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On a February night in 1964, a veteran TV host and four young musicians from England changed music, broadcasting, popular culture… they changed everything.
By Mark Wainwright
In early December 1963, America was a very gloomy place. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22 brought the country to a virtual standstill for four days, and the emotional and psychological hangover lingered for weeks. The nation needed a dose of uplifting energy and fun, and the Beatles were the ideal remedy.
The Beatles were hardly newcomers. They had already been a successful act in the UK and mainland Europe (especially in Germany) for several years; oddly, they never got much traction in the United States. They had released a handful of songs in the US on smaller, independent record labels as far back as 1962, but they received little attention.
“She Loves You,” one of their early signature songs, was a failure when it was first released here in 1963. Dick Clark tried to feature it on “American Bandstand,” but the young dancers on his show didn’t know what to make of it and rated it poorly. But as the year went on, their popularity in England dramatically turned into a phenomenon that featured wildly enthusiastic crowds of screaming teenage girls. No one seems to be able to pinpoint what the catalyst was, but their already established popularity quickly grew into what became known as “Beatlemania.”
The Beatles first appeared on American TV on network news broadcasts. NBC’s “Huntley-Brinkley Report” aired a segment about the Beatles and Beatlemania in England on November 18,1963. Edwin Newman was the correspondent, and he and his colleagues were rather dismissive of the group, their music, and their young fans. Meanwhile, over at CBS, Walter Cronkite’s take was more generous. Their reporter in London, Alexander Kendrick, was pretty condescending as well, but Cronkite liked the segment when he saw it on the “CBS Morning News” on November 22 and planned to run it on his evening newscast. Sadly, what happened in Dallas hours later preempted everything.
A few weeks later, Cronkite thought his viewers could use a lift from the gloom that had descended upon the country, and he thought that segment would be a nice diversion. He ran it on his newscast on December 10, and that story really got the nation’s attention.
Young America was soon clamoring for everything Beatles. Radio stations dug up the records that hadn’t been successful and started playing them constantly. Beatles paraphernalia was heavily marketed and sold well. Capitol Records released “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in the United States on December 26 — the boys finally had a deal with a major record company in the US — and by New Year’s Eve, it was already a hit. It was the first of six Beatles’ songs that reached #1 on the Billboard “Hot 100” chart in 1964.
Meanwhile, Ed Sullivan was the host/master of ceremonies of a long-running CBS variety show that dominated the Sunday night ratings for years. Unlike most of his contemporaries, he was happy to present many of the early stars of rock-and-roll; Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, and Jackie Wilson were among the pioneering artists of the new music genre who got their first major television exposure on Sullivan’s program.
Sullivan heard about the Beatles, saw them receive a tumultuous reception at Heathrow Airport in London, saw the CBS news segment, and was determined to present them on his show. Whatever he thought of their music, he respected talent and knew a hot act when he saw one.
A deal was quickly arranged between Sullivan and Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ long-time manager. Sullivan would bring them to the United States for three consecutive Sunday night shows. The February 16 performance would be broadcast live from the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach, the third appearance on February 23 would be taped in advance. But the first of the three, a live performance on the Ed Sullivan Show February 9, was the one most anticipated. The two New York shows would be presented at the studio venue now known as the “Ed Sullivan Theater.”
When word got out, the demand for tickets was insane. CBS received more than 50,000 ticket requests (the tickets were free) for a studio theater that held 728. Getting one of the tickets was largely a matter of luck. Numerous notables and VIPs called upon favors owed and contacts at CBS to get tickets for their daughters (or granddaughters). Only a few succeeded.
When the Beatles arrived in New York on a Pan Am 707, they were greeted by a near-hysterical crowd of teenage girls (this had become a routine occurrence). They needed a police escort to get into Manhattan, and they needed a phalanx of New York cops to get them in and out of their hotel. All of this, of course, was breathlessly reported in the news media.
