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Any Undiscovered radio coverage of JFK Assassination 22nd November 1963

willcall1985

willcall1985

As we're approaching the 60th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy, I was thinking that there are now probably very few reporters from that period still left with us today and also wondered if any undiscovered radio coverage had turned up.
 
We lost a biggie with the recent passing of Robert MacNeil. Pierce Allman also passed away a few years ago. As far as broadcasters who were actually in Dallas covering the story, Dan Rather is the only one I can think of immediately who is still with us, though there are some still alive who anchored local coverage at their individual stations that day (like Orion Samuelson of WGN).
As far as new finds, I'm not aware of any lately.
 
CCBInMI said:
We lost a biggie with the recent passing of Robert MacNeil. Pierce Allman also passed away a few years ago. As far as broadcasters who were actually in Dallas covering the story, Dan Rather is the only one I can think of immediately who is still with us, though there are some still alive who anchored local coverage at their individual stations that day (like Orion Samuelson of WGN).
As far as new finds, I'm not aware of any lately.
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Few people remember but while most people are familiar with Walter Cronkite's voice being on CBS due to CBS being live with As The World Turns when the news broke (In fact, the first shot as ATWT hit the air. By the time the first commercial was over, news tickers AROUND THE WORLD (Except maybe China) were GOING NUTS), it was NBC's Robert MacNeil who was filing the first network radio reports (I think Dan Rather (Who ironically later went on to anchor CBS' coverage of another national crisis in 9/11) filed one or two reports of his own on network radio as well)

But shortly after the cameras came on, ONLY Robert MacNeil was on the telephone with LIVE reports (With Frank McGee relaying of course while the technicdians were working out the bugs to get Robert on the air without the need for assistance)

But again, few people remember it because MILLIONS of households were tuned to CBS at the time as CBS was THE ONLY network that was LIVE in the Eastern & Central Time zones. ABC was programming out West but it was programming a rerun of Father Knows Best & didn't have NEARLY the penetration NBC & CBS had

Not sure if NBC was feeding anything anywhere in the country or not as there's no archive (Maybe they weren't feeding anything tgo any of the time zones??)
 
I notice that You Tube has lengthy coverage from CBS, NBC and ABC radio and TV, as well as KRLD, which sent their feed to many radio stations. I don't think there's four days worth but it's a start.
 
Bill Mercer, now 98, reported the events of Nov. 22, 1963, live on Dallas radio. Mercer had a long, distinguished career in Texas radio and TV, but had an unlikely double life as the voice of World Class Championship Wrestling, the local promotion that got national TV exposure for several years in the '80s. Here is Bill visiting the museum in Dallas:
 
98? Wow. God bless him.
JeeperOne said:
Few people remember but while most people are familiar with Walter Cronkite's voice being on CBS due to CBS being live with As The World Turns when the news broke (In fact, the first shot as ATWT hit the air. By the time the first commercial was over, news tickers AROUND THE WORLD (Except maybe China) were GOING NUTS), it was NBC's Robert MacNeil who was filing the first network radio reports (I think Dan Rather (Who ironically later went on to anchor CBS' coverage of another national crisis in 9/11) filed one or two reports of his own on network radio as well)

But shortly after the cameras came on, ONLY Robert MacNeil was on the telephone with LIVE reports (With Frank McGee relaying of course while the technicdians were working out the bugs to get Robert on the air without the need for assistance)

But again, few people remember it because MILLIONS of households were tuned to CBS at the time as CBS was THE ONLY network that was LIVE in the Eastern & Central Time zones. ABC was programming out West but it was programming a rerun of Father Knows Best & didn't have NEARLY the penetration NBC & CBS had

Not sure if NBC was feeding anything anywhere in the country or not as there's no archive (Maybe they weren't feeding anything tgo any of the time zones??)
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And I must say MacNeil did an excellent job. IIRC wasn't he also in the Dallas City Jail when Oswald was shot?
Incidentally, I believe NBC's coverage was also relayed by CBC in Canada - fitting since MacNeil was from Montreal.
There's also an aircheck of the Voice of America relaying parts of NBC's TV coverage in between bulletins from their own anchors (before they hit the top of the hour and go into Polish language programming). New York's WRUL was an ABC affiliate and the source for much of the ABC Radio coverage that exists. I wonder if CBS or Mutual had any coverage on shortwave?
As for ABC TV, they were lucky to have such a strong affiliate in Dallas, as WFAA did a lot of the heavy lifting for them that day and that weekend. WFAA's local coverage, as frenzied as it was, looked better and was more informative than what was on the network.
 
Bearng in mind this is Wikipedia, this article indicates NBC and ABC were feeding programming at the time. Media coverage of the assassination of John F. Kennedy - Wikipedia
I read elsewhere that CBS's West Coast affiliates were airing an off-network rerun, whatever the East/Central would have been running at 10am. There is an aircheck of KNX interrupting the West Coast replay of the Arthur Godfrey show, with a KNX anchor, then CBS.

There'a an aircheck of the BBC that reported the death of C.S. Lewis as the top story, followed by the JFK assassination of Von Pein's site.
 
I would imagine all network radio affiliates carried the hotline programming unless they were doing something local as WCBS, WLW, WHBC & WTIC were
 
JeeperOne said:
I would imagine all network radio affiliates carried the hotline programming unless they were doing something local as WCBS, WLW, WHBC & WTIC were
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WLW had the first bulletin abut 1:40pm. The whole day's WLW programming from 4:58am on is available on Von Pein's channel, including likely the only surviving full-length episode of Ruth Lyons' 50-50 Club.
 
gr8oldies said:
WLW had the first bulletin abut 1:40pm. The whole day's WLW programming from 4:58am on is available on Von Pein's channel, including likely the only surviving full-length episode of Ruth Lyons' 50-50 Club.
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I know. I've heard it

I also of another YouTuber that has JUST NBC Radio's coverage from initial bulletins thrugh the funeral but I can't seem to find it now
 
CCBInMI said:
As for ABC TV, they were lucky to have such a strong affiliate in Dallas, as WFAA did a lot of the heavy lifting for them that day and that weekend. WFAA's local coverage, as frenzied as it was, looked better and was more informative than what was on the network.
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That's mainly because their studios weren't far from the scene & Jay Watson (Though out of breath) was the first person ANYWHERE outside of the wire sevices to break the news to ANYONE as the networks had just got the wire & immediately went into fact-finding mode & bringing people in (And oin ABC's case ultimately BUILDING A SET around the anchors on live TV as they were reporting information)

WFAA also had the first eyewitness interview (A young couple with their babies) as well as Abraham Zaprouder (Sp? - The man who shot the famous video of Kennedy getting shot (In fact it was WFAA who developed the 8MM film))

As for CBS affiliate KRLD, they had Eddie Barker at the Trade Mart who was reporting the news from there & it was he who quoted a doctor who works at Parkland who just happened to be there & would otherwise be a good source who told him Kennedy was dead but Barker wisely stopped short of reporting that as fact (WFAA hacked into the audio portion & CBS had audio & video of it too)
 
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