By Dan Miller
August 16, 2007
Thirty years have passed since that day I heard the bulletin bells ringing on the United Press wire machines.
Up until that moment, it had been a rather uneventful Tuesday afternoon in the Channel 4 newsroom.
My co-anchor Carol Marin and I walked over to read the printed wire copy.
Those old machines printed everything in upper case letters.
The dateline was Memphis, Tennessee.... and the one-line bulletin read something like, "MEMPHIS POLICE ARE REPORTING THAT ELVIS PRESLEY HAS DIED AT BAPTIST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL."
That was the first in a rapid succession of bulletins from Memphis that would come across the wires during the next few hours.
Our news director, Mike Kettenring -- who knew very little about the enormous popularity of Elvis -- asked if we thought this would be a big story, and whether we should send a news crew over to Memphis.
Almost in unison, Carol and I answered, "Yes, get them on the road now!"
I quickly typed out a short piece of copy, and headed to our announcer's booth to read the bulletin over the air.
On the screen we simply put up the word "Bulletin"....
I read the words slowly and clearly.... then repeated them.... knowing this would be emotional news for many people.
Within 30 minutes of that first bulletin crossing the wires, our initial news crew was out the door, headed to Memphis.
One of them was reporter Alan Nelson....
The other was photographer Jim Buckner.
That's Jim in the photo next to this essay.
And if you look very closely at the other photo, taken in front of Graceland, you'll see reporter Alan Nelson standing just behind that motorcycle.

Jim is no longer a photographer.... these days he's a video editor who assembles many of the stories you see on our WSMV newscasts.
Earlier this week, I asked Jim a few questions about August 16, 1977.
(Q)....... Jim, when did you arrive at Graceland, and what was going on when you got there?
(JIM)... We got there in the afternoon, still daylight. It was all still in the early stages, and already it seemed there were at least a couple of thousand people. A lot of them were local Memphis people outside the gate.
Media people were arriving the whole time. Of course, you already had the Memphis stations and some from Arkansas there.
I remember at the time lots of celebrities would show up in limousines .... I've forgotten their names, but it was fascinating to see the amount of star power that Elvis had.
(Q)....... Did you end up spending the night in Memphis?
(JIM)... Oh yeah, right there in front of the mansion. We stayed there 24 hours. We sat down next to that big gate at Graceland, and we tried to get a little sleep.
We had parked close to a half mile away from Graceland and had hiked the rest of the way.
(Q)....... What was the prevailing mood of the people who had gathered?
(JIM)... It was kinda somber. Everybody was still trying to love Elvis. He was obviously their favorite entertainer.
(Q)....... As I recall, there was a terrible accident there in front of Graceland that night, wasn't there?
(JIM)... Yes, at that point I was sort of nodding off. I was sitting back against the Graceland gate, with my eyes closed, and heard this loud, muffler type thing.
Up until that point, it was so quiet you could almost hear a pin drop.... then, all of a sudden, we heard this muffler out of nowhere.... we looked up and saw this car coming down the street, and then hitting three or four people, and sent them flying like rag dolls.
I thought I was dreaming.
Once I decided it was no dream, I just had to take my camera and start shooting. I think two people were killed. It was sad.
(Q)....... Where'd you eat while you were there?
(JIM)... (long pause).... That's a good question. I'm not sure we did eat. We couldn't leave, you know, there was so much going on.
(Q)....... Have you ever been back to Graceland since that day?
(JIM)... No, never even driven by it.... I wouldn't even know which way to turn.
Thanks Jim.
After 30 years, I get to say again, "great job!"
By the way, Jim was right.
Early in the evening of August 16, 1977, it's estimated that between 2,000 and 3,000 people quickly gathered in front of Graceland.
By the next day, the crowd had grown to around 20,000.
And before the week was over, more than 80,000 people had filed past the casket containing Elvis Presley's body.
Now here we are -- 30 years later -- and roughly that same number of people converged on Memphis to remember Elvis.
Many of them were not even born when he died.
So what, you might ask, is it?
What's the power and appeal of a southern rock and roll singer that has captivated so many people for so many years?
Those of us who were there in the 1950s, and experienced the Elvis phenomenon, know the answer.....
We just can't find the words.
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