They arrived at the theater on Saturday, February 8, for a lighting and sound check and a brief rehearsal. George Harrison was recovering from a throat infection and was still tired and feverish, so he stayed at the hotel to rest, while a member of their entourage and a CBS production assistant took turns as stand-ins for George.
The following evening, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time, the “Ed Sullivan Show” went on the air, and shortly after the opening credits, Sullivan came on stage and offered a few brief remarks about the Beatles and their spectacular overnight success (“overnight” at least as far as Americans were concerned). Then… “Ladies and Gentlemen… THE BEATLES!” The theater erupted.
This moment led to one of the enduring music/broadcasting history trivia questions: What was the first song the Beatles performed live on their first “Ed Sullivan Show” appearance? No, it wasn’t “She Loves You” or “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (although they did those later in the show). Hint: while it was one of their most popular early songs, it was never officially released as a single. Okay, it was “All My Loving,” track #6 on side one of their iconic Meet the Beatles! album.
The ratings for the show were unprecedented. More than 73 million viewers – 39% of the country’s population – saw the performance. The broadcast drew a 60 share, which meant that 60% of American TV households were tuned in. Ed Sullivan always had pretty good ratings, but this was more than triple the size of his usual audience.
The Beatles were far from finishing their first American visit. Brian Epstein had managed to squeeze a couple of concert appearances into their tight schedule. One of those took place in Washington, DC two nights later, at the old Washington Coliseum. The old barn had seen some big events in its history, but nothing like this. The folks who owned and managed the building had barely heard of the group, but a concert promoter in the region convinced them to book a show. There was minimal promotion and advertising, but it wasn’t necessary. The tickets sold out in only a few hours.
It turned out to be one of the most intense and intimidating concert environments ever seen, and is still regarded as such. The Beatles performed one of their few (maybe their only?) concerts “in the round,” on a small stage at the center of the arena, placed where the boxing ring would normally be situated. The building was packed with 8,092 ticket holders, most of them (as usual) screaming teenagers, with the front rows only a few feet from the stage. Imagine the frenzy in Ed Sullivan’s studio theater, now multiplied by a factor of ten. Fortunately, nothing really serious occurred, and the band handled the situation flawlessly, even making adjustments on the fly to handle audio and microphone issues…although it’s hard to believe they could even hear themselves amidst the screaming. They returned to New York to perform at Carnegie Hall the following day, then flew to Florida to spend a few days before returning to England. They returned for a North American concert tour in late summer. That tour was much better organized and promoted, although Beatlemania had not subsided at all, and the receptions they received were just as frenzied as their earlier appearances.
Typically, in an article like this, you would see links to various sources on the web. It would be superfluous here. There are countless sources of audio, video, photographs, and text of all these events and many others relating to that weekend in 1964. They are easily accessed on YouTube and other online locations. You can use one of the popular search engines or simply type a few key words into the YouTube search bar. All sorts of material will pop up; you’ll never run out of stuff to enjoy. If you are looking for maximum available audio and video quality, there are many downloads and DVD’s available from Amazon and other merchants.
The Beatles’ first weekend in America – particularly that first appearance on the “Ed Sullivan Show” – is widely regarded as a sort of cultural watershed that ignited Beatlemania here and opened America to other performers of the “British Invasion” era… artists like the Rolling Stones, the Dave Clark Five, Dusty Springfield, and many others. Many sociologists and cultural historians have opined that the Beatles coming to the United States was (at least in a pop culture sense) the beginning of the era that we now commonly view as “The Sixties.” Indeed, a veteran television host and four young musicians from the UK changed everything that night.
EPILOGUE
If their first “Ed Sullivan Show” performance was the “penthouse suite” of their first visit to America, the foundations of that structure were the countless radio stations around the United States that highlighted the band and played their music incessantly. There are endless stories about the big AM Top-40 stations of that era, their star disc jockeys, and their various encounters with the Beatles, both on and off the air.
