ABC's '20/20' New Season Premieres With John Lennon Tribute Features Dave 'The Duke' Sholin

Lennon Remembered

Marking 40 years since that fateful DECEMBER 8th in 1980 when the world learned of the death of JOHN LENNON, ABC's season premiere of "20/20" FRIDAY night (10/16) told the story of LENNON’s life, final days, and lasting legacy through the eyes of close friends, colleagues and rarely seen footage from the ABC NEWS archives.

The program included new interviews with NEW YORK rock photographer BOB GRUEN, who took the iconic photo of LENNON in his “NEW YORK CITY” T-shirt; JACK DOUGLAS, producer of LENNON and YOKO ONO’s "Double Fantasy" album, and ELLIOT MINTZ, close friend and publicist. The two-hour program also featured the last interview LENNON did the day he died and interviews with the radio reporters who conducted it.

Also, a large part of this incredible show was the presence of then-KFRC/SAN FRANCISCO MD/air talent DAVE "THE DUKE" SHOLIN who became part of history as he conducted what would be LENNON's final interview.

SHOLIN told ALL ACCESS, "I felt many thoughts and emotions while watching the ABC 20/20 JOHN LENNON special last FRIDAY night (10/16). The interview clips, photos, recollections from friends, colleagues, medical personal, reporters and of course the music was like reliving that sad day and days which followed. The loss to fans and most of all to his family, YOKO and son SEAN and JULIAN is incalculable. 

But one thing struck me. Assuming that nothing could've prevented this senseless tragedy I was struck by a sense of gratitude for being able to capture forever, the thoughts, hopes, stories, feeling and energy of John that historic DECEMBER afternoon at THE DAKOTA and share them with the world. 

However it's regrettable there was no way to record our conversation on the drive to THE RECORD PLANT following the interview where we discussed ELVIS, early rock 'n' roll, his relationship with PAUL McCARTNEY and some brief recollections of SAN FRANCISCO in the hopes of him visiting again and us reconnecting."

DAVE also shared the thoughts of RON HUMMEL who both engineered and produced the final interview program aired on the RKO RADIO NETWORK and also produced the 17-hour BEATLES special "'FROM LEGEND TO LIVERPOOL."

HUMMEL told SHOLIN: "After leaving the LENNON’s, DAVE and I fly home that same afternoon from NEW YORK to SFO with my carrying the master recording. My wife CAROLYN drives us home and I’m talking non-stop about 'the interview' … I’m riding on that high all the way home, and not listening to the radio. I open the door to our house, routinely check my “Code-O-Phone” answering machine, and JO INTERRANTE (from RKO headquarters New York) has left about 10 messages saying 'call me right away'!

"I had no clue what she was about to drop on me when I returned her call. 'RON … JOHN LENNON’s been shot!' After going numb, I had to quickly snap back to reality and figure out a way to start feeding interview audio by phone to RKO NEW YORK. The solution: clip leads hooked to my cassette machine feeding directly into the telephone handset. I push play, and let it roll."

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