Luncheon every third Tuesday, 11:30 A.M. This month: FEBRURY 18, 2014 Gallery Restaurant - Club Rooms Fargo Holiday Inn

MikeNotes

News & Memories for WDAY AM & WDAY-WDAZ-TV Alumni Web archive of all issues http://sites.google.com/site/wdayalumni Editor: Larry Gauper (701) 237-5079 ~ Email: [email protected] At KILO, Grand Forks

Remembering the JFK assassination by Bob Aronson Jacksonville, Florida

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was the News Director for KILO radio in Grand Forks on that tragic Friday November 22, 1963. The events of that day, although they took place 50 years ago are as fresh to me in as though they just happened. It is the kind of event that marks you. It leaves an indelible emotional brand on your soul and you never, ever forget it. What I will relate in the following paragraphs are my personal memories of the day and I am still struck with an incredible and profound sadness whenever I am reminded of those events. We will never know how the future of the United States changed when those shots were fired but there is little doubt that the change was significant and permanent. The mass media in 1963 was miniscule and turtle slow by today’s standards. There was no Internet, no cable television and only three Television networks, NBC, CBS and ABC. What little public Television there was had no capacity for news reporting. Radio was limited to AM stations, FM was almost non-existent and while there was a National Educational Radio Service it was not a news organization. National Public Radio didn’t take its place until 1970. On the day of the assassination there were only four major radio networks NBC, CBS, ABC and Mutual along with three wire services, Associated Press (AP), United Press International (UPI) and Reuters but Reuters was mostly European and not a force in the U.S. Newspapers were pretty much left in the dust on this story. Everything they reported was outdated and all they could really do was add details and perspective but the “Scoops” went to the broadcasters.

Bob, KILO portrait, circa 1963

In 2014 coverage of almost any event unless it is in the middle of a South America rainforest is almost instantaneous but that was not even remotely true in 1963. From the time of the first shots rang out at 12:30 central time, until the President’s death was announced an hour later, there was little if any news for several reasons. First, there was no information coming from the White House, the Secret Service or Parkland hospital primarily because the White House didn’t have much information and decided to say nothing until they did and had greater control of its release. Even if the White House had been more forthcoming we still might not have known much because of the lack of technology that allows for the kind of on-the-spot reporting we get in the 21st century. In 1963 there were only a few satellites orbiting the earth and they were not capable of relaying information because they were not in geosynchronous orbits. That didn’t happen until late in 1964. Without satellite communication, microwave relays, the internet and cell phones reporters were almost paralyzed and left with telephone lines as their only

Reprise Issue #19 FEBRUARY, 2014 real and dependable option for reporting the news. Some reporters had two-way portable radios but their range was very limited. The only way the TV and radio networks could broadcast was either by finding pay or private phones or by getting the phone company to send out trucks to drop phone lines wherever the media wanted them. All of that took time. The period from 12:30 PM until 1:30 PM when the death announcement came was the longest hour of my life because we had to “fill” airtime with nothing but boring wire copy from the day and night before. Combine the slowness of the newsgathering process with the fact that people who might know something weren’t talking and you have one hour of the worst suspense the nation has ever experienced. Me, 1963 KILO AM Radio (no longer exists) was a CBS affiliate and the console in front of me had a news bulletin system CBS called “NetAlert.” It was a series of 9 little lights on the top left of the board. If 3 of them lit up, it meant the network had a pretty good story and we could take the feed if we wanted to. By placing the headphones on Aux we could listen to the network talk up to the feed in which they would tell us what the story was. If six of the lights were on it meant there was a major story and we should probably take the feed, but again, by switching the headphones to Aux we could listen and decide. If all 9 bulbs started to glow red it meant there was a national emergency and newsroom policy was drop everything and join the network. In the middle of a story about the Grand Forks City council I saw all 9 bulbs light up and start flashing. I followed policy and pushed the network button (following is my paraphrasing from memory): contiued on page two

commercial broadcasting stop all commercial activity for nearly four days? I doubt it.

This is Dallas Townsend CBS News New York. We have just received word of an assassination attempt on President Kennedy in Dallas Texas. Reports indicate several shots were heard and the motorcade sped off to Parkland Memorial hospital. We are garnering our forces and will have more details as they are made available to us. Again — CBS News has learned that President Kennedy may have been the target of an assassination attempt. Stay tuned to this CBS station for further details. With that announcement we sat for just a moment in stunned silence. I was the news director with a staff of one other reporter and a station gofer. From the news booth I hollered for Lynn, one of the secretaries and instructed her to go into the news room, monitor the wire service and bring me anything that remotely resembled news of what was happening in Dallas. I told Duane the go-fer to find Bob Paletz our other news guy and tell him we need him. I knew that we would have to “fill” until the network got their act together. The station manager, who had no news sense or common sense, came into the news booth and told me to play some March music and continue with commercial broadcasting. I suggested that this was not the time for March music and that if he ran commercials he likely would be the only one in the country that did. I told him I would not play March music nor would I run commercials and if that’s what he insisted on I would go home and he’d have to find someone else. Being as he had no one else, my argument prevailed and he sheepishly left the booth. I stayed on the air reading fill material like where the Kennedy’s stayed the night before, who they saw, what Mrs. Kennedy wore and what they ate. From time to time the network would return with some sketchy details then send it back to us for more fill. At one point United Press International, our wire service, reported a rumor that President Johnson had a heart attack and that Texas Governor John Connolly had been killed. Finally, though, CBS took over the airwaves for good and before long made this somber announcement, “John Fitzgerald

There is one anecdote I must relate that takes some of the “Sting” from the story. I shall never forget this either.

