Squirrel Hill Record Store Owner Remembers John Lennon

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Jerry Weber has more than a million used records at his store in Squirrel Hill, but few can match John Lennon.

"We can't keep them in the store," he said. "McCartney will sit, Harrison will sit. Ringo Starr – I got a million of them. But John Lennon – they're gone."

The ex-Beatle was 40 when he died. Most people now 40 or older remember.

"I actually didn't find out until I walked into my store store," Weber said. "Ten o'clock the next morning the phone was ringing and the first call I had was somebody calling me to tell me if I heard."

Air Force veteran Barry Ellis was stationed in Hawaii.

"And a friend came busting in my room," Ellis recalled. "He said, 'Barry, Barry, did you hear about John?' And I just somehow knew."

KDKA's Dave Crawley was anchoring the late news in Madison, Wis., that night 30 years ago. He went into the newsroom just to check the wire midway through the show. He saw the story and read it on the air. The reaction in the control room and among the camera people was absolute shock.

Had he lived, Lennon would be 70.

"He'd be writing challenging music which is what he always wrote," Weber said.