More Questions Re: JFK Assassination Coverage 11/22/63

[Stanislav]

I know I've posted other threads about this, but how TV covered that fateful day of November 22, 1963 has always been an interest of mine. (I'd love to write a book about it someday if I had the time.....and talent....) Anyway, some of the old-timers here and/or folks in the "business" might be able to help fill in some blanks I have about the initial bulletins that day. Here is what I know about the three networks and what I'd like to know:CBS -- Was in the midst of a live (on the East Coast) broadcast of "As the World Turns" when the first bulletin broke. (All preserved on tape as they were routinely tape-delaying for the later West Coast feed.) Cronkite read the first two wire reports that had been received over a "CBS News Bulletin" slide. They then returned to ATWT. A short time later, ATWT was again interrupted and a second pair of wire reports was read over the same slide. (There was no video as of yet as the cameras had not yet warmed up sufficiently for broadcast.)[Question #1 -- Did they return to ATWT again after the second bulletin, or segue right into video of Cronkite? The TV Guide special section about that weekend just says that the program was cut off "after the second commercial," but gives no details. I have not seen unedited CBS footage, but a CBS special some years back showed an obviously edited and time-condensed version of the sequence: a scene from ATWT, first bulletin, a few seconds of a coffee commercial, second bulletin, then the modern intro to the special. After Dan Rather's introduction, they cut to the start of the 1963 video coverage (the picture is even seen to roll for a few frames as it starts). I'd like to know how all of this unfolded in "real time."][Question #2 -- Would the bulletins have also gone out over the West Coast feed simultaneously? It would have been about 10:30 am on the West Coast, and CBS would have been sending a tape-delayed feed of their morning programming at the time.]NBC -- Was NOT programming to the East Coast at the time (I believe from either 1-2 pm or 1-2:30 pm was given by NBC to the affiliates in that era.) However, at 10:30 am on the West Coast, NBC would have been programming on tape-delay. The initial bulletins (a slide with voice-over by legendary NBC announcer Don Pardo) supposedly went out locally over WNBC-TV only, interrupting a local broadcast of "Batchelor Father." Some time later, NBC fired up the cameras and went on the air live (though videotape only started rolling 11 minutes later, I understand an audio aircheck of that lost footage survives).[Question #1 -- Did the bulletins really go out ONLY locally in NYC, or would they have been fed simultaneously over the in-progress West Coast feed? If not, when did the West Coast join coverage?][Question #2 -- For those affiliates who were programming locally at the time, how would the network have alerted them that they needed to switch to the network feed? Would they simply have made an announcement over that circuit and hope someone in Master Control would hear it? Or was there some sort of an automated system to alert affiliates, sort of like the wire services "bells" of that era?]ABC -- I have never seen any of the ABC coverage of that day, although supposedly it does exist. (WFAA-TV, the ABC affiliate in Dallas, did save all their footage as they covered the story mostly locally and in fact ended up feeding much of that coverage to the network.) ABC would also not have been programming at that time at all (both coasts would have been in local programming).[Questions -- Nothing specific, because I know so little -- I would like to know anything about ABC's sequence of events that afternoon -- when they began broadcasting -- did they do audio bulletins or go right into video -- at what point was the entire ABC network "online," etc. About all I've learned of ABC's coverage is that it was initially anchored by Ron Cochran.]Also, I have been trying to find a TV Guide (well, two, preferably the NYC Metro Edition and the LA Edition) that covers Novermber 22-23, 1963, to verify who would have been programming what on which feed when the story broke -- I have several copies of the special January 1964 issue with the feature article about JFK, but the listings do not necessarily reflect schedules from 2 months earlier. Any leads would be appreciated (and don't say eBay as I do check them constantly for this...) Sorry if this all seems a bit pedantic to some, but it is kind of an obsession of mine. :-[

 

[MarcB]

As for your question about what stations not running network programming did, one would assume there would be a monitor in the control room that is kept set to the network that way if a major story broke they could flip the switch. I assume that's what they do present day. I have been watching an episode of Judge Joe Brown or an infomercial on WTNH Channel 8 in New Haven, CT and see it switch over to ABC News' coverage of the president speaking. (Depending on what day of the week it is WTNH ether runs Judge Joe Brown or an infomercial at 10AM weekdays).

