The Day The Beatles Hit The AirWaves

Before Ed Sullivan, Beatlemania Was Already On It's Way

It was Dec. 17, 1963, and the U.S. hadn't been hit by the wave of new music that is The Beatles.

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Before their legendary appearence on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964,  Carroll James of WWDC in Washington, D.C., played a Beatles record on the air waves after a DC teenager had mailed in a request to WWDC to hear the Beatles December day in 1963. He wasn't the first to do so, but it was the first time the band took off.

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“I wrote that I thought they would be really popular here, and if [James] could get one of their records, that would really be great,” said Marsha Albert, who made the request in '63. After a quick play of “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” the phones lit up and the song was an instant hit, prompting Capitol Records to release the single in the U.S. the following week, and it would reach the No. 1 spot in Billboard on Feb. 1, 1964 for 11 straight weeks.

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