JFK Assassination: First Radio Network Bulletin

This was the first bulletin on the shooting of U.S. President John F. Kennedy aired by a nationwide broadcast network in the United States. It's presented here, unedited, just as it aired originally.

This report was broadcast out of the New York headquarters of the ABC Radio Network on Friday, November 22, 1963 at 1:36:50 PM EST, approximately 6 1/2 minutes following the Kennedy shooting in Dallas, Texas.

This ABC Radio News flash was not only the first nationwide radio network bulletin concerning the JFK assassination but was aired before any of the television network bulletins on the assassination were broadcast that day. In this first ABC Radio bulletin, anchorman Don Gardiner is reading the very first wire bulletin on the shooting, which had been dictated by phone to United Press International from UPI correspondent Merriman Smith while Smith was in a press follow-up car in the Kennedy motorcade.

The ABC Radio Network was providing its affiliated stations a program of popular music and had just begun feeding Doris Day's song, "Hooray For Hollywood", when the radio network's news division interrupted with this first bulletin.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• ABC
• News
• radio
• networks
• bulletins
• flash
• reports
• Don
• Gardiner
• Doris
• Day
• Hooray
• For
• Hollywood
• TV
• air
• check
• tape
• recording

[nholt]

What song is being played at the begining?

[JFKABCRadio]

@nholt As mentioned in the description for this video, the ABC Radio Network was providing its affiliated stations a program of popular music and had just begun feeding Doris Day's song, "Hooray For Hollywood", when the radio network's news division interrupted with this first bulletin.

[alysymon]

wow...even on the radio they said it was THREE shots...and not a magic bullet....

[JFKABCRadio]

Nothing amazing about that. Radio and TV news bulletins reported "three shots fired" because that's what reporters on the scene thought they heard.

As for the magic bullet or single-bullet theory... no one was talking about that on November 22, 1963. This was an issue that didn't arise until the 1964 Warren Commission report and the controversies the report caused.

[MsKeith1969]

may god rest jfk AND rfk's souls!!

[bapyou]

C.

I.

A.

[mellie9227]

47 years today

[bkj333]

@kennethchrane Hello, I believe I can be of assistance to you on this. It's my understanding that the entire collection of ABC Radio Network broadcasts from November 22-25, 1963 is located at the National Archives II building at College Park, Maryland.

[kennethchrane]

Please let me know where I may receive the entire ABC Radio Coverage of the JFK Assassination from November 22, through 25, 1963.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Kenneth Chrane

P.S. HiFi only.

[moboutmen]

chilling

[mhrvy1976]

shocking