I was a youngster in Baltimore at that time, and I was already hooked on radio and everything about it. I was a big fan of AM Top-40 powerhouse WCAO. The “Big 60” was the radio station for young Baltimore in that era, and their on-air staff were all celebrities in the community. Noted radio entrepreneur Kerby Confer was a WCAO disc jockey then, using the name “Kerby Scott” on the air.
1964 WCAO Promotional Material: “Kerby Scott photo
(Photo courtesy Kerby Confer)
I recently spoke with Kerby Confer (almost two hours on the phone!) and reminisced about that era and WCAO’s role in it. When the Beatles took the train from New York to their gig in Washington, one of Kerby’s colleagues, veteran WCAO newsman Frank Luber, managed to board the train when it stopped at Pennsylvania Station in Baltimore and recorded an interview with the Beatles. The tape was brought back to the station and aired.
If WCAO was already immersed in Beatlemania, that episode had the station and its staff absolutely swimming in it. Kerby Confer told me that moment influenced his life and his career in ways he didn’t fully appreciate at the time. He said he was just another guy doing pretty well on the air in Baltimore, but that moment led to him becoming Baltimore’s “Fifth Beatle.” Wait, what? Baltimore’s “Fifth Beatle?”How did that come about?
September, 1964: The Beatles and Baltimore media. “Kerby Scott” Confer is at the far right, directly behind Ringo (Photo courtesy Kerby Confer)
As it turned out, Kerby Scott soon became the host of WCAO’s “Liverpool Hour,” an evening program in conjunction with his regular on-air work at the station. The program featured the music of the Beatles and the many other artists who came out of the UK at that time.
Kerby usually wore his hair short in a buzz cut, but Paul Rodgers – his lifelong friend, WCAO colleague, and business partner later – convinced him to grow his hair out enough to solidify the “Fifth Beatle” persona. Kerby eventually sported a very restrained Beatles-style haircut to complete the image (I don’t think he kept the haircut for very long). He was an obvious choice to emcee one of the Beatles’ shows when they performed at the Baltimore Civic Center in September of 1964, and he later hosted “The Kerby Scott Show” on WBAL-TV; it was a dance party program, Baltimore’s version of Dick Clark’s show “American Bandstand,” and I believe it was eventually syndicated elsewhere. Before long, Kerby Confer moved over to the business side of radio in management and ownership. He was very successful in that endeavor, and still owns and operates many radio stations today.
So, Kerby Scott Confer and Mark Wainwright were just two more young radio guys whose lives and careers were influenced by that first Beatles weekend in the United States. It bears repeating: a veteran television host and four young musicians from England changed everything on the night of February 9,1964.
Mark Wainwright is a long-time radio personality, talk show host, and voiceover performer who has worked on the air at numerous respected radio stations around the United States. He was most recentlythe morning host at WSYR in Syracuse, New York. A Baltimore native, Mark currently resides inSaratoga County, New York. He can be reached at: markwainwright@earthlink.net
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“Draft Legislation to Preserve Americans’ Access to AM Radio” is the title of a legislative hearing that House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Washington) and ranking member Frank Pallone (D-New Jersey) will hold the last day of the month (4/30). Rodgers and Pallone previously released draft legislation that mirrors legislative language the Senate Commerce Committee passed out last year. NAB president/CEO Curtis LeGeyt comments, “NAB is deeply grateful to chair Rodgers and ranking member Pallone for their continued leadership in safeguarding continued access to AM radio in new cars. With 82 million monthly listeners, AM radio is the backbone of the Emergency Alert System and serves as a trusted source of factual news and diverse programming in communities across the country. Local broadcasters look forward to continuing to work with [Rodgers, Pallone] and all committee members to ensure this critical communications medium remains accessible to listeners across the country.” The AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (S.1669/H.R. 3413) currently has 48 co-sponsors in the Senate and 245 House co-sponsors. In related news KFNX, Phoenix owner Bill Brady will be delivering an address titled “The Case for AM Radio” at the forthcoming TALKERS 2024:Radio and Beyond conference on June 7 at Hofstra University. More information in stories below and here.
