"None of us at the radio station expected this day to mark the end of an era in music."-Michael O'Conner, Program Director, KYA 1260AM.

KYA studios perched high atop Nob Hill inside San Francisco's Mark Hopkins are rockin' to the sounds of Thelma Houston's Don't Leave Me This Way. I've just finished my air shift and am now relaxed in my office with a mug of coffee.

Down the hall teletype machines clack out wire copy. Suddenly, bulletin bells are clanging. My hotline is blinking red. The news director interrupts the music with a flash.

Elvis Presley is dead! What! The King of Rock and Roll gone?

From that second until Presley's funeral, we save every inch of tape capturing the tears, stories and emotional reactions of family, friends and fans.

Click below to hear vintage radio coverage, rare interviews and live on-the-scene reports from those three days in August 1977 as we covered Elvis Presley's Death

Click and continue to Chapter 2 for on-the-scene reporting from Graceland.



Special Note: At Elvis Death Revisited.com the radio news reports and interviews you hear are just as we aired them those three days in August 1977. What you are listening to is what was actually broadcast as the media reacted to the death of Elvis Presley. The news reports from radio and television interviews with friends, fans and officials tell the story of how Elvis Presley died and the worldwide reaction to the death of the King of Rock. In the years since their airing, the facts and information surrounding Elvis' death may have changed. What you are listening to is what we knew at the time of Elvis Presley death.