When the Beatles were in Sydney.

[Allan Black]

Looking back, the best time I had in the business was working live on the radio, especially at 2UE as we enjoyed the top ratings in Sydney. In June 1964 when the Beatles arrived in Sydney, Beatlemania excited fans and everybody, and I and other staff couldn’t wait to get to the studios.

2UE never had enough news reporters to cover all the Beatles antics, 24x7 they were always up to something and fascinated fans around the world wanted to know the details as soon as possible.

So my buddy and I volunteered to rotate a shift in the UE news car outside their hotel, and whenever they appeared on the balcony, we were instructed to switch on the news car radio, press the mic. button 4 times, wait 5 secs and go national with a news report.

I remember my first shift was Sunday 10pm-3am Monday. With the street packed with young fans it was fairly quiet and about 2am I fell asleep, but soon I was shocked awake with teeny boppers banging on the roof of the car, a couple of the Beatles had appeared on the balcony and I scrambled around for the mic.

How those kids stayed awake at school was beyond us. Here’s photos of that time in Sydney.
Cheers.

[Allan Black]

For the Beatles arrival in Sydney in June 1964. Radio 2SM arranged for their DJ Bob Rogers to fly back from London with them. At each stopover, Bob phoned a report for SMs listeners, that was wildly successful and they all had great fun on the flight.

At 2UE we did our breakfast session nationally from Mascot airport where they landed. We were in the bar of the lounge overlooking the ramp where their BOAC 707 pulled into. I was very busy handling all the commercials and I rarely got a look out through the double glazed sound proof windows but we certainly heard all the fans screaming.

The Beatles exited through the 707 front door and I heard later because of the hundreds of wildly exited Beatlemania fans Bob waited and exited by the rear door …

[Christopher Young]

Allan.

This may trigger some memories for you then.

Back in July, I was asked to put together a half hour program on Bob Rogers' life. As you probably know, Bob died in Mosman on 29 May 2024. This piece is out of that program and was the main segment that included his time with the Beatles. Much of it is in his own voice.

Chris Young

YouTube (Short URL)

[Allan Black]

Hey Chris, I don’t know what to say, that’s amazing thanks. At 2UE back in 1964 at 19yrs, I was one of Bobs 2 panel operators. It was great to hear his voice again, was that a segment from Bob’s 30min program on Foxtel?

In March 2024, ABCTV research here, contacted me through the Aust. Old Time Radio site about anyone I could refer them to for inclusion in their 6 part ‘I Was There’ TV series. I referred them to Bob with his home phone number, and about 3 weeks later they emailed me to say thanks, they have a great video interview.

But as you say, sadly in May 2024, Bob 97, passed away after 71 years as a top DJ on Aust. radio. So in deference ABCTV never used their video interview, afaik so far it hasn’t been seen on TV.

I offered to attend Bobs funeral service as the rep. for all the panel ops he worked with over 71 years, but Bob’s daughter told me thanks, it would be a quiet family affair. I’ll write more about the Beatles visit to Sydney, Beatlemania was a crazy time in my and everyone’s career. I have PhotoApp and can enhance, sharpen and colourise B and W photos …

[Christopher Young]

Yes, Bob's was a great story. And yes. We were allowed to use that Foxtel material. Plus a heap of other great clips about Bob's life.


Do you remember this piece, Allen? The late great Jonathan Coleman's piece on the 5th Beatle. Another good Bob Rogers tale!

Chris Young

YouTube (Short URL)

[Allan Black]

Thanks Chris, Johnathon Coleman and Bob Rogers were spot on, crazy times for everybody.

Last year in 2023, Paul McCartney’s ‘Got Back’ concerts ran about 3 hours each. But in 1964 the Beatles concerts lasted only about 40 minutes each. They ran on stage performed their hit songs, 10 at about 2.30 mins each and that was it, they were escorted off. This let them do two concerts each night.

In 1964 Beatles concert tickets were sold soon as they appeared but Radio 2UE had a great social club and my girlfriend and I managed to get 2 tickets to their first Sydney concert, Friday at 6.00pm. I’ve still got a photo of my ticket.

The 10,000 seat Sydney Stadium was full with young fans even occupying the most expensive seats. Escorted by lines of police the 4 Beatles ran down the aisle to the stage and started their performance. But soon as they played the opening notes of each song that was it, the level of the fans screaming rose up to completely drown out the rest of the song.

My expensive imported pro ear plugs nearly melted while attendants carried off collapsed teenage girls to the ambulance station.

40 mins later it was all over and it took over an hour to clear the Stadium ready for their next concert. Next day many parents reported they were very concerned about their daughter’s constant ringing in their ears. Cheers.

[Christopher Young]

Wow! Crazy story and memories, Allan. I was in the UK back then, training as a cameraman in Bristol. I saw the Beatles at the Colston Hall in '64. And the Stones at the Corn Exchange the year before. Memories that will stick forever!

Chris Young

This brings back memories for me.

THE BEATLES IN BRISTOL 1963 AND 1964 - YouTube

[Allan Black]

Thanks Chris, didn’t know about that ‘flour incident’ when we were in Bristol on holidays, but there was plenty to see there. Bristol is a 3 hrs drive from Liverpool where I was interested to visit the Beatles museum.