 

[Chuck]

If you find out more about the ABC/WFAA connection, I’d really like to know about it. We are in the process of restoring WFAA's DuMont Telecruiser remote unit, AKA "The Golden Telecruiser." We do not know if it was used during the assassination coverage or not. It's sister mobile unit was used at Parkland Hospital and other locations. You can view info about this TV remote unit at www.telecruiser.com or find out more at www.chalkhillmedia.org/Museum. Any information is greatly appreciated.Chuck

 

[Stanislav]

As for your question about what stations not running network programming did, one would assume there would be a monitor in the control room that is kept set to the network that way if a major story broke they could flip the switch.

True, but I was thinking that under normal day-to-day ops, it's possible that complacency sets in -- if you're used to the network monitor showing a TP or nothing at all during certain periods of the day, you're not necessarily keeping an eye on it "just in case" something breaks. That's why I wondered if there was some sort of "alarm" or audio cue that was used to get the attention of board ops at the affiliates. My guess is that in 1963 there probably wasn't, but I'd like to know.

 

[Stanislav]

If you find out more about the ABC/WFAA connection, I’d really like to know about it. We are in the process of restoring WFAA's DuMont Telecruiser remote unit, AKA "The Golden Telecruiser." We do not know if it was used during the assassination coverage or not. It's sister mobile unit was used at Parkland Hospital and other locations. You can view info about this TV remote unit at www.telecruiser.com or find out more at www.chalkhillmedia.org/Museum. Any information is greatly appreciated.

Sounds like a cool project -- it you eventually post pics of it on some website, be sure to post it here so we can see them.I wasn't aware that WFAA had more than one mobile unit at the time, but I would assume they used both that weekend. WFAA did a special in 1983 called "The Kennedy Tapes" -- it was a several hours long special of edited 11/22/63 coverage. Every once in a blue moon, a dub of this turns up on eBay -- the last time, I had to bow out when the bidding started to top $200. I've only seen bits and pieces of the WFAA tapes. Basically, it looks like they covered the Dallas end of the story more or less on their own, although I assume they cut to the network to cover events in Washington and elsewhere. ABC's news division wasn't terribly well-funded in comparison to CBS and NBC, and with their limited resources, my understanding is that they simply relied on WFAA for large hunks of their coverage that weekend, just basically switching to DFW for long periods of time and letting WFAA feed coverage to them. Sort of a mirror image of the other two networks, who while they did frequently switch to Dallas for local reports and live events were still running the show.WFAA was in the midst of a local women's show when the new broke -- they very uncermoniously just abruptly cut to a literally out of breath announcer (he had probably run to the studio after grabbing the wire copy -- he even apologizes on the air for being out of breath) standing in front of a camera holding a microphone. They rolled tape very quickly, even catching a few moments of the show they interrupted. (In fact, one of the first things the guy did after reading the bulletins was look to his off-camera director and say "....and I think we should tape this....(pause)....we ARE taping this, good.") They later just brought the cameras right into the newsroom, which was quite unusual for the time. WFAA basically saw this as a national story, yes, but a DALLAS story first and foremost, and they weren't waiting around for the network to do anything. So that is why I wonder when ABC actually went on-air in the rest of the country.

 

[Stanislav]

BTW, there used to be a guy who had a website (and maybe still does -- I've long since lost the bookmark) who is apparently employed in the industry and claims to have tons of raw footage of that weekend -- hours and hours of unedited footage from CBS, KRLD, WFAA, etc. It was in the context of a tape-trading section of his site, but he said that he would no longer trade any of the material because no one had anything of interest to trade him anymore. Well, duh -- he'd cornered the market on the stuff and of COURSE no one had anything else -- he already had it all. (That's the Catch-22 of tape trading -- you have to have stuff to trade, but you can't obtain stuff to trade unless you trade, etc.) He steadfastily refused to donate any of it for serious research (I tried), trade it for blanks or other material, or accept donations to provide copies. I understand he had to be careful about copyright and such, but I thought it all a bit arrogant -- I think the point of the site was not to trade, but to brag about the stuff he had that YOU couldn't see. :'(

 

[bpatrick]

As to what was on the New York network stations at 1:30 on Friday,November 22, 1963, "As The World Turns" (obviously) was on WCBS,"Bachelor Father" on WNBC, and "The Ann Sothern Show" (where sheplayed Katy O'Connor) on WABC. In Hartford, "ATWT" was on Channel3; I'm not sure what was on Channel 8 (a rerun, probably). This comesfrom a TV Guide trivia book put out in the '70s, and includes pages from the NYC metro edition from 1953-74. I'm doing this from memory, which is why I'm notsure what was on the ABC station in New Haven.

