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20 years ago Monday: Budd Dwyer kills himself

J

Jul

Guest
20 years ago Monday former Pennsylvania politician Budd Dwyer , on the morning of January 22, 1987, committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth with a handgun during a televised press conference. WPVI-TV 6 aired the whole PC again twice on the 5 and 6 PM Action News broadcasts that day. What are your thoughts on this and what do you remember about that day and did Philly TV stations 3, 6 and 10 aired this thing live or aired a special report and showed the tape of what happened after he killed himself?
 
I wasn't around then, but from what i've read, all i know is that WPVI re-aired the head-splosion TWICE, with other newscasts airing edited tape (up until he pulled the trigger, i guess). I also believe that this incident resulted in something like all AP photographers being required to use color film.
 
I don't beleive they showed the actual shooting, but did air the entire sound track. the footage after , had the head blacked out.
 
WPVI DID air the entire thing early in the day. I remember seeing the 11:00 p.m. newscast and they froze the video when Bud put the gun in his mouth.
 
Another sad thing about this, a lot of kids was home across the state because of a major snowstorm and had to watch this sad event live if some stations aired it that way.
 
I only saw the Dwyer footage on Channel 3. Channel 3 froze the tape as soon as Dwyer pulled out the gun.

The next day, the Inky had a pic of Dwyer with the barrel in his mouth, lips sealed around it, ready to pull the trigger. [EDIT]
ixnay




[offensive]
 
ixnay said:
I only saw the Dwyer footage on Channel 3. Channel 3 froze the tape as soon as Dwyer pulled out the gun.

The next day, the Inky had a pic of Dwyer with the barrel in his mouth, lips sealed around it, ready to pull the trigger. [EDIT]
ixnay




[offensive]
Click to expand...
What about the Philadelphia Daily News, same picture?
 
Channel 6 carried the PC live and showed the whole thing. After that, from then on, the tape was cut at the moment he put the gun in his mouth. I was walking in to my house from said snow storm, because school had let out, at the EXACT moment he pulled the gun out and blew his brains out. Kinda made me not want to eat pizza or spaghetti for a while after seeing brain matter sprayed all over my TV screen...

The Delaware County Daily Times, if I recall correctly, had a B/W before and after picture on the front page the next day.

The actual entire PC is all over You Tube. At least it USED to be...not sure about now...
 
Julius May said:
What about the Philadelphia Daily News, same picture?
Click to expand...

Don't know. I didn't see the DN that day nor did I see that issue later on. In fact I was living in Cape May County which IIRC was outside the DN's core circulation area at the time, don't know about now.

ixnay
 
Do you recall if any of the radio stations in Harrisburg and Philadelphia like WHP, KYW or WCAU aired this live or not?
 
Julius May said:
Do you recall if any of the radio stations in Harrisburg and Philadelphia like WHP, KYW or WCAU aired this live or not?
Click to expand...

I don't recall one way or another. In fact I don't even remember if I first found out about it that day or the next.

ixnay
 
If anyone has recordings of KYW, WPVI or WCAU-TV 5, 6 and 11 PM newscasts from that day, please post it on you tube but please take out the suicide clip. Thanks
 
Corrected: Do any of you recall if any of the radio stations in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Philadelphia like WHP, KDKA, KQV, KYW or WCAU aired this news conference live or not?
 
Julius: do a search on Google Video for "Budd Dwyer" and you will find the video of the press conference, complete with the suicide. [EDIT]

I'm not certain, but I would think the stations you mentioned aired the press conference, considering Budd Dwyer was the state treasurer at the time, and was being investigated for criminal activity.

[EDIT-harassment]
 
Biscuits McGillicuddy said:
Julius: do a search on Google Video for "Budd Dwyer" and you will find the video of the press conference, complete with the suicide. [EDIT]

I'm not certain, but I would think the stations you mentioned aired the press conference, considering Budd Dwyer was the state treasurer at the time, and was being investigated for criminal activity.

[EDIT-Harassment]
Click to expand...
I can't bear to look at that video, I can only listen to the audio of that event. Video like that I will not post on you tube and it shouldn't be on there period. I was just looking for the actual newscasts from 3, 6, and 10 from that day excluding that suicide video.
 
Biscuits McGillicuddy said:
[NOTE: Post Removed.]
Click to expand...
Video like that should not be posted on the internet anywhere. If anyone has recordings of KYW, WPVI or WCAU-TV 5, 6 and 11 PM newscasts from that day, please post it on you tube but please take out the suicide clip. I'm not looking for the press conference video, I just want to see how the big 3 covered this story. Thanks
 
How exactly do you expect anyone to go and edit out the suicide part, if you think the video itself doesn't belong on the internet, and you flag it whenever posted? I doubt anyone here has the newscast from that day on tape themselves.
 
ixnay said:
I only saw the Dwyer footage on Channel 3. Channel 3 froze the tape as soon as Dwyer pulled out the gun.

The next day, the Inky had a pic of Dwyer with the barrel in his mouth, lips sealed around it, ready to pull the trigger. [EDIT]
ixnay
[offensive]
Click to expand...

The deleted portion was a objective, nonhumorous description of how the photo looked. I found neither the photo nor the act funny at all, not then, not now, not in the intervening years. As for the case, I can't comment on it as I did not follow it.

ixnay
 
Six Years, Four Months and 20 Days Ago This Thread Died

Why bring it back now?
 
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