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WFAA-TV tape: "Pres. Kennedy Master PK-4"
WFAA-TV tape: "Pres. Kennedy Master PK-4"

WFAA-TV tape: "Pres. Kennedy Master PK-4"

Object number1998.010.0004
Date11/22/1963
ClassificationsVideos
Producer
Creator
ObjectVideo, 2"
Credit LineWFAA-TV Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumMagnetic tape; Video, Quadruplex, 2"
DimensionsOverall: 13 1/4 x 13 1/4 x 2 1/2 in. (33.7 x 33.7 x 6.4 cm)
Collections
  • Broadcast News
Description2" video reel with original black and white coverage by Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA-TV. The reel contains news footage and coverage following the Kennedy assassination on November 22, 1963. WFAA-TV program director Jay Watson advises viewers not to call the news station or Parkland Hospital to prevent telephone lines from becoming busy. News coverage transitions to the WFAA-TV and Radio newsroom. Watson interviews WFAA-TV assistant news director and chief photographer Bert Shipp, who recently returned from the Dallas Trade Mart and Parkland Memorial Hospital. He reports up-to-date news and then leaves to develop 16mm news film. Jay Watson then interviews eyewitness Bill Newman, who was in Dealey Plaza with his family at the time of the assassination. Mr. Newman described seeing the President shot in the head as the motorcade passed right in front of his family. The coverage transitions back to the WFAA-TV studio where TV personality Jerry Haynes and Jay Watson continue reviewing current news reports. Watson interviews Gayle Newman, wife of Bill, who shares her eyewitness account of the assassination. Following her interview, Watson and Haynes describe their own account from Dealey Plaza, describing the plaza geographically. A pre-recorded tape is shown of the Kennedys' arrival at Dallas Love Field. Feed cuts to live footage from the Dallas Trade Mart where CBS affiliate KRLD-TV news director Eddie Barker discusses the union that was arranged between Washington and Texas political leaders for the luncheon that will no longer occur. He reports on speculation that the President and a Secret Service agent were killed and that Governor Connally was wounded. Scenes of the Trade Mart show crowds gathered while servers clear tables. The feed cuts back to Jay Watson in the studio where he displays a drawing of Dealey Plaza to show the audience where the shooting occurred. Coverage transitions to the ABC Network in New York, with broadcaster Ron Cochran reporting on updates from Parkland Hospital. He initially states that the President is "okay." ABC newsman Ed Silverman reports that there were four shots, blood at the scene of the crime and a Secret Service agent had been hit. Cochran shares news that two priests at Parkland Hospital stated that the President was dead and that the Last Rites of the Catholic Church were given around 1:00PM Central. Cochran emphasizes that this is not an official announcement from the White House. Silverman reports that ABC reporter Bill Lord at Parkland Hospital confirmed the death of a Secret Service agent and, according to the Dallas County Sherriff’s Department, a dozen eyewitnesses have been brought in for statements while one suspect had been picked up for questioning. Silverman notes that there are many unconfirmed rumors. Viewers are informed that Senator Edward Kennedy, Attorney General Robert Kennedy and U.S. Speaker of the House John McCormack have been notified of the assassination. A breaking new report from UPI states that the President passed away at 1:35PM Central, followed by an official report from government sources that confirms the President’s death. The coverage cuts back to Jay Watson and Bert Shipp in the Dallas WFAA-TV studio who plan to shortly show newly processed 16mm film of the Dallas motorcade. Footage was recorded at the WFAA-TV studio in Dallas and ABC News studio in New York City on November 22, 1963. The tape is approximately thirty minutes long.
Curatorial Commentary
Earl James "Jay" Watson, Jr. (1925-2001) went to work at WFAA-TV in the early 1950s and swiftly rose to program director in 1953. Although largely a behind-the-scenes supervisor, he became the Dallas face of ABC television coverage of the Kennedy assassination on November 22, 1963. His initial break-in and first televised interviews with assassination eyewitnesses Bill and Gayle Newman and Abraham Zapruder remain some of the most famous local television coverage from the entire assassination weekend. Watson left WFAA-TV in 1966 and eventually retired to Arizona. He passed away at the age of 75 on April 19, 2001. - Stephen Fagin, Curator  

At the 28:30 mark on this WFAA-TV videotape, a photograph is shown nationwide on ABC News that was taken by Dallas Times Herald photographer Darryl Heikes at the corner of Harwood and Main Streets, approximately ten minutes prior to the assassination. Heikes, although a Times Herald staff photographer, was employed by United Press International, and his photographs were widely distributed via UPI news wire. The original photograph shown during this broadcast may be found in the Museum's online collections database: Image of presidential limousine turning onto Main Street in downtown Dallas – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. An oral history with photographer Darryl Heikes may be found here: Darryl Heikes Oral History – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.