 

[Stanislav]

Confirms that both NBC and ABC were not programming ("Batchelor Father" and "Ann Sothern" both being off-network syndies at the time). Could you also check 10:30 am -- that would show what network shows were being tape-delayed to the West Coast at 1:40 pm Eastern time. Should show NBC and CBS both programming, but ABC would have been in local time.

 

[newsmark]

In 1988, A&E rebroadcast several hours of the JFK coverage "real time." They interruped a program about nine minutes after NBC had started its coverage, and Edwin Newmann introduced the coverage, explaining the missing 11 minute.All of the coverage was in black and white, except when NBC switched to coverage from WBAP Channel 5 in Fort Worth, which had a color studio camera. There were some interesting moments, such as when they played audio-only soundbites, and the WBAP anchor just sat there, very intently listening.As far as the network notifying stations about a special report, up until the mid-80s, the nets would just break in, and hope the affiliates notice. As recently as the Space Shuttle Columbia explosion, at least one affiliate was not airing the network feed at the time, and they missed several minutes of coverage. In many cases, the networks actually start their coverage with a 10 second countdown leader. That's to give affiliates a chance to see the countdown and join the special report from the beginning. (It's not much help if you happen to be on a potty break at the moment.) If the station is running network programming, viewers will see the countdown on air.It's risky business, anyway. During the early days of the Iraq war, I looked up at the net monitor in the newsroom and saw Dan Rather. It seemed to be going for a while, so I called Master Control, who immediately put him on the air. It turned out to be an extended promo for the CBS Evening News.

 

[Stanislav]

All of the coverage was in black and white, except when NBC switched to coverage from WBAP Channel 5 in Fort Worth, which had a color studio camera. There were some interesting moments, such as when they played audio-only soundbites, and the WBAP anchor just sat there, very intently listening.

I have that special on tape. One of the early color switches to WBAP, with audio of the interview with Jean Hill, is almost comical to watch despite the seriousness of the event. Tom Whelan was the reporter in the segment, and as the long audio cut rolls, he is a study in fidgeting -- playing with his pen, looking around, smoothing his very obvious combover with his hand, etc. At the end of the interview, the reporter interviewing Hill asks for her name and address. Obviously, the audio should have been cut off by then, and Whelan even seems nervous at that point, with a look that seems to say "uh.....should we be airing this poor woman's address?" But air it did, over the entire NBC network, leading to a very quick and massive crush of newsmen trampling Ms. Hill's lawn. :-

As far as the network notifying stations about a special report, up until the mid-80s, the nets would just break in, and hope the affiliates notice.

Seems silly -- you'd think they would have some sort of audio and video advisory to "wake up" the locals -- maybe a loud repeated announcement and flashing video graphics for a minute or two? Radio had systems like that even "way back when" -- I believe even as long ago as WWII, there was a phone circuit that would sound a certain alarm at the stations when the network was about to break with an unscheduled news bulletin.

As recently as the Space Shuttle Columbia explosion, at least one affiliate was not airing the network feed at the time, and they missed several minutes of coverage.

Or sometimes the affiliate is waiting for the network to come up, and it's the network that's asleep at the switch. I was living in Jacksonville FL at the time, and local CBS affiliate WJXT went on the air with the story initially using the CNN feed. I was told by someone who was working there as an intern at the time that CBS was "slow on the draw" breaking the first bulletins of the incident, so WJXT took the initiative of going with the CNN coverage, then switching to CBS when they finally came on.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Could you also check 10:30 am -- that would show what network shows were being tape-delayed to the West Coast at 1:40 pm Eastern time. Should show NBC and CBS both programming, but ABC would have been in local time.