I met the Beatles. In June 1964 at Radio 2UE in Sydney, our DJs received invitations to the Beatles press conference at their hotel. A couple who couldn’t go passed their invites to me and my buddy, and we went along. The hotel reception room was very hot and smokey, packed with DJs, journalists and cameramen who all seemed to be talking at once.

We lined up to meet the 4 bandmates. Paul thought our girls are very pretty, John said Sydney’s air is very clean, no pollution. George liked our ice cold beer and Jimmie Nicol, Ringo Starr’s replacement drummer because Ringo was ill in hospital, didn’t say anything. We thought he was jet lagged and confused, experiencing wild Beatle mania on the other side of the world. I took my camera but wasn’t permitted to take any photos, so after an hour we left.

In 2003 Bob Rogers moved to Radio 2CH in Sydney to broadcast his Saturday night ‘Reminiscing’ program. He worked from his home in Mosman, pre-recording all his narration, record intros, back announcements and advertising on a Thursday. He then sent all this to 2CH so the next day Friday, a producer could include the records making up the program for broadcast on Saturday night.

On Thursday 12th Sept. 2003, Bob produced a special sponsored 2 hour program featuring Johnny Cash, his life story with all his discs, and sent his narration to 2CH.

But the next day Friday the 13th, we all heard Johnny Cash had suddenly died.

The worried CH producer phoned Bob who apparently said, “Not my problem it’s too late I’m not going to do anything about it, just broadcast my program.” And they did without mentioning Cash’s death. I guess 2CH got puzzled listeners phone calls, but the story got in the trade press which is how we all remember it.

JC had a good sense of humour, he would have enjoyed that story too.

I remember Ken Stone my old boss at 2UE always said, if I accidentally swore on air keep it together, don’t pause, don’t apologise just keep going. 2 minutes later 50% of my listeners would think they never heard it, and 5 minutes later all of them would think the same. Cheers.

[Allan Black]

By early 1964, the Beatles were international stars and had achieved unprecedented levels of critical and commercial success. They became a leading force in Britain's cultural resurgence, ushering in the British Invasion of the United States pop market.

However author Jonathan Gould commented that "of all the tumultuous public receptions the group would experience, nothing before or after, in terms of scale, would compare with what awaited them in Australia".

In early 1964 the Adelaide capital of South Australia, was added to the Beatles Aust. tour only after a petition of 80,000 fans was signed and delivered by DJ Bob Francis. The Beatles were met with their largest reception of 350,000 from Adelaide Airport and along Anzac Highway to the CBD which came to a complete standstill.

Conservative Adelaide had never seen anything like it. In front of the Town Hall people swarmed around the cars, with the police having to lock arms to hold them back. 12,000 tickets were sold out in just over five hours for four shows, two each on 12 and 13 June 1964.

The Beatles went on to play Festival Hall in Melbourne. The two concerts at Festival Hall were each seen by 5,500 people, and all tickets sold out well in advance.

Between 18-20 June 1964, the Beatles performed six concerts at the Sydney Stadium in Rushcutters Bay. My buddy, Bruce Brown was contracted by Nicolson’s, the Australian agent for the Beatles Vox amplifiers, to go to the Stadium to check out the sound system and their amps. before their first concert. Not mucking around Bruce took complete sets of their Vox valves/tubes, and changed the lot.

The Beatles flew from Sydney to Wellington New Zealand on 21 June for an 8-day tour with 12 concerts in Wellington, Auckland, Dunedin and Christchurch. The trip was largely seen as less successful than previous stops on their world tour, mainly due to sound problems and police attitudes. The first concert was somewhat less than successful. The sound operator at the Town Hall had limited experience of rock ‘n’ roll shows, and was worried about the effects of turning up the speaker system. As the group came off stage an exasperated John Lennon shouted “What the f*****g hell is going on here?”

The second set was louder, but the lack of a sound check meant the sound quality was still poor. However, one positive aspect of the night was that Ringo Starr’s throat was sufficiently better for him to sing during both concerts.

From N.Z. the Beatles arrived in Brisbane, Australia on June 29, 1964, just after midnight. They were greeted by thousands of fans at the airport and stayed at Lennons Hotel on George Street, (John loved that.) The Beatles’ 1964 world tour ended on 30 June 1964, with two shows at the Festival Hall in Brisbane. Each of the concerts was seen by 5,500 fans. The Beatles returned to Lennons Hotel in Brisbane after their second concert of the night.

The following day, they began their long return journey back to England, after changing Australia’s pop culture forever.

And time moved on, In August 2003, Festival Hall Melbourne closed. The venue was demolished and an apartment block, Festival Towers, was built in its place.

And in 1980 a plaque was unveiled commemorating the Sydney Stadium which was demolished for construction of the Eastern Suburbs railway. Sydney DJ Bob Rogers was in attendance, capping his involvement with the 4 lads.

In 2023 when Paul McCartney was here for his ‘Got Back’ concert tours, we thought it would be a good idea to organise a reunion, but Bob was 96, he passed away May 2024.