WASHINGTON - IT WAS August 1977, another 'King' of music was gone, the media converged on his famous estate while fans wept outside the gates, newsman Mark Knoller was there - and wasn't sure he should be.

'I really wasn't very impressed' when the news broke that Elvis Presley had died, the CBS radio reporter told AFP as millions around the world were set to tune in to a televised tribute to the late 'King of Pop,' Michael Jackson.

'I wasn't a fan. I didn't think much of Elvis. I didn't have his records,' he said. 'I knew he had swivelling hips and a snarl for a (grin), but beyond 'You Ain't Nothing But A Hound Dog,' I really didn't know much about him.'

Mr Knoller, then 25 years old, was in the AP radio newsroom in Washington that mid-August day in 1977 when the world learned that the 'King of Rock'n'Roll' - well past his prime - was taken to the hospital and might be dead.

By the time of the funeral, the media crowd had swelled to 'enormous proportions,' said Mr Knoller, who views the journalistic frenzy surrounding Michael Jackson's passing with something like his 1977 disbelief.

'I knew Michael Jackson - I wasn't a fan, but I knew his music. I don't own any of it, but I was familiar with it - 'Beat It' and 'Billie Jean' and 'Thriller,'' he said in the CBS booth at the White House.

'The coverage seems over the top. You see coverage of this nature and you're tempted to ask 'was I not aware that Michael Jackson cured cancer?' because that's the kind of coverage he seems to be getting, as though he's a great global hero.'

'I know he's a star,' but 'big stars die all the time,' he said, pointing to Paul Newman, Bob Hope, and Frank Sinatra.

Part of the blame, said Mr Knoller, has to do with 'the insatiable appetite of the 24-7 media - cable, Internet, and the like, which didn't exist back in '77.' -- AFP