This is from memory, as I am unable to locate (it's in a box somewhere) a great book I've had for years which showed grids of network programming for the entire day for the fall season, second season, and summer, going back to the late 1940s.bpatrick, can you come to the rescue on this book? ;DIn 1963 I believe CBS used a Central zone clock time pattern for their left coast daytime delay, that is, 0900-1530 PT (or was it 1600?) with a local hole 1200-1230 PT. 1030 PT would have been delayed playback of the 1130 ET program. But I just can't recall what show was on CBS in that slot.I'll speculate that NBC also ramped up daytime at 0900 PT so it probably also was the 1130 ET program. Not sure how they handled the local hole (1300-1400 ET/1200-1300 CT) on the left coast. I do know later in the 1960s when NBC trimmed the hole to 1300-1330 ET, the left coast didn't pause--they kept on going by airing the 1330-1630 ET programming from 1200-1500 PT (not 1230-1530).I recall seeing listings at some point in that era where ABC ran the Eastern zone clock time pattern out of El-Lay--though can't confirm it was valid in late 1963 nor do I remember what time daytime started (guessing 1100 ET instead of 1000 ET on CBS/NBC).

 

[oldschooler1]

Yes, regarding the JFK coverage on A & E:One of the jewels in my collection. The very first time the NBC net tries to switch from NY to Dallas, there is audio feedback, and the picture goes to crap (like it wasn't synced properly with the net). The anchors apologize. But it's sooo cool to see the switch from B & W to color! Also, later, when WBAP plays back the newsfilm for the first time to the network, at the very very end of the film you see a color rainbow, indicating it was played back on a color film chain, even though the newsfilm was in B & W. Then later in the coverage I think they either stopped going to WBAP, or they went to WBAP and told them to use the B & W cameras, because the color switch is gone. And as for the net notifying master controls (or should it be masters control?) about break-ins, nowadays there are cue channels that flash slates indicating a bulletin coming up. They also send down audio warnings through squawk boxes in newsrooms. Some stations might still have dot-matrix noisy printers that spit out warnings, too, so when the printer is going, you know something's happening. As well, there are alerts that come through newsroom computers via AP and e-mail. There are two ways for a break-in to happen: Networks will warn you minutes, even hours ahead of time, to prepare for a special report -- if it's something like special coverage of the Michael Jackson verdict, something like that. Also, if the president is going to make a special daytime announcement from the rose garden, for example. That's when stations discuss amongst their news directors and program directors "do we want to take it? Do we want to cut in to our sponsored programming, and risk losing money?"Then, there are things like the Columbia burn-up -- many stations would already have prior knowledge of it, because of bulletins that moved on AP -- but it takes the 'net a few minutes to get someone in the anchor chair, power up the studio and lights, roust a crew, etc -- and even then the 'net would say "stations, stand by for a special report within the next five minutes". It would come down on a sqawk box, likely. Plus, it's also up to the MC op to be at the board, and when he/she notices out of the corner of their eye there's a coutndown on the network monitor, they shoudl take it -- but those other factors mentioned before have to be taken into account. And then, there's the time the network is already up, feeding programming, and there' no need for the local MC op to make the decision.

 

[Stanislav]

The Internet Archive (home of the Wayback Machine) used to have an extensive video archive of 9/11 coverage from literally all over the world. (It disappeared after a few months -- I think the bandwidth costs were eating them alive...) :'(Anyway, ABC was in the midst of the live Eastern/Central time "Good Morning, America" when the first plane hit. Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer covered the story for a few minutes, then announced that they were about to be joined by the entire ABC network. There was a brief pause while the "ABC Special Report" slide and voice-over was aired, and then they cut right back to Gibson and Sawyer. So, I would assume that West Coast affiliates would have been notified of the situation by other means -- even if they had been monitoring the feed from New York, there would have only been a few seconds of time to react to Gibson's verbal warning and join the NY feed for the "ABC Special Report" slide (as one assumes they wanted, even under such unusual circumstances, to do a smooth transition from whatever they were airing to the ABC feed). Then again, most stations probably monitor CNN anyway as they would be breaking any story sooner than the broadcast networks, and would have been immediately aware that their network would probably shortly be breaking in.

 

[Chuck]

Sounds like a cool project -- it you eventually post pics of it on some website, be sure to post it here so we can see them.I wasn't aware that WFAA had more than one mobile unit at the time, but I would assume they used both that weekend.

