Dewey Phillips

If you had a "heartbeat", in 1954, and lived in Memphis you knew (whether you admitted it to your parents/family or not) about the disc jockey named Dewey Phillips and his "Red Hot and Blue" radio show on WHBQ Memphis. Dewey Phillips was a music LOVER...plain and simple. Regardless of color, which at the time (sadly) was a dominant issue between Americans, Dewey Phillips respected/appreciated/supported/played any/every Artist that had talent and/or a "unique sound".

  Hence, Elvis' recording of "That’s All Right" fit right into Dewey Phillips "muscial tastes" along with the fact that Dewey Phillips and Sam Phillips (no relation but isn't it strange that they both had an identical last name) personally took the "hot sounding 45" to WHBQ (and gave it to Dewey Phillips along with a "long winded verbal recommendation" to play this platter)...hot off the presses.   On July 8, 1954 Dewey Phillips played Elvis' recording of "That's All Right" and the Memphis Listeners responded with tremendous support (calls requesting the song were made such that the phone lines were literally overwhelmed). The Listeners actually demanded that the record be played, and replayed through the night, prompting Dewey to invite Elvis (note: Dewey Phillips got the phone number for Elvis from Sam Phillips and called the Presley home. Gladys answered the phone and told Dewey that Elvis was working at the Theater that night. Between Dewey Phillips phone calls, and Gladys frantically calling the Theater, Elvis was told to come "down immediately to WHBQ. Elvis left his job so fast that when he reached WHBQ he was (literally) out of breath. Dewey Phillips introduced himself to Elvis and they started to talk. Elvis was not aware that they were "live" on the air. Thus Elvis did his first "media interview" on July 8, 1954 as well. Source:http://elviscollector.info/elvisbio.aspx