Bob, 2014 Facebook photo

Kennedy 35th President of the United States is dead.” CBS also reported that Vice President Lyndon Johnson was OK and had been sworn in on Air Force One with Mrs. Kennedy in attendance still wearing the same blood stained clothing she had on when her husband was shot. I will never be able to describe the sense of gloom, anger and sadness that we felt at that moment. The entire radio station staff had gathered around the news booth, several fell to their knees in prayer, others just sobbed and all were in shock but we had jobs to do and quickly rallied to begin to put together a local angle report. We called and got statements from civic leaders, elected officials, educators, business people and the “man on the street.” Bob Paletz and I wrote, produced and co-anchored a 20 minute report on the events of the day from a local and state angle and had it on the air that evening. It was broadcast several times during the weekend as well (I still have the tape…Lord did I sound like a rookie but I was only 24 years old). Normally I had weekends off, not this one. Everyone worked around the clock. There was little for us to do because the CBS radio network was doing a brilliant job of covering events worldwide but we still had brief local breaks to fill and did our best to come up with new angles and responses to the terrible news. As far as I know not a single radio or TV station ran commercials and none of them played March music either. It wasn’t until the following Tuesday that normal broadcasting resumed. I am left to wonder if the same thing happened today, God forbid, would

While I was filling with wire copy during the early network lapses, I was getting reports right off the UPI machine. It was all cold copy so proofing or re-writing was out of the question. At one point I was on the air when Lynn handed me some copy that was supposed to say, “Also shot in the motorcade today was Governor John Connolly of Texas. The bullet went through his shoulder and wrist and imbedded in his thigh.” That’s what it was supposed to say—but as fate would have it there was a typo and here’s what I read. “Also shot in the motorcade today was Governor John Connolly of Texas. The bullet went through his shoulder and wrist and imbedded in his thing.” That’s right….THING! It’s a good thing it was time to go back to the net because I started to laugh immediately after I said it and pushed the network button. Had it not been time for a CBS report, I would have laughed on the air at the worst possible time to do so. On August 21, 2007, Bob Aronson received a new heart at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. Bob says: “All these years later I am very active, happy and loving life. God bless my donor and his family. His generosity toward a complete stranger will never be forgotten.” Read more about what Bob is doing to encourage organ donation on the web at bobsnewheart.wordpress.com For you “younger ones” in our group, Bob was the original host of WDAY Radio’s first call-in talk show, Viewpoint, circa 1970s. Read more about what Bob is doing to encourage organ donation on his website. For you “younger ones” in our group, Bob was the original host of WDAY Radio’s first call-in talk show, Viewpoint, circa 1970s. continued on page three

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Thanks to Rob Kupec, Chief Meteorologist at KVRR-TV/Fox News and a WDAY Alumnus for suggesting we ask some of our alumni for newsroom memories of November 22, 1993. That day was recalled by some at our January luncheon and I appreciated receiving Bob’s piece for this edition of Mike Notes Reprise.

Jim Shaw battling medical challenge As many of you know, Jim Shaw, News Director at KVRR-TV (Fox) in Fargo, and WDAY News alumnus, is waging a fight with ulcerative colitis. This has been going on for several months and has prevented him from working a normal schedule. He is currently on family leave from his position at KVRR. I talked to Jim on January 28, and he said it’s the infections that are preventing effective treatment of the colitis. Drugs alone didn’t seem to do

the trick, so he recently underwent a procedure at Sanford termed a fecal transplant. The idea is to rid the colon of infections but introducing different bacteria; that’s this writer’s interpretation. You’ll find a more accurate description of this transplant procedure on the web. Jim says a continual problem is simply being tired. He said he feels lethargic and it’s hard to be up and around for more than a few hours. We’re all hoping and praying the recent treatment and drugs will help turn the corner on in this battle. We miss you at the luncheons, Jim, and look forward to the day you return. Our best to you and Jackie! –LG 1-30-2014

Roy “Pete” Pedersen celebrates 97 years! They held an afternoon birthday party for Pete on Friday, January 24, 2014, at the Arbor Park Living Center (520 28th Street North, Moorhead, MN 56560). I was happy to be in attendance and snapped the photo on the right. Daughter Karen, who resides in South Carolina, ordered cake from Quality Bakery and the beautifully executed gridiron theme honored Roy’s favorite subject: the NCAA FCS Division I National Football Champion Bison! Pete is a WDAY pioneer, going back to the 1940s. He served as a Fargo city commissioner for a number of years and is a ravid and long-time booster of Bison athletics. He founded the “Bison Hall of Fame” and was inducted as a member. He also organized the Bison football TeamMakers group providing the kind of financial support to Bison athletics that has made a real difference over the years. I shot a 10-minute interview with Roy in 2011 and you can view it on my blog at www.Wordchipper.com (click on the “my videos” tab). It’s also linked from the WDAY Alumni archive on the web. You might be able to reach Roy through the Arbor Park phone number (he’s in the second or “middle” building of three): 218-359-9900

Pete at 97 — January 24, 2014

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