There are lots of pictures of the mobile unit at www.telecruiser.com . Please take a look. Yesterday, we were lucky enough to add a real DuMont camera to the collection. Unfortunately, it is not complete. We are missing the camera control unit, lenses and the cables, but it is a start. All leads and information are greatly appreciated.At the time of the assassination, WFAA had two mobile units. Their main unit was a 40 foot Crown Coach that had an Ampex 2" video tape recorder on board. It's the one that did duty at Parkland, and possibly at the Police Station. The second unit is the one we have, which was known around Dallas as "The Golden Telecruiser," since it was originally painted gold. It was smaller, older and not as well equipped, so it was considered “Unit B.” There was no VTR on board. So far I haven't been able to definitively ascertain if it was used in the coverage or not. I have received conflicting reports about it, even from Channel 8 employees who were there at the time. Last year, Dallas' Sixth Floor Museum had a wonderful special exhibit called "Coping With Crisis" that explored the press coverage of the event. They had lots of video footage, pictures and other documentation. We were proud to loan them a GE camera that came from the KRLD remote truck which was in use at that time. Unfortunately, the special exhibit is closed now, but if you are in Dallas, a visit to the Museum is highly recommended. It is very well done. Chuck

 

[Stanislav]

At the time of the assassination, WFAA had two mobile units. Their main unit was a 40 foot Crown Coach that had an Ampex 2" video tape recorder on board. It's the one that did duty at Parkland, and possibly at the Police Station.

Which reminds me.....if memory serves, the reason WFAA (and, by extension, ABC) missed out on live or taped coverage of Ruby shooting Oswald was that they had chosen to stage their mobile unit at the County Jail -- i.e. at the OTHER end of the aborted transfer -- while KRLD and WBAP were at Dallas Police HQ. Can anyone confirm or deny that?And while on the subject of Ruby and Oswald.....I know that Tom Pettit was the NBC reporter on scene for that incident. Who was the KRLD/CBS reporter? (I have a feeling it was Eddie Barker -- was that his name? -- the KRLD guy who had been reporting from the Trade Mart the day of the assassination.) I've seen the CBS footage of the shooting, and he is the guy who kept misstating Oswald's name as "Lee HAROLD Oswald."

 

[bpatrick]

On the West Coast "Pete and Gladys" would have beenon CBS at 10:30 AM (PT), and the game show "MissingLinks" on NBC. IIRC, ABC followed Eastern time in thosedays, and its first program normally would have been "ThePrice Is Right" (original, with Bill Cullen) at 11 AM.I apologize if I confused anyone about "Bachelor Father"and Ann Sothern in New York. NBC and ABC were indeeddown; I know that, closer to home, Atlanta's WSB (NBCthen) was in the middle of a movie, and WAII (now WXIAand ABC then) had a local show with Snooky Lanson of"Your Hit Parade" fame. "ATWT" was on WAGA (CBS then).And I believe the women's show on WFAA was hosted byJulie Benell; she passed away some years ago. Dallasites,do you remember her?

 

[Chuck]

Which reminds me.....if memory serves, the reason WFAA (and, by extension, ABC) missed out on live or taped coverage of Ruby shooting Oswald was that they had chosen to stage their mobile unit at the County Jail -- i.e. at the OTHER end of the aborted transfer -- while KRLD and WBAP were at Dallas Police HQ. Can anyone confirm or deny that?And while on the subject of Ruby and Oswald.....I know that Tom Pettit was the NBC reporter on scene for that incident. Who was the KRLD/CBS reporter? (I have a feeling it was Eddie Barker -- was that his name? -- the KRLD guy who had been reporting from the Trade Mart the day of the assassination.) I've seen the CBS footage of the shooting, and he is the guy who kept misstating Oswald's name as "Lee HAROLD Oswald."

The Sixth Floor Museum has a great picture taken just before Oswald was shot. The point of view is from the podium at the Police Station, looking toward the press. There were three live TV cameras lined up in front of the podium. The middle camera is an RCA which was WBAP's. The right camera in the picture is a GE from KRLD, like the one we loaned them for the exhibit. The one in the picture is Camera 1; we have Camera 4 from that mobile unit. The third camera, to the left of center is a Marconi that looks exactly like the one we got with the Telecruiser. I'm sure it is WFAA's, since nobody else in the area, at least that I know of, had any Marconi Cameras. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm very sure WFAA had a camera there, but I don't know if it was on the air "live" or not. Whether it came from the Crown Coach, or the DuMont Telecruiser is still a bit of a mystery. It was probably from the newer Crown Coach, since it had a 2” video tape machine on board.The CBS commentator was Eddie Barker. He became the News Director at KRLD. I worked for him and his department in the late 1960's. He's still around. I saw him at the Museum's exhibit dedication last summer. He seemed to be doing well.

