The first to play a Beatles record on U.S. radio?

There are competing claims, but it could be that the man shown in the center here, Carroll James ...

Carroll James amid the Fab Four

... was the first to play a Beatles record on U.S. radio. The date was December 17, 1963, and James played "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on radio station WWDC in Washington, DC.

I just happened to be listening.

James had been building up to it on the air for a week. He said he had a "spy" who was in England and would soon bring back to him a copy of the record that was then topping the British charts, by a new group few Americans had heard of, much less heard.

Apparently, his "spy" was an airline stewardess!

A Washington teen named Marsha Albert had written a letter to James requesting to hear a Beatles song, so there were indeed some Americans who already knew of the group.

After James aired the record, the WWDC switchboard lit up with calls from listeners who wanted to hear it again. Even though the record could not yet be purchased here, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was placed in the regular "rotation" of records being played on the station ... it proceeded to go viral throughout America ... and the rest was history!