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11/22/63--Did Dallas TV Stations Help or Hurt Their Networks?

S

smedge2006

On the day of, it seems NBC was at a great disadvantage, depending on WBAP-TV, whose Fort Worth-centric operation couldn't seem to get more than stale wire reports out of Dallas. On NBC radio, which shared affiliations with WFAA and WBAP, all of its Dallas-based information and sound came from WFAA.

KRLD-TV, of course, gave CBS the first reliable claim (though unofficial) that JFK was dead, and reported live from the Trade Mart.

WFAA-TV literally saved the bacon of ABC's slapdash effort with all their eyewitness interviews.

Wonder whether there were some back-channel gripes aimed at WBAP after it was all over.
 
ABC's coverage that weekend would have been all but non-existant had it not been for the staff at WFAA-TV. Because of WFAA, ABC was able air videotape of JFK's Love Field Arrival shortly after the network went on the air. It's motorcade film was OK, but KRLD's was better in terms of the number of film cameras along the parade route. WFAA also had the first eyewitnesses on the air, Bill and Gayle Newman, within 20 minutes of the shooting. Where WFAA fell short is in its coverage of the Oswald murder. ABC executives wanted a church service remote from Fort Worth, which required one of WFAA's two mobile units. The other was at the County Jail for Oswald's expected arrival. As a result, ABC had no live camera at the city jail when Oswald was shot. In addition, ABC's Paul Good, who was at the city jail, as well as the WFAA studios, was clearly biased against Lee Harvey Oswald. So much for innocent until proven guilty. Bob Walker, then WFAA News Director, referred to Oswald as the "man who shot President Kennedy" after Oswald was shot, instead of saying he was accused of the crime. WBAP-TV was definitely at a disadvantage becase of the distance between Dallas and Fort Worth. First of all, NBC sent WBAP's feed over the network in black and white after JFK's death was announced, even though WBAP was broadcasting in color. That ticked off WBAP bosses to no end. WBAP's Charles Murphy was hired by NBC that weekend for his superb reporting from Dallas. Of course, WBAP provided NBC with the live feed of Oswald's murder on November 24th. KRLD-TV's Eddie Barker provided superb commentary from the trade Mart in that first hour on Friday and got the first word out that JFK had died. Of course, his colleague Bob Huffaker kept calling Oswald Lee Harold Oswald all weekend, but claims that a Dallas Police spokesperson told him that was the proper name. The problem on KRLD Radio was that after JFK left Parkland Hospital, that pretty much ended KRLD's local news coverage for the day. The only time you heard a local KRLD staffer on air was to announce closings and cancellations...no local news coverage. Some of the KRLD staff were performing tasks on the TV end, but they dropped the ball on the radio side that Friday. Overall, the Dallas stations were invaluable to their networks that weekend, and while there were a few mistakes made, both on the air and off, their contribution to what we saw and heard that weekend cannot be understated.
 
davalvideo said:
ABC's coverage that weekend would have been all but non-existant had it not been for the staff at WFAA-TV. Because of WFAA, ABC was able air videotape of JFK's Love Field Arrival shortly after the network went on the air. It's motorcade film was OK, but KRLD's was better in terms of the number of film cameras along the parade route. WFAA also had the first eyewitnesses on the air, Bill and Gayle Newman, within 20 minutes of the shooting. Where WFAA fell short is in its coverage of the Oswald murder. ABC executives wanted a church service remote from Fort Worth, which required one of WFAA's two mobile units. The other was at the County Jail for Oswald's expected arrival. As a result, ABC had no live camera at the city jail when Oswald was shot. In addition, ABC's Paul Good, who was at the city jail, as well as the WFAA studios, was clearly biased against Lee Harvey Oswald. So much for innocent until proven guilty. Bob Walker, then WFAA News Director, referred to Oswald as the "man who shot President Kennedy" after Oswald was shot, instead of saying he was accused of the crime. WBAP-TV was definitely at a disadvantage becase of the distance between Dallas and Fort Worth. First of all, NBC sent WBAP's feed over the network in black and white after JFK's death was announced, even though WBAP was broadcasting in color. That ticked off WBAP bosses to no end. WBAP's Charles Murphy was hired by NBC that weekend for his superb reporting from Dallas. Of course, WBAP provided NBC with the live feed of Oswald's murder on November 24th. KRLD-TV's Eddie Barker provided superb commentary from the trade Mart in that first hour on Friday and got the first word out that JFK had died. Of course, his colleague Bob Huffaker kept calling Oswald Lee Harold Oswald all weekend, but claims that a Dallas Police spokesperson told him that was the proper name. The problem on KRLD Radio was that after JFK left Parkland Hospital, that pretty much ended KRLD's local news coverage for the day. The only time you heard a local KRLD staffer on air was to announce closings and cancellations...no local news coverage. Some of the KRLD staff were performing tasks on the TV end, but they dropped the ball on the radio side that Friday. Overall, the Dallas stations were invaluable to their networks that weekend, and while there were a few mistakes made, both on the air and off, their contribution to what we saw and heard that weekend cannot be understated.
Click to expand...

Great description. This was discussed on another thread, but it should be noted that when NBC cut to their Dallas affiliate, the affiliate was in color, and NBC was not. As I understand it, this caused great consternation and embarrassment to NBC, and they requested the affiliate to send furture reports in B&W. Do I have this right?
 
Had JFK been murdered say in a far smaller city than Dallas such as Casper, Wyoming or Charleston, West Virginia or even in another but smaller texas city such as Austin or Lubbock...wonder how that would had affected coverage on both on the local and national level?
 
Had JFK's assassination occured in a city where the television resources were far more limited, it would have meant bringing technical resources in from other cities, such as mobile units and personnel. This would have meant a great delay in getting out pictures and reports. The networks were lucky in that Dallas had the resources to cover the local angle as well as it did.
 
I think the Dallas media did a fair job. Which is more than I can say for the local police. There was a lot of grand standing and such, along with bad decisions (access to the police building). They must have set the police force in Dallas back 15 years!
 
Certainly right about the Dallas Police. They did everything they could to convict Oswald in the media and convince the public that they had their man. It was also their decsion to allow the press to cover his transfer that allowd Jack Ruby into the basement on that Sunday morning. In an earlier post, I mentioned the Dallas broadcasters having excellent rersources to cover the events of that weekend. I agree with the previous poster that the coverage itself was only fair. There were some reporters(as had been mentioned in other posts) who were clearly biased against Oswald, as wll as those who presumed his guilt in their comments after Oswald's death. One particular Q&A that left me scratching my head was bnetween NBC's Tom Pettit and Chief Jesse Curry. Petit asked why the police officer who confronted Oswald just 90 seconds after the shooting in the lunchroom didn't arrest him then. curry said "because the officer was told that the man worked there...that he was an employee." Immediately, the next question by another reporter was on a totally different subject. Why didn't Pettit, or anyone else for that matter, follow up by asking "why should his being an employee proclude him from possibly being involved?" There was a lot of that during that weekend.
 
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