DETROIT 1963 RADIO COVERAGE: THE KENNEDY TAPES


WWJ FM * Friday, November 22, 1963 * BOB PRATT COLLECTION (A)

The Presidential limousine under fire. 12:30 p.m., CST. November 22 (Photo: Mary Moorman; AP)

 

THE KENNEDY TAPES (Bob Pratt Collection) FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1963

NBC Radio Network  (2:00 P.M. EST – 3:45 P.M. EST) [A]

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Approximately 20 minutes after NBC broke programming with a bulletin (AP; 12:40 p.m., CST) President Kennedy had been shot, the NBC Radio Network in New York took control of the news coming out of Dallas on all the NBC affiliates nationwide, including WWJ, WWJ FM in Detroit, at the top of the hour — 2:00 P.M., EST, Friday, November 22, 1963.

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Peter Hackuss (NBC Radio Network, New York); Edwin Newman (NBC Radio Network, New York)

Robert MacNeill (Dallas); Bill Ryan (NBC TV [feed] New York); Charles Murphy (ABC-TV [feed] Dallas); David Brinkley (NBC TV [feed] Washington); Alan Bickley (WFAA Dallas); Joseph Michaels (New York); Jean Hill [eyewitness] WFAA Dallas); Frank McGee (NBC TV [feed] New York); Robert Gorawlski (Washington); Chet Huntley (NBC TV [feed] New York); John Holfin (NBC cameraman [eyewitness] Dallas); Morgan Beatty (NBC Radio Network, New York); John Lavencheck (Miami); Robert McCormick (Washington); Pierce Allman (WFAA Dallas); Irving R. Levine (Rome); Kenneth Bernstein (London)

The Association Press wires breaks with a bulletin. President Kennedy has been shot. 12:40 p.m., CST; November 22 (The Jim Feliciano Collection)

WWJ FM * Friday, November 22, 1963 * THE BOB PRATT COLLECTION (B)

 

THE KENNEDY TAPES (Bob Pratt Collection) FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1963

NBC Radio Network  (6:20 P.M. – 8:55 P.M.) [B]

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 In this segment you will hear NBC radio reports by the following correspondents:

Joseph Michaels (New York); Bernard Brussell (Paris); Ray Sherer (Washington); Joseph Hersh (London); Berry Simmons (San Diego); Pierce Allman (Dallas); Ian Stewart (Hong Kong); Peter Hackett (Washington); Robert Abernathy (Washington); Nancy Dickerson (Washington); Tom Petitt (Dallas) David Abernathy (Bonn); Richard Volariani (Washington); Robert Goralski (Washington); Joseph Michaels (JFK in New York; 11-15-1963)

Also — you will hear a special WWJ radio news report by:

John Hultman | WWJ WWJ FM (NBC; Detroit)


Detroit Free Press Saturday, November 23, 1963. (Click on this image 2x on your PC monitor for largest detailed view)

WWJ FM * Friday, November 22, 1963 * THE BOB PRATT COLLECTION (C)

 

THE KENNEDY TAPES (Bob Pratt Collection) FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1963

NBC Radio Network (8:56 P.M. – 11:36 P.M.) [C]

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 In this segment you will hear NBC radio reports by the following correspondents:

Bob Whitten (Sacramento); Robert Goralski (Washington); Tom Perryman (Dallas); John Rich (Tokyo); Herbert Kaplow (Washington); Joseph Michaels (Interviews Carlos Bringuier, New Orleans — New York); Richard Valariani (Washington); John Chancellor (Berlin); Tom Petitt (Dallas); Robert Abernathy (Washington)

Also — you will hear a special WWJ radio news report by:

Don Perrie | WWJ WWJ FM (NBC; Detroit)

November 22 (Photo: Jack Rosen)  The Jim Feliciano Collection

 

ABOUT THESE NOVEMBER 1963 RECORDINGS

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A special THANK YOU to Bob Pratt, of Farmington Hills, MI., for contributing these historic recordings with Motor City Radio Flashbacks.

In November 1963, Bob Pratt recorded over 15 hours on reeled tapes covering the tragic four days, 55 years ago.

Some 5 hours after the NBC Radio Network broke with stunning word President Kennedy had been shot (12:40 p.m., CST; 1:00 p.m., CST;) Bob Pratt proceeded recording more of the NBC radio news — as they unfolded on WWJ-FM, Detroit. The evening recordings began at 6:20 p.m., running through 11:36 p.m. Friday night, November 22, 1963.

Bob Pratt shares his recollections of President Kennedy’s assassination. His personal memories is featured on this website, here.

These historic Detroit radio broadcasts was never available to anyoneanywhere — until now. Motor City Radio Flashbacks features these historic recordings in their entirety — exclusively here — for the very first time.

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TOMORROW: WJBK FM and WWJ AM November 23, 1963


Detroit Free Press. The headlines Detroiters woke up to on the morning of November 22, 1963. (Click on this image 2x on your PC monitor for largest detailed view)

ABOUT THESE IMAGES

Above newspaper images courtesy from the freep.com newspaper archive. Copyright 2018. Newspapers.com.

