(08-20-2015 10:17 AM)Latilleon Wrote:  

(08-20-2015 09:37 AM)MemphisTiger15 Wrote:  

(08-19-2015 03:41 PM)Tiger46 Wrote:  Little known fact, the news about Elvis first broke on a small AM station in Little Rock.

One of my interests in this, other than being an Elvis fan, is looking back at the low tech world we lived in and how fast the news was still able to spread world wide within an hour and a lot of fans knew what happened before it was ever announced. Telephone, radio, TV.

Not sure on the time stamps of it all, and there's no way to verify it now. Really doesn't even matter I guess. But..

My dad was news director at a local AM station at the time. He had lots of friends at MFD especially in the alarm office. I can remember going over there to Armour Center with him as a kid. He also kept (and still does) a scanner with MPD/ MFD close by. He heard them dispatch, called a friend over there to verify. After they transported he was told "he isn't going to make it". He had a reporter who's G/F was a nurse at Baptist. They got her to verify it before going public. Back in those days, someone in the news media would have been ruined had they reported something of that magnitude w/out verification as opposed to today when everything is "Breaking News" in an effort to be 1st.

If you want to hear something cool, there is a video (it may be on Youtube) where some retired MFD guys went back and got the radio traffic of the whole thing. It was posted on Facebook on the 16th. Starts with the alarm office answering "fire department" and then its "yeah, this is so and so at Elvis Presley's house". No address given and no 9-1-1 back then. Talk to some old MFD guys and they'll tell you some stories. The rumor is that when Elvis died, the paramedics were told not to say a word of anything they saw upstairs at Graceland and all the pill bottles, etc were cleaned up and gone quickly after.

Also back then, my dad also took a part time job answering the phone at Memphis Funeral Home on Union to help pay a few bills. Somewhere I have a pic of me and my brother standing by the hearse that carried Elvis.

There's also the whole aspect of not transporting to Methodist South instead of Baptist central. But that's probably another discussion for another day.

I was only 2 so I don't remember Elvis dying, but one thing I do vaguely remember as a child playing out on my dad's scanner was the Shannon Street saga. I didn't understand it much at the time, but looking back - wow. My dad knew some guys on the TACT squad that stormed the house. Crazy stuff. They didn't leave much of the folks inside. Most wouldn't talk much about it after it happened. Would love to get some of the police radio traffic from that.

I have never thought about how MS is like three minutes away from Graceland.

But wasn't the issue there that Baptist had people who could keep their mouths shut?

That was a big deal after the shock wore off. They took him to Baptist because he had been there for extended periods and could control the situation at Baptist.

You would think in a dire emergency they would have gone to MS just down the road, but like K2 says, they knew he was gone, the rest was wishing for a miracle.

(08-20-2015 09:37 AM)MemphisTiger15 Wrote:  

(08-19-2015 03:41 PM)Tiger46 Wrote:  Little known fact, the news about Elvis first broke on a small AM station in Little Rock.

One of my interests in this, other than being an Elvis fan, is looking back at the low tech world we lived in and how fast the news was still able to spread world wide within an hour and a lot of fans knew what happened before it was ever announced. Telephone, radio, TV.

Not sure on the time stamps of it all, and there's no way to verify it now. Really doesn't even matter I guess. But..

My dad was news director at a local AM station at the time. He had lots of friends at MFD especially in the alarm office. I can remember going over there to Armour Center with him as a kid. He also kept (and still does) a scanner with MPD/ MFD close by. He heard them dispatch, called a friend over there to verify. After they transported he was told "he isn't going to make it". He had a reporter who's G/F was a nurse at Baptist. They got her to verify it before going public. Back in those days, someone in the news media would have been ruined had they reported something of that magnitude w/out verification as opposed to today when everything is "Breaking News" in an effort to be 1st.

If you want to hear something cool, there is a video (it may be on Youtube) where some retired MFD guys went back and got the radio traffic of the whole thing. It was posted on Facebook on the 16th. Starts with the alarm office answering "fire department" and then its "yeah, this is so and so at Elvis Presley's house". No address given and no 9-1-1 back then. Talk to some old MFD guys and they'll tell you some stories. The rumor is that when Elvis died, the paramedics were told not to say a word of anything they saw upstairs at Graceland and all the pill bottles, etc were cleaned up and gone quickly after.

Also back then, my dad also took a part time job answering the phone at Memphis Funeral Home on Union to help pay a few bills. Somewhere I have a pic of me and my brother standing by the hearse that carried Elvis.

There's also the whole aspect of not transporting to Methodist South instead of Baptist central. But that's probably another discussion for another day.

I was only 2 so I don't remember Elvis dying, but one thing I do vaguely remember as a child playing out on my dad's scanner was the Shannon Street saga. I didn't understand it much at the time, but looking back - wow. My dad knew some guys on the TACT squad that stormed the house. Crazy stuff. They didn't leave much of the folks inside. Most wouldn't talk much about it after it happened. Would love to get some of the police radio traffic from that.

Interesting. Lots of people listened to scanners back then. In fact that is how (among other rumors) of how the National Enquirer was on the story before anyone else.

There is a book, The Day Elvis Died, that came out 20 years ago and they discuss how the radio/tv/newspapers were really stressing over getting the story out first, but terrified of being wrong or too soon.

One of those paramedics, Crosby, died "falling" out of an airplane a long time ago, very strange. The other was Ulysses Jones who became a state rep but he would never discuss that day with anyone. Now he is gone.

Tiger46 - since you're a big Elvis fan, you might find this interesting.

I know a guy who works for a company that installs fire suppression. A few years ago, they got invited to bid on install a FS system at Graceland. All those one of a kind valuables could have burned up without one and until then, there wasn't one in place. He was one of the few to get to go upstairs at the mansion. Said it was kind of eerie, but he doesn't really care anything about Elvis one way or the other. This was after the management company bought everything from EPE. The onsite staff said it was so much different b/c it was very corporate as opposed to how it was before - they needed something, Lisa Marie would just ok a check. His company didn't get the job though.

They also just built some kind of Elvis record museum exhibit or something out back behind Graceland. Apparently, when excavating, they found the remains of some of Elvis's horses.

(08-20-2015 11:39 AM)MemphisTiger15 Wrote:  Tiger46 - since you're a big Elvis fan, you might find this interesting.

I know a guy who works for a company that installs fire suppression. A few years ago, they got invited to bid on install a FS system at Graceland. All those one of a kind valuables could have burned up without one and until then, there wasn't one in place. He was one of the few to get to go upstairs at the mansion. Said it was kind of eerie, but he doesn't really care anything about Elvis one way or the other. This was after the management company bought everything from EPE. The onsite staff said it was so much different b/c it was very corporate as opposed to how it was before - they needed something, Lisa Marie would just ok a check. His company didn't get the job though.

They also just built some kind of Elvis record museum exhibit or something out back behind Graceland. Apparently, when excavating, they found the remains of some of Elvis's horses.

When I worked for a company in Memphis that sold fire alarms and phone systems, we were asked to bid on a system at Graceland around the mid 80s. We didn't win and I guess they never did anything. We did eventually provide a phone system for EPE the business.

There is a tornado proof storage vault somewhere on the premises (they won't tell you) where all of Elvis' belongings that aren't on display are stored meticulously. The man must have kept everything. I have also been told by a lady who worked there for 20+ years that the attic is still almost full of personal belongings.

According to urban legend, there is more than just horses buried in the backyard!!!

My ex was VP of Marketing for 10 years at EPE. She said they didn't throw anything away. They were poor, and that there are places all over Graceland that have tons of personal items. Hell, I still have my Graceland Insurance card.