SEATTLE - It was August 21, 1964. The world's most successful pop group was about to make history in Seattle. And Seattle's most successful DJ was right there with them.
"It was somewhere near teenage insanity when the Beatles arrived in town," said longtime Seattle radio personality Pat O'Day.
A year earlier, O'Day's radio station, KJR, was the first in the country to play a Beatles record.
O'Day recalled, "It went up the chart a little ways, but the local distributor for that record company didn't have much power, much clout, and so the record didn't get great sales."
But in the months that followed, Beatlemania took hold.
"And what an explosion it was," said O'Day.
"The tickets went instantly. Of course they were only five, four and three dollars for those concert tickets, depending on where you were sitting in the Coliseum."
It was O'Day's job to bring the boys out on stage.
He remembers it well.
"And I said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome from Liverpool, England, Ringo, John, George and Paul, the fabulous Beatles!'"
It seems Beatles were to be seen and not heard, thanks to their 15-thousand vocal fans.
"They screamed from beginning to end. And it was not a musical experience but it was a visual, emotional experience."
Back at the Edgewater Inn Hotel, the Beatles famously fished from a hotel window. Their rooms, and everything in them, would forever become sacred ground to Beatles fans.
O'Day said, "There was a department store in downtown Seattle called McDougall's, and they purchased the carpet from the Beatles' rooms and cut it into little squares and would sell it, I think, for a buck apiece."
The Beatles slipped out of town, but memories of their visit remain alive and well 50 years later.
"Our love of the Beatles' music, and our love of rock 'n' roll, and our love of great entertainment remains strong."
Get Back The Northwest Celebrates the 50th Anniversary of The Beatles in Seattle '64 event at McCaw Hall. August 23rd
For more information, click here:http://www.mccawhall.com/events/detail/get-back
