This is one of my favorite radio stories: How five WSAI-AM “Good Guys” disc jockeys got The Beatles to come to Cincinnati Gardens on Aug. 27, 1964.
For just $25,000!
After seeing The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964, they got this crazy idea: Let’s invite Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr to play Cincinnati on their first North American tour.
"On a whim, the five of us sent a telegram to England and said, 'Can we get them for a show here?' " said Dusty Rhodes, the former Hamilton County auditor who came here in 1961 to work for WSAI-AM.
Rhodes, Paul Purtan, Mark Edwards, morning man Steve Kirk and “Skinny” Bobby Harper each agreed to put up $5,000.
On April 10, they received this telegram confirming they’d have John, Paul, George and Ringo for a Cincinnati engagement upon receipt of a certified check for $12,500, or half the amount.
They really thought they could pull off a Beatles concert?
“Only because we were so young and innocent,” Rhodes says. “If it wasn’t for Dino Santangelo, who had done the Ohio Valley Jazz Festival for many years, we couldn’t have done it. Luckily, Purtan was in the National Guard with Dino. He produced the whole thing for us. We had no experience at all doing a concert.”
Rhodes borrowed $5,000 from the Central Trust branch in Price Hill. He was 24. “My mother-in-law and father-in-law co-signed for it,” he says.
WSAI-AM’s ratings exploded when the station started playing “I Want To Hold Your Hand” in early January. Later that month, he started the "Dusty Rhodes' Beatles Boosters, North America's First Beatles Fan Club." He had mailed out more than 1,000 membership cards by the time The Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan Feb. 9.
The Gardens show — with a top ticket price of $5.50 — sold out instantly.
“We estimated that we could have sold out the Gardens five times,” he says. The DJs returned an estimated $30,000 in ticket requests.
Did they consider adding a second show?
“No, we didn’t do that. We were glad they agreed to do one!” he says.
Beatlemania had taken over Cincinnati by August. Rhodes was getting “300 letters a day from kids who wanted to be there, who wanted to meet them. It was just crazy.”
Fans hoping to see the band showed up at Greater Cincinnati Airport, the Anderson Ferry and at the actual destination, Lunken Airport. An estimated 1,100 teens, mostly “screaming young girls,” greeted The Beatles, I was told 10 years ago by Bob Pope, a Cincinnati Police officer on duty at Lunken that day.
The Gardens was packed with 14,000 screaming fans. Many teenage girls got their hair done for the big night — only to have it wilt in the hot hockey arena that lacked air conditioning. Many ordered a souvenir magazine-style booklet with Walter Burton’s concert photos. Dr. Bradley Wolf is displaying some of Burton’s photos at the Fresh to Morrow Café, 121 Market 121 Main St., Morrow, through Oct. 24.
“And there was not one problem. Not one problem,” Rhodes says.
Except for one slight issue: Nobody could hear The Beatles singing or playing their 12 songs in their half-hour set.
“You couldn’t hear the music for all the screaming,” he says.
“The Beatles opened with ‘Twist and Shout’ by the Isley Brothers, from here in Cincinnati. And they ended with ‘Long Tall Sally’ by Little Richard,” Rhodes says.
In between they played “You Can't Do That,” “All My Loving,” “She Loves You,” “Things We Said Today, “ Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven,” “Can't Buy Me Love,” “If I Fell,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” the Shirelles’ “Boys,” and “A Hard Day's Night,” which was also the title of The Beatles’ feature film released in the U.S. earlier that month.
It was a coming-of-age moment for WSAI-AM, which rocketed to a 40% audience share thanks to the Beatles good ol’ rock and roll music.
“Up to that point, the old guard radio executives were telling advertisers, ‘WSAI, that’s a kids’ station. They play music for teeny boppers,’ ‘’ Rhodes says.
WKRC-AM had top-rated Stan Matlock in the morning. WLW-AM advertised Lt. Art Mehring’s helicopter traffic reports. WCKY-AM played country music at night. WCPO-AM (1230 kHz, now “The Buzz”) broadcast on 250 watts and “barely could be heard outside the city limits at night,” Rhodes says.
“WKRC was telling everyone we were a lousy teen station. We knew adults were listening too. Our station really arrived at that point. After that we started playing album tracks instead of playing 45s (rpm singles),” he says.
Before the concert, The Beatles did a press conference in a locker room under the stands. Seven WSAI-AM contest winners also met John, Paul, George and Ringo.
“They were the nicest people to talk with, real down to earth. They were enjoying it as much as we were,” Rhodes recalls. “George Palmer from WKRC-TV asked, ‘What are you going to do when the concert is over?’ And John Lennon said, ‘Count the money!’ “
The WSAI-AM DJs also counted the money. Rhodes says each guy made about $9,800, so each almost doubled their money.
Did Rhodes ever dream he’d be still talking about the night 60 years later?
“I wouldn’t have guessed it in a million years,” Rhodes says. “They were only on stage for 30 minutes! It was an incredible night!”
