Shreveport Radio: 'The Dean' Frank Page Dead At 87

Frank Page

Frank Page, veteran regional broadcaster and a legend in the music world through his work at the Louisiana Hayride, died late Wednesday — a day after what would have been Elvis' 78th birthday — after a bout with a severe respiratory infection.

According to the Shreveport Times, the 87-year-old Page had been in the intensive care unit at WK Pierremont Health Center.

Survivors include his widow, Helen, and a brother. Funeral details are pending.

Page, long considered the dean of Shreveport broadcasters, retired from KWKH Radio in 2005 after 65 years behind microphones.

It was during the 1950s when Page cemented his place in history by introducing Elvis Presley for the first time to a paying audience in 1954 at the Louisiana Hayride.

"Unbeknownst to me, it was what some since have called 'a seminal moment in the history of the world,'" Page told The Times in an interview several years ago. "He was a shy, well-mannered young man and just impressed the hell out of everybody."

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