Actually, it's been a longstanding practice on
each network to have a biography of a noted
person ready to go when the person dies, especially
if the person is of advanced age (as Reagan, Ford,
and Hope were). In fact, JFK was so young (46)
and his assassination so unexpected that Harry Reasoner
was called in from a "CBS Reports" documentary he was
filming to put together a biography of the late President
that aired on Friday night, November 22, 1963, just hours
after Kennedy was killed.
It's hard to believe, though, that with a major winter
storm that hit the South yesterday and the Northeast
today, the networks would be hard up for a news
story this morning.