, we were all very saddened by his death. It was too close to all of us. Anytime a fellow entertainer passes away we all feel it very deeply. We still miss you Elvis. RIP.
I was working at Fowler Brothers on Broad Street. We sold Magnavox TVs, usually tuned to the same channel, and the whole video wall was suddenly playing the same footage from Memphis. The staff all stood together and watched.
I lived in Chattanooga as I do now, but we had just arrived in Memphis that day to move a friend in for Law School. Amazing front row seat to the events of the next few days! Wow!
I was in the delivery room gving birth to my two weeks late delivery. After two hour delivery. The OBGYN told me about his death. I was happy due to this being our only son and yet upset over the loss of a legend.
Elvis became a big hit about a year before I started my career as a DJ. My favorite Elvis record was Old Shep, it was 7 minutes long and was a perfect record to play when a nature call presented itself. I was working the midnight to 6 am shift, alone in the studio, so that record was badly needed. Of course I played all of his songs during my DJ career from 1957-1967 on WDXB radio in Chattanooga.
I was 17, and working as an usherette for the Lookouts at Engel Stadium. I was crazy about Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffet, but found out about Elvis right before the game started. I still did my job ,albeit with a sense of disbelief the whole night.
Working at Red Food Store in LaFayette. Shoppers began coming in talking about it—most in tears. I didn’t believe it at first. “He was too young” was a common thought.
Our store manager actually announced it over the PA. It was almost like the president died.