NYC TV Stations During 1965 Blackout?

[Stanislav]

I'm wondering if anyone has any links to sites (or personal memories) that would describe how the New York City TV stations fared in the famous 1965 blackout. IOW, how long were each off the air, when did they come back on (if at all) that evening, etc. There is a reprint (at http://members.aol.com/jeff570/blkout65.html) of a Broadcast Engineering article about the blackout, but it focuses almost exclusively on the city's radio stations and their response to the blackout. Any input would be appreciated.

Personal note: I was 7 years old and living in suburban NJ at the time of the blackout. I do recall we lost power for just a short time (perhaps 15-20 minutes) but for some reason, I don't recall anyone checking the TV when the power was back to see what was happening (including me, which is surprising since I was a TV nut from my diaper days on) -- we were listening to the radio. One thing I do recall is my family discussing with the neighbors about what was going on -- one was convinced that the Russians must have bombed New York!! :

 

[T-K]

According to The New York Times, all television stations in New York went dark. They did not report how long they stayed off the air. I wonder if the Empire State transmitter site had any sort of auxiliary power provisions.

The networks switched to points of origination in "other cities," presumably Washington and Los Angeles. Otherwise, the schedule aired as normal, except for "The National Citizenship Test," a live CBS special that was to have been broadcast from the New York studios at 10 p.m. A special report on the blackout from the Washington bureau aired in its place.

The blackout hit about a half-hour before Peter Jennings was to deliver his ABC newscast at 6 p.m. (NBC and CBS aired news at 6:30.) Personnel in Washington had to scramble to prepare a substitute broadcast in time. The NBC newscast was split between Washington and Los Angeles studios. Chet Huntley was on vacation and David Brinkley gave a report from New York by telephone. On CBS, Roger Mudd anchored from Washington with a phoner from Walter Cronkite in New York.

Throughout the evening, the networks aired updates from Washington, Chicago, and Los Angeles. CBS had backup power at their New York studios, but AT&T Long Lines did not have generators that could adequately supply the network hookup. Walter Cronkite took the air with a news brief at 8:30, but the transmission failed after three minutes.

If anything, the blackout reestablished the value of radio as a vital news source after several years of increasing dominance by television.

 

[Stanislav]

According to The New York Times, all television stations in New York went dark. They did not report how long they stayed off the air. I wonder if the Empire State transmitter site had any sort of auxiliary power provisions.

One would think they would, but then, such precautions are often not taken until you get bitten in the a** the first time. If they didn't have such backup generators available, it's a safe bet that they probably had them installed not long after the blackout.

 

[Stanislav]

The NBC newscast was split between Washington and Los Angeles studios. Chet Huntley was on vacation and David Brinkley gave a report from New York by telephone.

I find that a bit confusing, since Brinkley was based in Washington himself. Or was it the practice that when Huntley was off, Brinkley physically anchored from New York?

 

[ixnay]

According to The New York Times, all television stations in New York went dark. They did not report how long they stayed off the air. I wonder if the Empire State transmitter site had any sort of auxiliary power provisions.

One would think they would, but then, such precautions are often not taken until you get bitten in the a** the first time.

If the tx high, high above 5th Av. and 34th St.* lacked those provisions, well, file with Cronkite lacking a "warm" camera for a few minutes on 11/22/63. The Eye got bit in the butt that day.

*I've been on the 86th floor at the ESB (October 2000 - wish the skies hadn't been so hazy that day :'().

ixnay

 

[T-K]

I find that a bit confusing, since Brinkley was based in Washington himself. Or was it the practice that when Huntley was off, Brinkley physically anchored from New York?

Just a guess, but I'd imagine that Brinkley was expected to "check in" with network brass occasionally, and this just happened to be one of those days. I know that in the years he co-anchored with John Chancellor, the two were sometimes together in New York.

In a similar vein, Dan Rather was stuck in Los Angeles for the annual affiliates' meeting when the assassination attempt was made on Pope John Paul II. He basically made a cameo at the beginning of the prime time special report and handed it off to Harry Reasoner and Bob Schieffer in New York.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

I wasn't home that evening and learned of the blackout while I was out. As noted, the network TV shows were sent to the affiliates around the country from another source. I remember tuning in to an NBC-TV news report from New York City later that night and the announcer (I don't recall who it was) had a candle next to him. I always thought this was kind of a put-on since there must have been some kind of auxillary power available there for lighting since they were powering the camera and other needed equipment. Later on that same month, my aunt and uncle, who lived in northern New Jersey just south of NYC at that time, told me they didn't lose their power - or perhaps for not very long. She said they just tuned their TV to stations from Philadelphia. I don't remember them having very much of an antenna set-up so I've always wondered how they were able to receive the Philly signals so easily.

I did listen to some radio that night. Local station WCKY was an ABC Radio Network affiliate at that time and they carried a network feed giving news of the blackout. At one point, ABC switched from their Chicago offices to New York City for a report. Doing that report from NYC over a telephone were Art Van Horn and 25-year old Ted Koppel. I still have that on reel-to-reel audio tape.

 

[Stanislav]

Later on that same month, my aunt and uncle, who lived in northern New Jersey just south of NYC at that time, told me they didn't lose their power - or perhaps for not very long. She said they just tuned their TV to stations from Philadelphia. I don't remember them having very much of an antenna set-up so I've always wondered how they were able to receive the Philly signals so easily.

Philly isn't really that far from northern NJ -- we had a fairly rudimentary antenna on the roof of our two-story house in Bergen County, and the Philly channels were usually viewable -- IF and when some of the NYC VHFs were off. The problem there is not the distance -- it's the adjacent channel interference from the NYC channels (and the poor selectivity of those older sets). When 5 in NYC was off, we could usually get a snowy, but watchable signal from 6 in Philly. Likewise, for us to see KYW on 3, either 2 or 4 in NYC had to be off-air.

I did listen to some radio that night. Local station WCKY was an ABC Radio Network affiliate at that time and they carried a network feed giving news of the blackout. At one point, ABC switched from their Chicago offices to New York City for a report. Doing that report from NYC over a telephone were Art Van Horn and 25-year old Ted Koppel. I still have that on reel-to-reel audio tape.

I'd love to hear that someday (sure others would, too.) If you ever digitize that audio and put it on the Net somewhere, let us know. (Considering the risk of physical damage and degradation to tape, you might want to digitize that and any other old reel-to-reel "treasures" you have, just to be sure they will survive...)