March 30th, 1981: TV Coverage Of The Reagan Shooting

[Ultimajock]

Re: November 22nd, 1963 And March 30th, 1981

Since these threads have been about NBC's coverage of JFK's
assassination, I should add the name of one correspondent who
got a network job out of that weekend: Murphy Martin of WFAA,
the ABC affiliate. ABC was so impressed they gave him the anchor
slot on the Monday-Friday 11 PM newscast they had at the time
(cut back to weekends only in 1965). Last I heard, Martin was
retired and back in Dallas.

...there's also an interesting point to be made about another Murphy in the Metroplex on 11/22/63 -- Charles Murphy, then of WBAP-TV/5. He anchored most of the material WBAP-TV sent to NBC that day. A few years later, he moved to ABC (and WFAA-TV/8?), becoming the network's main Dallas and Southern correspondent, including the ABC coverage of Hurricane Camille's destruction through Mississippi in 1969. On 3/30/81, ABC carried a report he filed on the Dallas gun shop where John W. Hinckley, Jr., bought the revolver he shot Reagan and Brady with. Anyone know whatever became of him? Assuming he's still alive, he would be one of only three people on-camera in the NBC coverage that day (Edwin Newman and Robert MacNeil being the other two) who haven't died...

 

[ixnay]

Was this(Bill Lyon) the same guy from the Phila. Inquirer who used to appear on ESPN's "Sports Reporters" (fat guy with glasses). If so, that's the same guy who said he would not vote for Nolan Ryan for the Baseball Hall Of Fame because he "wouldn't want him to pitch game 7 of the World Series".---Total MoronMy memories of that day include:1. Reynolds' outburst (I believe ABC had already reported Brady as being dead)2. Al Haig's "I'm in charge" speech3. The NCAA Championship being played as scheduled, with Dick Enberg giving a quote from the President before tip-off "All in all, I'd rather be in Philadelphia" (game was being played in Philly). This was NBC's last NCAA Tournament game as CBS took over the next season and has had the Final 4 ever since.

I think so, Smittian. I remember seeing Lyon once or twice on ESPN and I recognized him from the pic accompanying the head of his column (the Inky's columnists' photos accompanied their respective columns and I think they still do, in the print edition).

Correct me, but I think 1981 was also the last year the Big Dance had a consolation game for the national semi losers, played right before the title game. IIRC the NIT still has a consolation game for its semifinal losers. I think it was a good idea for the NCAA to drop the consolation game (akin to the NFL's long-gone and just as pointless "Playoff Bowl"); otherwise the third-place game loser would end the season with a two-game losing streak. But I digress.

ixnay

 

[bpatrick]

I may have to correct myself re Murphy Martin,
because I've seen a Carolina-Tennessee edition of TV
Guide from 1963 that shows him anchoring ABC's
11 PM newscast before JFK's assassination.
And by the middle of 1964 Bob Young was anchoring
the broadcast (he temporarily replaced Peter Jennings
in 1968). Nevertheless, Martin did a superb job of
on-the-scene reports from Dallas.

 

[bpatrick]

Lest anyone forget about November 22, 1963, CBS
was the only network "up" when the first bulletin
about shots having been fired at JFK's motorcade
came on, interrupting "As The World Turns" at 1:40
(ET); at the time, "ATWT" was so popular that ABC
and NBC didn't even bother to program against it, and
turned the time back to the affiliates.

Channel 4 (KRLD/KDFW) was the CBS affiliate in Dallas
and had scheduled live coverage of Kennedy's speech
at the Trade Mart at 1 PM (CT), which is why it would
probably have been easier for them to feed to CBS, which
could carry it live or show edited portions on the Cronkite
newscast that night, than for WBAP/KXAS to feed to NBC,
since it had not planned to carry the speech, IIRC. (WFAA
planned to carry it, though, and could have fed to ABC.)

Also, don't forget the sight of Cronkite removing his glasses
and wiping away a tear when he finally announced that Kennedy
was dead. Or something that happened off-camera a short time
later: the phone rang in the CBS newsroom, Cronkite answered it,
and was subjected to a tirade from a woman complaining that it
was in the worst of taste to have Cronkite on the air with his
"crocodile tears," when "everyone knows he tried to get the
Kennedys." Cronkite's response: "Madam, this IS Walter Cronkite,
and you are a ******* idiot!" He then slammed down the phone
so hard he thought he'd broken it.

 

[Ultimajock]

Also, don't forget the sight of Cronkite removing his glasses
and wiping away a tear when he finally announced that Kennedy
was dead.

...and Frank McGee wiping a tear from under his eyeglasses as he closed the phone conversation in which Robert MacNeil reported the official announcement of Kennedy's death; McGee also began choking up as he signed the network off at the end of that day's coverage...