The above featured images was ‘clipped,’ saved, and imaged from the credited source by Motor City Radio Flashbacks

NOTES

For largest views — if viewing on your mobile device, tap over newspaper images. Open to second window. “Stretch” images across your device screen to magnify detailed view.

All images posted in this featured presentation was created by Jim Feliciano. The ‘televised’ image was used, having been obtained from the personal collection of the author.

AP Bulletin image: Scanned from an actual 11-22-1963 AP scroll. (from the author’s personal collection)

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Photo featured: Associated Press (Mary Moorman)

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Photo featured: Jack Rosen

About this photo: Photographer Jack Rosen captured this image, on November 22, 1963, inside a Sears & Roebuck department store, in Levittown, PA.

(Note the television monitors. Broadcasting the news coming out of Dallas that day. CBS, ABC, NBC, respectively).

The author purchased this very image, 10 years ago, from the Jack Rosen website. This same image is available and can be purchased HERE

 

November 1963

 

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NOVEMBER ’63. FOUR DAYS. . . BOB PRATT REMEMBERS

My Memories of President Kennedy’s Assassination

THE KENNEDY TAPES

Recorded by Bob Pratt. November 1963

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November 22, 1963 started out like any other Friday in Detroit.  I was a junior studying electrical engineering at Wayne State University and I awaited the arrival of my friend, Dany, that morning.  It was his day to drive and we were soon on our way.

Bob Pratt

Our classes were mostly in the morning and we were ready to leave for our return trip home by early afternoon.  But before we could leave, Dany had to make a stop at the engineering office to pick up some important papers from one of the professors.  He parked in front of the engineering office and headed in.  I waited in the car.

In those days, I was one of the on-air personalities with a DJ show once a week and occasionally a news broadcast on the campus “current carrier” AM station, WUBG.  There had been talk among the station management about beginning some dramatic radio plays at some point, and although I wasn’t involved in that endeavor, I was curious about what was on the air while I waited.  I tuned in to 620 AM and discovered a play in progress about the assassination of the president.  Ah, the Abraham Lincoln story, I figured.  It was being presented in a very dramatic and realistic style and I was hooked for a while.

But I began to sense that something was not quite right about the details and I decided to tune in something else.  I switched over to WJR to catch some music and quickly realized that this was not about our 16th president, but was a live news report about our 35th president, John F. Kennedy.  I was stunned to learn he had been critically shot and might not survive.  It was the biggest shock I had ever received in my young life.

Dany returned a few minutes later and we headed toward my home in silence, except for the somber reports from the radio.  I turned on the TV when I arrived home and my mother and I remained glued to the set until my dad arrived home from work.

I had a quarter track stereo tape deck back then, a Viking model 88 that allowed two stereo tracks or up to four mono tracks to be recorded on the two sides of a tape.  My dad suggested that I get upstairs and start recording from the radio as quickly as possible.  I grabbed an empty tape, loaded it up and tuned into WWJ-FM.  They were broadcasting a network news feed from NBC radio at that time.

We had a quick dinner and my dad had another stroke of genius. “Keep recording as long as you can and I’ll go out and buy several 2400 Ft reels of tape.  We should be able to go for several days.” he said.  And so we did.

An actual image a member of the Pratt Family took from the TV screen. November 1963. (Courtesy of Bob Pratt)

Over the next few days we recorded as much as we could, day and night, from WWJ-FM, WJR-FM and WJBK-FM.  There were reports from around the world, across the nation and around our town of the capture of the assassin, the death of the president, the funeral, and comments from world leaders, local dignitaries and neighbors down the street.

We followed the capture of Lee Harvey Oswald by the police and his assassination by Jack Ruby.  We cried at the TV scenes of the first lady and the president’s children who stood stunned by the events and his loss.  Although the pomp and circumstance were over in a few days, the memories of those times will never leave me.

After the events were finally over, I packed the tapes away for safe keeping.  There were about 16 hours of sound all together.  I never listened to them until a few months ago when my friend, Jim Feliciano, mentioned that he was very interested in the Kennedy assassination and wondered if I had any recordings from 1963. 

I pulled out the box and examined the tapes. They looked to be in good shape.  I spot checked a couple and found that indeed the recordings were well preserved.  I offered to make copies for him.

I planned to let each track run for the full hour into my computer and convert each to an mp3 file for storage.  But they were so captivating that I listened to almost every one during the recording process.  It was a truly somber experience, and with all the international comments, it made me realize how loved and respected the United States and our people were in those days. 

The tapes also showed how we as a nation stuck together almost as one big family.  I long for those simpler days and wonder if we will ever be able to restore the cohesiveness and compassion we had back then.

As President John Kennedy famously said a long time ago, his Boston-accented voice still resonates with me today — I can hear it now —  “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Robert G. Pratt

             9/30/2018

Downtown Detroit November 22, 1963 (Griswold Avenue and State)

SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT

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A special ‘THANK YOU’ to Bob Pratt, Farmington Hills, Michigan,  for sharing his personal thoughts, memories from November 1963 with us today.

Beginning today, and for the next three days, Motor City Radio Flashbacks will feature Bob Pratt’s historic recordings, covering those four tragic days, November 1963.

A TIME REMEMBERED

Bob Pratt (age 12), December 25, 1955 (Photo: Bob Pratt)

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