Man Who Broke 1st Beatles Record In U.S. Honored

On this day in 1957, John Lennon and Paul McCartney met in Liverpool. The Beatles were played on American radio for the first time on a Worcester station.

CBS4’s Ron Sanders spoke with the d.j. credited with breaking their first record here.

They wrote "She Loves You" and 49 years, to the day, after Lennon met McCartney, the world still loves the Beatles. Their record company gave a gold copy of "She Loves You" to Dick "The Derby" Smith -- calling him America’s first believer.

As music director at WORC in Worcester, Dick Smith introduced the Beatles to American radio listeners for the first time. “There are others... I’ve always claimed we were the first to chart the record and the first to get recognition for it.”

Smith had already broken many other records, including "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by the Tokens, when the president of swan records came to Worcester to see him.

“I told him about the reaction we were getting for this group called the Beatles and the record company was doing nothing with it and he was interested in that,” said Smith.

Years later, after the Beatles breakup, Smith met George Harrison in Boston. “He came to our table and we chatted and he seemed like a real great guy,” said Smith. “I liked George.”

Smith has about two dozen gold records. He sponsored the Rolling Stones’ first appearance in Worcester. He thinks Lennon and McCartney were one of the greatest songwriting teams.

Forty-nine years after they met, he tries to recall how he would have introduced their record. “Leading the British invasion, the Beatles and their huge hit, “She Loves You.”

On a personal note, just holding this reminds me of buying my first record… because the first record I bought was "She Loves You."

Little did I know, one day, I’d be holding a gold copy of it given to the man credited with breaking the Beatles on the air in America.

http://cbs4boston.com/
local/local_story_187173219.html