It was the King of Radio remembering the King of Rock. A rare recording has surfaced of legendary radio DJ Howard Stern reacting to the shocking murder of John Lennon the morning after it happened live on Detroit airwaves.
RELATED: December 1974: John Lennon Appears on "Monday Night Football"
Stern was the morning DJ for Detroit's WWWW 106.7 FM, better known as W4. Detroit radio pioneer Mark Sovel was just a kid stunned by the news, but had the presence of mind to press "record" on his cassette deck.
"It's one of the saddest mornings of my life," Stern says at the outset of the recording. "I'll never forget this morning."
"The morning after John Lennon's murder, I made a recording from the radio of Howard Stern on W4 (WWWW) Detroit," Sovel shared on YouTube. "It was a horrible day, now 40 years ago. It still hurts and we still miss him. Rest peacefully, John, then return to earth in another form," he added. "This is a continuous recording, with the music cut out and a short break to flip the tape before an interview with the late Ray Coleman from Melody Maker magazine. There's also a good report from Dara Welles from The Source. I've held onto this cassette 40 years, until today."
Listen to this historical recording below.
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