On this day (July 8) in 1954, Dewey Phillips, a DJ at Memphis radio station WHBQ played Elvis Presley’s music on the radio for the first time. The song, “That’s All Right,” captivated Phillips’ audience, and he received countless calls to play it again. Later in the evening, Phillips conducted Presley’s first-ever on-air interview.
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Presley released “That’s Alright” backed with “Blue Moon of Kentucky” as his first single on July 19, 1954, two weeks after he recorded it at the Sun Records studio. Ahead of the song’s release, Sun Records head, Sam Phillips, gave acetate copies of the A-side to a handful of local disc jockeys, including Dewey Phillips at WHBQ. He played the record on his popular show, “Red, Hot & Blue,” and fans loved it. Phillips received dozens of calls from fans requesting that he play the song again. The reaction to the song was so massive that the DJ began trying to track the young singer down for an on-air interview.
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Early radio play made “That’s All Right” an immediate regional hit. It sold approximately 20,000 copies upon its initial release. That was enough to put it on the charts in the Memphis area. However, it didn’t reach the national charts. His first appearance on the Hot 100 would come later in the year with “I Don’t Care If the Sun Don’t Shine,” the B-side of his second single, “Good Rockin’ Tonight.” It peaked at No. 74.
Elvis Presley Attends His First On-Air Interview
According to MPR News, Presley wasn’t home. He was nervous after learning that Phillips planned to play his song that evening and went to the movies. After Phillips called Presley’s home, his parents went to the theater, picked him up, and took him to the radio station. There, Phillips conducted his first on-air interview.
One of the first questions Phillips asked was where Presley went to high school. This was a roundabout way of telling the audience that the singer behind “That’s All Right” was white. At the time, schools were still segregated by race and Presley attended L.C. Humes High School, a whites-only school in Memphis.
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