When KQV and KDKA were engaged in Beatles one-upmanship
John Rook, KQV Pittsburgh’s operations manager from 1963 to 1967, wasn’t thrilled the first time he heard of the Beatles.
“As a fan of ‘The Crickets,’ a new group by the name of ‘The Beatles’ didn’t impress me. I thought it was a direct steal of Buddy Holly’s band,” Rook recalls on his website.
But Rook’s friend, Bob Skaff, who worked for Liberty Records, predicted the quartet would be big even though his label wouldn’t sign the band. Later, Skaff introduced Rook to Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein, a friendship that eventually led to KQV famously becoming the first station in America to air several of the Beatles’ new songs.
Here’s how Rook recalls that halcyon music year of 1964.
“My pipeline for Beatle music gave me each release several days before any other radio station in the states,” Rook explains. “In those days before satellites and Federal Express, the exclusives from England were copied and then transported to the Pittsburgh airport where for a few bucks, airline pilots would fly them in the cabin to New York where WABC’s program director, Rick Sklar, would rush them to Cousin Brucie to give his listeners a treat.”
But by then, the songs had already premiered on KQV. (In early 1965, it was reported that KQV had been playing “Ticket to Ride” and “Yes It Is” more than a week before any other American radio station.)
Soon after Beatlemania began, Rook learned that the Beatles would be playing in Pittsburgh in late summer. He was told KQV could be the presenting station, but first it had to present a series of other shows, including one by the fledging Rolling Stones. The group, which had received little airplay up to that point, drew a sparse 300 people to West View Park on June 17.
As Rook relates in detail on his website, on Sept. 14, the day before the Beatles were to play at the Civic Arena, KQV sent two of its disc jockeys to Baltimore to accompany the Beatles on their flight to Pittsburgh. At the same time, KDKA had sent its own disc jockey, Clark Race, to Maryland for the same purpose.
Rook protested through Epstein’s secretary, and Race was taken off the flight.
The heated Beatles one-upmanship between KDKA and KQV caught the attention of Variety magazine’s Lenny Littman, who reported, “KDKA with its Group W connections was airing complete reports from Jim Stagg and Art Schreiber who were on the Beatle plane for the whole tour. The station (KDKA) went out and bought 100 tickets for the show here and gave them away in various contests on the Clark Race show. Four reporters were assigned to cover the Beatles once they arrived in Pittsburgh but Race went on ahead to meet them in Baltimore when he ran into the buzz saw of (KQV’s) ‘Fun Loving Five.’ “
While neither KQV disc jockey made the flight, either, DJ Dex Allen was granted interviews with the group, which were then immediately aired. The next day, both stations were out in full force at the airport conducting interviews before a scheduled press conference.
Littman noted, “At the actual press conference… no live interviews would be permitted. KQV pulled a sneak on this one by recording on a tape recorder that sent the story to the station on a seven-second delay on special ABC equipment that was recently developed… KDKA was still in there slugging but they played by the rules, but with ‘Front Page’ Fun Lovers there was no rules – only a story to get.”
Both stations played Beatles music the entire day, but Littman said KQV would often interrupt whatever was being broadcast to air the interviews.
“The two stations went right down to the wire,” Littman wrote, “with KQV laying in close after KDKA had taken a strong and impressive lead. But at the stretch when thousands of people filed into the Arena, there were four banners around the score board and one big banner strung above the stage reading “KQV AUDIO 14.”
And it was KQV disc jockey Chuck Brinkman who ultimately took to the stage to say, “KQV presents the Beatles.”
Rook’s association with the Beatles did not end there. In February 1965, he and Brinkman were invited to join the Beatles in the Bahamas where “Help” was being filmed. Rook’s most vivid memory?
” ‘The Boys,’ with their well-known mischievous streak decided to have some fun by wrecking the MG sports car they had been provided. Together they lifted the rear of the car up on two cement cinder blocks, one below each side of the back bumper, and then took delight in starting the motor, laying a brick on the gas pedal and pushing it off the cement blocks for the unattended car to gather speed crashing into a solid cement wall. This was done over and over. With each crash the boys leaped for joy squealing in delight.”
Last week, Rook said his fondest memory was that “Both John Lennon and George Harrison told me how much my friend, Eddie Cochran, had encouraged them to become a group, John and I continued to talk over the years.”
Regrets? Just one.
“Had I only known back then what I know now, I’d have collected all sorts of photos, especially when Brinkman and I were vacationing in the Bahamas with the boys. But, you know, I really thought Beatlemania would only last a couple of years.”
Next week: WJPA disc jockey Pete Povich knew the Beatles were going to be something special.