Question About JFK Assassination Coverage

[Stanislav]

Most on this board are likely familiar with the network coverage of the 1963 JFK assassination and aftermath. All three broadcast networks at the time had uninterrupted coverage, and were fed reports and live shots from their respective DFW affiliates (WBAP-5 to NBC, WFAA-8 to ABC, and KRLD-4 to CBS).

There were, however, a handful of independent stations around the country (including KTXT-11 right in Ft. Worth) as well as educational stations (there was no PBS network yet, though most were loosely affiliated with PBS' predecessor, NET). I've often wondered what THEY were broadcasting during those four days? Did they have arrangements to carry one of the network feeds, or did they simply go off the air for the duration? Were any of the older guys on this board in a position to monitor any such stations back then? (I was only 5 at the time and, though living in the NYC metro area -- Westchester County -- I wasn't exactly in a position to be "channel surfing" that weekend...)

My curiosity about this was first aroused when I read a book about the assassination -- don't ask me to recall the title -- that had a photo of a news conference at Parkland Hospital in which there was a TV camera clearly labeled with the logo of KTXT-11. So I wonder if they were doing their own coverage locally, or if they were simply loaning equipment to the other DFW stations, who were stretched pretty thin that weekend...

 

[tjthedj]

> I was 13 in 1963 in Chicago.

I remember WGN-TV playng classical music and their id slide. I really don't believe they used any network coverage. They did have news but the stories were locally reported.

 

[KeithE]

> There were, however, a handful of independent stations
> around the country (including KTXT-11 right in Ft. Worth) as
> well as educational stations (there was no PBS network yet,
> though most were loosely affiliated with PBS' predecessor,
> NET). I've often wondered what THEY were broadcasting
> during those four days? Did they have arrangements to carry
> one of the network feeds, or did they simply go off the air
> for the duration? Were any of the older guys on this board
> in a position to monitor any such stations back then? (I
> was only 5 at the time and, though living in the NYC metro
> area -- Westchester County -- I wasn't exactly in a position
> to be "channel surfing" that weekend...)

WTTV/4 Indianapolis carried the ABC feed. They'd kept a secondary ABC affiliation for many years after losing the primary affiliation to then-WLWI/13 in 1957, and this was one of the rare times they used it.

This was probably the only time between WISH/8 being the ABC affiliate in 1954-56 to WRTV/6 getting it in 1979 that ABC had full-market coverage. WLWI had an almost-nonexistant signal into the south end of the market (Bloomington, Columbus, Beford) and WTTV had poor coverage at the north end (which is why ABC moved to WLWI in the first place, and why WTTV put WTTK/29 Kokomo on the air in 1987).

As for other indies around the country, I'll guess that either they did the same thing, picking up a network affiliate, or running local coverage. I'd be surprised if any of them ran regular programming. I don't remember even any radio stations in central Indiana carrying regular programming during this time.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

I thought I once read somewhere that WGBH-2 in Boston (then an "educational" station; now PBS) was able to simulcast NBC's coverage. Back then, Boston had no independent stations (or UHF stations for that matter, WIHS-38, now WSBK, went on the air the next year).

 

[ixnay]

> I thought I once read somewhere that WGBH-2 in Boston (then
> an "educational" station; now PBS) was able to simulcast
> NBC's coverage. Back then, Boston had no independent
> stations (or UHF stations for that matter, WIHS-38, now
> WSBK, went on the air the next year).
>

I was 27 months old in November 1963 and living in the Philadelphia area. Kennedy is purely an historic figure where my memory's concerned (for that matter I had never heard of *R*FK until I joined my mom in watching his funeral from St. Patrick's, then later watching his funeral train come through North Philadelphia station [both of those on TV, of course]).

I believe the only stations in the Philly market in 1963 were WRCV-3 (NBC O&O, now CBS O&O KYW), WFIL-6 (Walter Annenberg-owned, now Disney O&O WPVI), and WCAU-10 (then CBS O&O, now NBC O&O), plus WHYY-12 (then NET, now PBS, COL then and now Wilmington, DE), which had just signed on in September 1963. I don't know if WHYY simulcast any commercial broadcast of the assassination.

Independents WPHL-17 (later WB, now CW?), WIBF-29 (later WTAF and now WTXF Fox 29) and WKBS-48 (COL Burlington, NJ, went dark 1983) didn't sign on until 1965, although there was a short lived Philly station on Channel 17, I once read, back in 1960.

ixnay

 

[pqgeorge]

Boston's WGBH-TV ran the NBC feed (was Re: Question About JFK Assassination Coverage)

> I thought I once read somewhere that WGBH-2 in Boston (then
> an "educational" station; now PBS) was able to simulcast
> NBC's coverage. Back then, Boston had no independent
> stations (or UHF stations for that matter, WIHS-38, now
> WSBK, went on the air the next year).
>

WGBH-TV (Channel 2 in Boston) while being a non-commercial educational TV station was able to run NBC's "Meet The Press" for many years (minus the commercials). In light of the unusual circumstances of 11/22/1963, and since NBC dumped all commercial content at the time of the assassination, it would not surprise me that WGBH ran the NBC feed through the weekend from Friday afternoon the 22nd through the funeral on Monday the 25th.

WWOR(later WJZB)/Channel 14 (NBC/Worcester, MA-now deleted) ran the NBC feed. This was a signal that covered a fairly good portion of the Boston suburbs and parts of Rhode Island and New Hampshire.


<P ID="signature">______________
Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts</P>