I well remember when this was a thing, although the article credits a jock at WKNR Detroit with being the first to air it. The one that became the most famous was DJ Roby Yonge on the air in the middle of the night at Top 40 powerhouse WABC, which reached dozens of states and Canada, devoting a major part of his overnight show to spreading the "news" and the supposed clues of Paul's demise. 

It was his last night on the job, when P.D. Rick Sklar got up in the middle of the night, rushed to the station and fired Yonge in mid-shift. He was never heard on WABC again, with Les Marshak woken up in the wee hours and rushed in to finish the show. 

I bring all this up because it occurred to me how much worse this would be if it happened today. Can you imagine the A.I. videos and material that could be created to "prove" McCartney had died? It would have been far worse than it was, which was already considerable.

The moral of the story, if there is one, is just be grateful it happened then and not now. It would have been a lot harder to disprove with the Internet and the tech tools we have today to make it even more believable.

"Paul Is Dead": Inside music's weirdest hoax
 
If you've never heard the original broadcast that killed Roby Yonge's career, it's in the video below.