 

[Stanislav]

The third camera, to the left of center is a Marconi that looks exactly like the one we got with the Telecruiser. I'm sure it is WFAA's, since nobody else in the area, at least that I know of, had any Marconi Cameras. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm very sure WFAA had a camera there, but I don't know if it was on the air "live" or not.

Interesting. From everything I've read, ABC had neither a live feed nor tape of the shooting, and was limited to using filmed footage well after the fact. I would think if WFAA were there, they would be taping on site (if it were the unit with the VTR) or feeding it to the studio (where everything was being taped anyway). Even if the Dallas PD unit was operating, if it didn't have its own VTR, and WFAA wasn't using that feed live, they surely would have switched to it shortly after hearing what happened.Then again, all this is 3rd hand heresay -- I have never seen any of the ABC network videotapes, and only brief excerpts of WFAA's.

 

[bpatrick]

I certainly can come to the rescue about the book of schedules:it's "The TV Schedule Book" by Harry Castleman and Walter Podrazik.It lists network schedules from 1944 to the beginning of 1983 and isin dire need of updating. But keep in mind that all times are Eastern.They do, however, do a fine job of listing daytime (weekdays andweekends) as well as primetime schedules, and it's a book I use alot in talking about old network schedules (but not local--my favoritesources, as I think everyone knows by now, are the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Greensboro News & Record, and Louisville Courier-Journal).Regarding West Coast schedules, CBS has followed Central Time foras long as I can remember. I remember back in the '70s NBC followedCentral Time from 9 AM-noon, then carried the 1:30 (ET)/12:30 (CT)show at noon (PT). Thus, daytime ended at 4:30 (ET)/3:30 (CT),3 PM (PT) with no midday break. When KABC and KGO went to4 PM newscasts, ABC began airing the 4 PM (ET) show at 11 AM (PT);I remember "The Money Maze" being scheduled this way. Eventually, ABC began following Central Time as well, as it does today.Back to the JFK assassination: If Eddie Barker was anchoring Channel4's local coverage, and Murphy Martin was handling Channel 8's, whoanchored Channel 5's?One other point: the networks don't always have their big guns in placewhen a major news story breaks during the day. Case in point: whenPope John Paul II was shot, Barry Serafin was first on the air for ABCand stayed until Frank Reynolds could get there; when Ronald Reaganwas shot, someone recognized Reynolds on a Washington street andtold him to get back to the studio, explaining what had happened.

 

[Stanislav]

Back to the JFK assassination: If Eddie Barker was anchoring Channel 4's local coverage, and Murphy Martin was handling Channel 8's, whoanchored Channel 5's?

What little WFAA coverage I've seen seemed to be narrated by PD Jay Watson -- he's the one who broke the story and later interviewed Abraham Zapruder. WBAP reports were handled by Charles Murphy and Tom Whelan until later in the day when NBC's Robert MacNeil arrived at the local studio. Likewise, once Dan Rather was through running around Dallas, he fed reports from KRLD's studios. To my awareness, WBAP and KRLD really didn't provide much in the way of local coverage -- they served in a more passive role, carrying the network coverage but feeding frequent reports to their respective networks. WFAA, OTOH, pretty much went with the story locally from the start, and ABC with its limited resources carried huge chunks of WFAA's coverage.

One other point: the networks don't always have their big guns in place when a major news story breaks during the day. Case in point: when Pope John Paul II was shot, Barry Serafin was first on the air for ABC and stayed until Frank Reynolds could get there; when Ronald Reagan was shot, someone recognized Reynolds on a Washington street and told him to get back to the studio, explaining what had happened.

This is true. On 9/11, the networks were in the middle of their morning shows. ABC's GMA duo Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer covered the initial attacks on the WTC, but Peter Jennings got on the air pretty quickly, certainly within the first hour. (He was on before the first tower collapse and before the Pentagon attack). I don't recall when Dan Rather got on the air, but I'm sure CBS would much rather have Rather (no pun intended) cover such a huge story than Bryant Gumbel. When the 1989 Loma Prieta (San Francisco) earthquake hit during the World Series pre-game show, Al Michaels was on scene and switched from his sportscaster hat to his newsman hat very capably. (He was also a Bay Area native, which made him invaluable to interpret what was happening from the standpoint of geography, roads and bridges, etc.) Initially, he was joined by Ted Koppel, then after about half an hour Peter Jennings showed up. One assumes that when the quake hit, Jennings had already left for the day after his evening newscast, and had to get back to the studio, while Koppel would have been in house prepping "Nightline."