Johnson says, “I look forward to being a frequent guest on Tony’s show. This opportunity to speak directly to the American people about the most important developments in politics, policy, and culture will be important as we chart the path forward for Congress in these historic times.” Salem SVP Phil Boyce comments, “Salem is honored to kick off this important program with Speaker Johnson as guest host, who has worked tirelessly for conservative values since he took over the Speaker’s position. Tony Perkins, a nationally recognized expert in public policy, will be an excellent co-host, as the show deals with the important topics facing the House and the Speaker’s initiatives in getting his agenda passed.” Perkins adds, “I look forward to kicking off this new program with candid conversations with the House Speaker that will take listeners beyond the headlines and soundbites and inform them about what is really happening in our country and what citizens can do to influence the direction of our nation.” The show will be carried by Salem-owned news/talk stations nationwide, as well as affiliates of the Salem Radio Network. It will also air on the Salem News Channel weekends at 10:00 am ET, and 8:00 pm ET on Saturday and Sunday, as well as on demand on Salem Podcast Network, at Townhall.com, and on SNC.TV. SRN VP of news and talk Tom Tradup will serve as executive producer. Radio stations interested in the show can contact their SRN affiliate representative.
Podcasting deserves a larger role in media plans as opposed to “test and learn” experimental buys. 135 million Americans, 47% of persons 12+, are reached monthly. Among demographics such as persons 18-34, 18-49, and 25-54, monthly reach is in the low 60% range; 2) It is feasible to consider shifting TV budgets to podcasting given that podcast 18-34 reach performance is as big as TV; 3) The ratio of monthly audiences who also listen weekly is an excellent measure of podcast habituation. At present, 71% of the monthly female podcast audience also listen weekly. This is the strongest female podcast habituation in the last decade; and 4) Currently, podcasts only represent 1% of total national ad spend, per Guideline’s Standard Media Index reporting. At the dawn of cable TV, legendary BBDO media chief Arnie Semsky created the “5% solution,” which stipulated that brands devote 5% of media budgets to cable. 5% is enough of allocation to generate meaningful impact. Semsky was prescient. His brands hugely benefited from taking an early, bold, and strong position in a growing new medium, a lesson for the marketers of today when it comes to podcasts. 
week’s installment of the award-winning PodcastOne series, “The Michael Harrison Interview.” The program includes an archived interview conducted with Lieberman in 2018 for the podcast which offers valuable insight into his perspective on the Electoral College and the presidency of Donald Trump among other historic issues. Harrison describes the late senator and former VP candidate as, “one of the last true American statesmen of the modern era.” 
population has listened to a podcast in the last month, up 12% year over year; 34% of the U.S. 12+ population has listened to a podcast in the last week, up 10% year over year. Despite changes in how downloads are being delivered and counted, listening levels are up markedly; 2) Growth in podcast reach is driven by large increases among the number of female listeners: 45% of women in the U.S. age 12+ have listened to a podcast in the last month, up from 39% in 2023, an increase of 15%; 32% of women in the U.S. age 12+ have listened to a podcast in the last week, up from 27% in 2023, an increase of 19%; 3) Online audio listening hits the highest mark ever: 76% of those in the U.S. age 12+ have listened to online audio in the last month, an estimated 218 million people, 90% of those age 12-34 and 85% of those age 35-54 have listened to online audio in the last month; 4) 70% of those age 18+ who have driven or ridden in a car in the last month currently ever listen to radio as an audio source in their primary car; 55% listen to online audio and 32% listen to podcasts; and 5) 60% of those age 12+ have a traditional AM/FM radio set in their home. 
