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The Day Elvis Died

D

Danoinark

Received this email from a grad student in Florida this week....any thoughts where I could steer her? We all know it had to have been significant, not only in the US but abroad too.

Dan S.

Hello Mr. Sears,

I am a graduate student at Florida Institute of Technology. I am doing a study that requires data dating to the day after Elvis died, in particular, the radio audience measurement right after his death was broadcast. As "starving" students, we are not able to subscribe to sources like Nielsen's Ratings. I have found some important figures from the book, "When Elvis Died," but are not sufficient.
 
Without a doubt, George Klein would be the starting point here. Was he not PD of WHBQ on the fateful day (and was at Graceland immediately after Elvis passed)?

He is reachable via his Sirius/XM e-mail. [email protected]

DE
 
Well kids, I was on the air on WHBQ when the news broke, doing fill in for the vacationing Bob Landree. By August of 1977, GK had been gone for close to a year. As far as ratings, radio-wise there were only spring and fall Arbitrons back then, so there wouldn't be much dynamic information related to that specific event. Q was #1 12-plus at the time, having topped WDIA after many years. Checking the "Dixie Dialing" column from the Press Scimitar on oidar.com, Q took the lead in the spring book in 1977 with a 13.7, then WDIA with 11.8, WLOK 11.6, WEZI 11.2, WMC-AM 9.1, and WMPS with a 6.6. the next book wouldn't have been underway until October, with the results published in January '78.
 
Fall of 1977 was pretty similar to the Spring:

WDIA--14.1
WHBQ--12.3
WMC--11.6
WEZI--10.5
WLOK--5.9

I only have the top 5, so I don't know where WMPS stood but it had to be below a 5.9.
 
Wow. You don't see numbers like that, anymore.

Rob: I didn't know about you being on the air that fateful day. That's a story for the grandkids.

DE
 
Just a few observations from my perspective. I was the VP Programming/Operations for Plough when EP died, and was based in Memphis at 112 Union but not in direct charge of the daily programming on their local stations. However I was one floor away and sometimes that was a little too close. Among the many memories I have is one that isnt known by many. It deals with the decision made by Plough's WMPS to air the syndicated Elvis Presley Story--(might be the wrong name, not sure) almost immediately after his death. As it turns out RKO General (owners of WHBQ) had secured the rights to the program as WMPS' rights had expired. WMPS still had the content on disc and made the decision to air the program. As I recall their internal reasoning had to do with its "newsworthiness" as part of the archives of the station. A cease and desist letter followed but by then the program had played many times on WMPS. At Graceland, the thousands of fans holding watch there were playing their radios with the syndicated program being the clear preference. This had no bearing on ratings of course since many if not most of those fans were from somewhere other than Memphis. Plus, Q had long ago unseated MPS as the CHR leader, much of the credit being to Dees move there.

A lawsuit followed of course and was probably settled out of court for not a lot of money.
 
When did WMPS change to country, and how long did they stay with it? I know that after that 680 has had numerous rotating formats, with simulcasting ESPN Radio from 92.9 being the latest.

To be honest, I think Plough got what they deserved in losing their top 40 audience, and having to change formats and eventually sell after firing Dees, but that's a topic that's been covered before.
 
WMPS went country on March 6, 1978 after over 22 years of top 40.

Country format lasted until March of 1983 when they went R & B and changed call letters to WKDJ.

They went AC on March 28, 1985 as WRVR's sister AM station. Later they were oldies, R & B oldies (The Juice), adult standards and Air America before going sports on September 2, 2007.
 
There’s a story here. I unfortunately had to pull the plug on WKDJ. It was that format that was active the day Viacom took possession of the station and switched to AC. We literally unplugged the studio feed from Union and switched it to Ridgeway. I had to be on the phone with Herb Kneeland to tell him he had 3 minutes left. Corporate had made us go down to Union Ave and stick inventory tags on everything right in front of the staff, and they knew they weren't being kept on. That wasn't fun, and I was wondering if they would try to do anything crazy on the air. Nope. Herb was gracious and helpful, right up to the moment I pulled him off the air and said goodbye. That stuck with me over the years for some reason.
 
I have a not dissimilar story from the Great 68, in this case it's from the jock-being-replaced perspective. In the wake of Dees moving his entourage and ratings from WMPS to WHBQ, the corresponding vacuum created a suction that would attract Walt Jackson and me across the street. Walt moved from his all-night and me from my late-night shifts at the Q, to do middays at WMPS (I think I did 10 to 1 and Walt did 1 to 4), for bigger-than-RKO bucks.

About five months into the ride, it was decreed that WMPS was going country. I initially made the cut and was playing the howdy hits. A formal cocktail party was thrown. I have a picture of myself and future WLS talk dude Jay Marvin (who was tapped to do all nights on WMPS) all dressed up and looking late-70's respectable (long haired-bearded, but in tuxedos). Programming and jock meetings were held. The music library was carted (uh, that was where I spent much time and toil). Whenever a jock meeting came up during my shift, Chief Engineer Robert E Knight would spell me on the air so I could troop down to the second floor and sit in. Then, one fateful day, there was a meeting, and I was not invited. It was just like in the movies... no one would make eye contact, everyone knew but me. One of the WMPS engineers was doing repair work in the control room. I told him that I guessed I was about to be canned. Sure enough, at the end of the shift, I was escorted to GM Tom Kroh's office and "Ploughed" under. I had just been a place holder while the new PD gave notice and moved to town.

Another memory from WMPS's country era. We were running ABC network news then, and between the newscasts, the net would play WPLJ down the line. I was listening to them in cue, and they were playing "Riders On The Storm". Seems like I was playing "The Battle of New Orleans" or "North To Alaska" at that moment... some cheesy short song timing into news. I was thinking how cool it would be to be playing "Riders On The Storm" instead. Less than a year later, I was over at Rock 103 (probably playing "Riders On The Storm").

What this has to do with Elvis' death I haven't a clue. But I digress.
 
> [T]here was a meeting, and I was not invited ... no one would make eye contact.

You know, there's a potential string here: Signs you are about to lose your radio gig. Certainly, being uninvited to meetings is a definite red flag. Others that I have seen happen to various people in the industry:

You work for Clear Channel. You come into work one day and are unable to log into your e-mail. (I am told one is always locked out before the axe falls.)

You work for Clear Channel. You come into work one day and find that, for some reason, your key card seems to not be working.

You work for Clear Channel. It's just before Thanksgiving, and you find out the GM wants to "chat" with you.

OK. You just work for Clear Channel.

You're management. You find some suits snooping around the building and no one knows or will tell you what is happening. (That one was me. 'Course, we all got fired.)

Your spouse has been fired the day before. GM stops you in the hall and asks if "you have a second."

You come into work. There is no production in your box. There is a note to "See Mickey Coulter" (the PD).

And, my favorite: you come into work, and there is someone else there to do your shift. BIG red flag.

DE
 
You read in Radio and Records the blurb "Welcoming the new PD of WXXX" and you're the current PD of WXXX.

That really happened as well. In Memphis.
 
At my last station, there were three categories of employees:

1. Those who were eventually fired.
2. Those who eventually will be fired.
3. Those who quit to avoid being fired.

When they didn't tell me anything at my last couple of stations, I SNOOPED!  And I destroyed evidence that they had against me!  In doing so, I found out that a former coworker (from category #1 above) had stuck a knife in my back!  Since I learned that some of the evidence against me was as a result of his brown-nosing, I felt justified in getting rid of it, especially since no one still there remembered any of it!
 
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