"Here is what the source material actually states: 

 ::::She introduces the record with the words ""Ladies and gentlemen for the first time on the air in the United States - here are the Beatles singing 'I Want To Hold Your Hand.'"" 

 The reference to ""She"" is to Marsha (or Marcia?) Albert, the young lady who was allowed to introduce the record on the air. This was not Mr. Martin Lewis himself claiming that this was the first time on the air. Nowhere in the sourced article (that I have found) does Mr. Lewis expressly make this claim himself. This was the young lady, Ms. Albert, making that claim. Not only was she not an authority on the subject, she wasn't even a radio disc jockey. She was simply someone that the announcer allowed on the air. 

 By the way, The single ""I Want to Hold Your Hand"", backed with ""I Saw Her Standing There"", was the fifth release of a Beatles single in the USA (if we count ""My Bonnie"" by Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers in April 1962 as the first). See the real authority on this point: Mark Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Chronicle, p. 350 (Crown Publishers, New York, 1992).    

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