ideology on an issue-by-issue basis – although infuriating his fellow Democrats on many an occasion. After leaving the Senate in 2012, he withdrew somewhat from the political spotlight to serve as an attorney in private practice and a college professor but remained outspoken on issues of politics and public policy. His most recent activities included founding the No Labels Group which condemns what Lieberman described as the “partisan polarization of our politics which prevents us from making the principled compromises on which progress in a democracy depends.” Lieberman said, “We need bipartisan leadership to break the gridlock in Washington that will unleash all the potential that is in the American people.” TALKERS publisher Michael Harrison had the opportunity to get to know Joe Lieberman very well while serving as a talk show host on Connecticut’s leading talk station, WTIC, Hartford in the early 1990s. Harrison states, “Joe Lieberman was always available at a moment’s notice to appear on the air with me during those golden days of talk radio’s modern era and it was apparent to me – as well as talk show hosts across the nation – that he wasn’t your ‘run of the mill politician’ who put party over country and avoided answering the tough questions. There was a profound honesty in his words and tone that inspired confidence, among even those who disagreed with him, that they were talking to a very solid, principles-based man.” Harrison continues, “Talk show hosts on both sides of the political divide loved him for his warmth, candor and accessibility.” Harrison concludes, “Al Gore would have been better served during his run for the presidency to have let Joe have freer reign over his media availability during the campaign, something the VP failed to do. Every request for Joe to be a guest – many of which were squashed – had to go through the Gore campaign which turned off a lot of Joe’s friends and admirers in both radio camps.”
dramatically understate AM/FM radio’s shares; 2) AM/FM radio represents the dominant ad-supported audio platform with a 68% overall share and a massive 86% in-car share; 3) In a typical day in America, 95% of Americans never listen to ad-supported Spotify. 94% never listen to ad-supported Pandora; 4) Podcasts’ audience soars. At a 20% share of ad-supported audio, podcasts now represent one out of every five minutes of U.S. ad-supported audio; 5) Among registered voters, AM/FM radio leads in ad-supported audience share (68%) followed by podcasts (21%); 6) After a pandemic lull, the proportion of AM/FM radio listening occurring in-car roars back; and 7) Powered by podcasts, spoken word is on a tear: 40% of all time with ad-supported audio goes to spoken word, up from 27% pre-pandemic. 
Indeed, TikTok has been caught engaging in a pattern of illicit surveillance and making false statements about personnel in Beijing accessing sensitive U.S. user data. These facts were laid bare for the world to see when the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a TikTok oversight hearing last year. And that is why there is now a broad, bipartisan consensus that TikTok cannot continue to operate in the U.S. in its current form. I want to applaud the strong, bipartisan leadership that Members of Congress have shown in advancing this bill, which would definitively resolve the serious national security threats TikTok poses by banning the app or requiring that it genuinely sever ties to the CCP. This is a smart, threat-specific bill that would address a clear and present danger. I hope that this bill will soon become law.”
those living in suburban or urban areas. Rural listeners spend 43% of their daily audio listening time with AM/FM radio and radio streams, compared with urban listeners who spend 34% of their time with AM/FM radio and radio streams. Meanwhile, Urban listeners spend over twice as much of their daily audio time with podcasts as rural listeners. Urban listeners spend 13% of their daily audio time with podcasts compared with rural listeners who spend 6% of their daily time with podcasts.” Interestingly, if you combine the AM/FM listening and podcast listening numbers for Urban, Suburban and Rural listeners, these numbers are essentially the same – between 47% and 49%. Edison notes, “It appears that the ‘time budget’ for radio and podcasting combined is consistent across locations; it is just the apportionment of that time that varies.”
