Nothing quite like it had ever happened before. When the Beatles came to the Delmonico Hotel on August 28, 1964, the fans waiting outside the hotel had something that generations before them didn't have: transistor radios.
One major Beatles station in the City was WABC --also known as "W A Beatles C" with Cousin Brucie and Scott Muni and others. And the jocks of WABC had a suit inside of the Delmonico Hotel with unlimited access (thanks to giving the security wine and gifts) of the hotel. They were broadcasting live about what was happening inside the hotel and 10,000 of their listeners were right below them in the street. Every Beatles fan standing outside of the hotel was listening to the station on their radio or a radio of someone near them. They were listening to what the Beatles had for breakfast and what time they got up and any inside information. They also were singing along in mass unions to Beatles and others hit songs on the radio.
The radio guys loved it! They would use their high-tech wireless microphones and stick them out the window and ask the fans to do all sorts of things: sings WABC jingles, sing happy birthday to President Johnson, sing We love you Beatles, tell them to scream "Ringo!" so he might throw a tie out to them (yeah right....someone would have gotten killed over that tie!). They were able to hear interviews with the guys. It had to have been exciting to these fans.
Not surprising, there were any real issues (besides a few girls fainting) outside of the hotel. 10,000 fans and they were all waiting with baited breath to hear what was going on inside of the hotel through their transistor radio.
It was a break-through for WABC and radio in general and it was an unforgettable time for the Beatle fans outside of the Delmonico 50 years ago today.