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NBC’s David Brinkley Breaks The News On Television…
In the late afternoon of August 16, 1977, scattered radio reports began to surface on the death of Elvis Presley. It was after 4PM Eastern time when news reports began to confirm the rumors. Many didn’t know till they got home and watched the evening news. Here is the start of that night’s broadcast on NBC.
Do you remember where you were when you heard the news?
I was 5. My neighbor came over and told us. I totally remember.
Listening to WAXY-FM in Ft. Lauderdale, they were playing Billy Joe Royal’s “I Knew You When” when the song suddenly stopped midway — and South Florida radio legend Rick Shaw broke the news. From 7 p.m. on, it was all Elvis the rest of the evening.
It was my 8th wedding anniversary. The phone rang and when I answered it, my sister blurted out in tears, “HappyAnniversaryRoxyElvisPresleydied!”
I stepped into my optician’s office with my mom to get my first pair of eyeglasses when I was 14. It was on the TV there in the waiting room. We were both stunned and saddened by the news.
I was getting ready to direct the local news and had CBS on in the control room. Walter came out of a break on the phone which got my attention…with a call from Col. Parker and the announcement.
I was 7 years old (the day before my birthday) I was probably playing outside!!!!
11 years old, listening to the radio (tuned to WBZ 1030 Boston) upstairs in my parent’s bedroom. I ran right down and told my mother.
I was working at WREG-TV in Memphis. In the days before satellite transmissions were common, the only way to feed video out of Memphis was to call AT&T to set up a video line, and that had to be done before 5pm. We somehow wound up with the only video line out of Memphis until two days later. All three US networks and some foreign ones fed their news stories from the station. We stayed very busy from that afternoon until the day after the funeral.
Watched it standing in master control at WSFA TV in Montgomery AL
I remember it. I was at a neighbor’s house that afternoon. I was 7 (almost 8) at the time. I was in shock as was the rest of the country.
Changing the diaper on my girlfriends 10 mo old son.
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