Communications’ WNOV-AM, Milwaukee; and Minority Communications’ KJMC-FM, Des Moines. SmileyAudioMedia owner and program host Tavis Smiley says, “Our show’s rapid and continued expansion into key media markets represents an exciting next chapter. As we move deeper into the 2024 election season, we’ll continue to provide our growing listener base with enlightening and empowering programming unapologetically geared toward African Americans and other citizens of color.” The program is heard in Chicago on Midway Communications’ WVON-AM; LEVAS Communications’ WURD-AM, Philadelphia; and Equity Media’s WBOK-AM, New Orleans and plans to announce more new affiliate stations later in the spring.
competition last evening (2/22) at the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, MA. The American Bar Association, Law Student Division holds a number of annual national moot court competitions. One such event, the National Appellate Advocacy Competition, emphasizes the development of oral advocacy skills through a realistic appellate advocacy experience with moot court competitors participating in a hypothetical appeal to the United States Supreme Court. This year’s legal question focused on the Communications Decency Act – “Section 230” – and the applications of the exception from liability of internet service providers for the acts of third parties to the realistic scenario of a journalist’s photo/turned meme being used in advertising (CBD, ED treatment, gambling) without permission or compensation in violation of applicable state right of publicity statutes. Harrison tells TALKERS, “We are at one of those sensitive times in history where technology is changing at a quicker pace than the legal system and legislators can keep up with – particularly at the consequential juncture of big tech and mass communications. I was impressed and heartened by the articulateness and grasp of the Section 230 issue displayed by the law students arguing before me.” 
listened in the past week. The list shows the Top 10 Podcasts in the U.S. based on the number of Black weekly podcast listeners for Q4 2023. “The 
Have we passed the disappointment of 2023?
If 
roles in management in both music and news at such stations as New York’s WHN (in news) and WPLJ (as music director). Among the highlights in her remarkable career, she served as the ABC group’s first female program director at KAUM-FM, Houston and as PD at the Boston Globe’s WSAI-FM, Cincinnati. At one point she was vice president of programming for the ABC Radio Networks. Other senior managerial stops include Watermark production studio (American Top 40 and American Country Countdown), United Stations, and as senior vice president of programming for Sony-Warner’s radio division, SW Networks. Baldassano was a co-founder and an initial board member of the Mentoring and Inspiring Women, Inc group, which sprang from the first list of women honored by Radio Ink in 1998 (on which she was included). She tells TALKERS, “In my years at Take On The Day, LLC, I built wonderful relationships with advertisers, affiliates, SiriusXM, multiple charities and Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s loyal listeners. I am truly grateful for the years spent with Dr. Laura and Geoff Rich, as the company grew and diversified into live theatrical shows nationwide, podcasts, online stores that benefited Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation, and much more. We had a great time, and I have nothing but warm wishes for their continued success as we all move on to new chapters.” She adds, “As one of the co-founders and a former board member, I will continue to work closely with Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio, Inc, where I serve as a key mentor to amazing women rising to be the next generation of leaders in radio. It’s one of the most important things I’ve ever done, and I get inspired by these women each and every day.” Baldassano can be emailed at 
Now that every single thing is a political argument, the angry social media conversation about Taylor Swift is unsurprising. And with the Super Bowl looming, the decibel level amps-up.
Other notable findings: 1) Older Americans and women are listening to podcasts at a faster rate, with a 22% increase in listeners over the age of 55 and a 19% increase in female listeners 18+ over the past two years; 2) Top podcast genres of 2023 were News (22% of downloads), True Crime (18%), and Comedy (15%). Of True Crime podcast listeners, 67% were female, of Comedy podcast listeners 62% were male, and of News podcast listeners 58% were male; 3) The top sales networks of 2023 in the Triton U.S. Podcast Ranker were SiriusXM Podcast Network at #1, NPR at #2, and Wondery at #3. The top podcast of the year was “NPR News Now.” Triton Digital SVP measurement products & strategy Daryl Battaglia says, “2023 was another year of significant growth for the podcast industry, and with increasing female and over 55+ audiences, we can expect more content production to serve those groups in the coming year. As podcast listenership continues to rise and reach new audiences, we’ll continue to provide our customers with in-depth insights around podcast consumption and listener habits in the coming year.” 
I’m no expert, but I do have a theory.