DJ Gary Mora wasn't working at San Francisco radio station KYA-AM when the Beatles gave what turned out to be their final concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco in 1966. KYA had sponsored the show and their logo was on the tickets. But in 1984, the station had a contest to award a ticket to the show to a lucky listener and Mora got to give the ticket away to a lucky listener.
"I remember it was a big promotion. And I happened to be the guy on the air. And the person was screaming. I wish I had audio of that. Oh, my God! They were just out of their mind."
Mora didn't get to attend the show. "I was working. That's usually what happened to me," he joked.
But he got a description of the scene from fellow KYA DJ Gene Nelson, who emceed the show.
"Gene was telling me it was so noisy that it was uncomfortable. And you really couldn't enjoy them. It was just pandemonium," Mora says. He said fellow disc jockey Steve Garland, who was on KYA in the later years and did a documentary on the concert, also said "it was crazy."
"I wish I'd have been there," he says. "It would have been great. I still love the Beatles. Every hour now on the half hour I do a Beatles tune. We do that all the time because we get so many requests for them. People still love them."
When he worked with Roy Orbison, who he said "blew the crowd away," the singer told him of a new album project he'd been working on.
"I walked offstage with him and to the dressing room. And he was saying he had just recorded an album with the Travelling Wilburys and also that he'd done a song called 'You Got It.' He said, 'I think it's a good one.' And sure enough, he didn't see it but it made it to number one."
"He was so unassuming and wonderful," Mora says. "That was the high point of the performers that I got to work with."
- You can read more of our interview with Gary Mora about the past and present of KYA-AM on our Vintage Rock 'n' Roll Examiner page.
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Comments
Excuse me Steve but his name isn't Gene Nelson ...It's "Emperor Gene Nelson" that was his mocker back in the day :)
Excuse me Steve but his name isn't Gene Nelson it's " Emperor Gene Nelson" "everybody get off the freeway the Emperor is coming". That was his mocker back in the day. One of the best voices in radio, great to hear he's still above ground. :)
Beatles just go on and on, but what about the town that said no?
Back in august 1963 the Rolling Stones were booked for a dance at a church hall in England for $80. Seems ridiculous now.
The place was packed, and the 19 yr old promoter then booked the Beatles from Brian Epstein, but they never appeared.
Nobody would hire him a hall. Rolling Stones yes, but Beatles: No, not in our back yard.
That true one-off event is now the basis of a fact to fiction novel 'Tear My Heart'.
It tells that story in detail, it tells of other behind the scenes 60s music stories, it has blackmail, romance, intrigue, original songs, abuse and love. It tastes of the 60s music scene in England.
"Tear My Heart" is now available in America. For Beatles and 60s buffs its a must have.
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