The Heikes photo is notable as one of the earliest motorcade photographs to be featured on multiple networks. In addition to this appearance on ABC, the photo was shown nationwide on CBS a mere four minutes before Walter Cronkite's famous announcement that President Kennedy had died at 1:00PM Central Standard Time. The only other photograph of the Kennedy motorcade shown on CBS prior to this was an image taken by UPI photographer John Spann on Harwood Street. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

At the time of the Kennedy assassination in 1963, the WFAA Communications Center Studios was located at the corner of Young and Record Streets in downtown Dallas, approximately two blocks north of Dealey Plaza. As a result of their proximity, WFAA-TV/Channel 8 was the first local television station to break into programming with news of the shooting on November 22, 1963. Program director Jay Watson, himself an eyewitness to the assassination, interrupted the Julie Bennell Show, a local lifestyle and fashion program, approximately fifteen minutes after shots were fired in Dealey Plaza. In another first, Watson was the first to interview assassination eyewitnesses on the air after collecting the stunned Newman family in the plaza and rushing them to WFAA studios. The coverage that followed represents one of the most substantial archives of Kennedy assassination broadcast news footage in existence.  

Amazingly, this historic news footage was nearly lost forever in the early 1980s. During that era, it was common for television stations to dispose of or recycle outdated broadcast tapes in order to save space and reduce costs. Prior to the age of widespread digital archiving, expensive videotapes were frequently erased and reused. Nearly twenty years after the assassination, a young WFAA-TV employee named John Sparks noticed all of the station's Kennedy tapes were boxed up and marked for disposal. Sparks, who had been part of the high school band that performed for President and Mrs. Kennedy in Fort Worth that fateful date, instantly recognized the historic significance of the material, and he singlehandedly rescued the tapes from destruction. The full WFAA-TV archive of Kennedy assassination news coverage was later donated to The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in 1998. Hear the inside story about how John Sparks saved this historic broadcast news footage in this 2025 Living History conversation: Living History from Fort Worth, November 22, 1963. - Stephen Fagin, Curator   

In 1963, a major news event like a presidential visit generated a significant amount of local coverage by newspaper, radio and television outlets. Large locally-broadcast events during President Kennedy's trip to Texas, such as the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce breakfast and the arrival of the Kennedys at Dallas Love Field, were often managed by cooperative pool coverage among local TV stations. In those instances, one outlet--such as ABC affiliate WFAA-TV at Love Field and CBS affiliate KRLD-TV at the Dallas Trade Mart luncheon--set up cameras to capture a pool feed that would be distributed to other local television stations for broadcast. This allowed for immediate coverage of an evolving news story in a practical and efficient manner, considering the transportation and setup logistics for bulky equipment and mobile news cruisers. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

The coverage of the Kennedys' arrival at Dallas Love Field (seen in part on this videotape from 13:29-18:21) may be watched in full via the Museum's online collections database here: WFAA-TV tape: "Pres. Kennedy Master PK-2 / Arrival at Love Field" – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. The original coverage is found on tape PK-2 (1998.010.0002) in the Museum's WFAA-TV Collection.

More tapes from the Museum's WFAA-TV Collection can be viewed on the Museum's online collection database here: Results – Advanced Search Objects – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza - Riley Harris, Collections Cataloger

WFAA-TV program director Jay Watson is joined in this early coverage from November 22, 1963, by his colleague, and fellow assassination eyewitness, Jerry Haynes (1927-2011). Haynes, then a recognized WFAA-TV personality, was a beloved local performer who hosted one of the longest-running children's television shows, Mr. Peppermint, from 1961-1969 and again from 1975-1996. He was also a prolific local actor who appeared in a number of feature films, including RoboCop (1987). A 2004 oral history with Jerry Haynes may be found here in the Museum's online collections database: Jerry Haynes Oral History – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. - Stephen Fagin, Curator  

Standing on the north side of Elm Street, Bill and Gayle Newman, along with their two young sons, Billy and James Clayton, were the closest civilian eyewitnesses to President Kennedy at the moment of the fatal shot. They were also the first eyewitnesses to be interviewed live on television, appearing here with WFAA-TV program director Jay Watson within approximately fifteen minutes of the assassination. In this first significant interview, Bill Newman recalled hearing two shots fired and indicated that the shots sounded like they came from the "mall" behind him. In subsequent interviews, Newman has said that three shots were fired, though he has always maintained that he felt like the fatal shot came from "behind." 

Bill and Gayle Newman recorded their first oral history with The Sixth Floor Museum in 1993 (Bill and Gayle Newman Oral History – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza) and returned for a follow-up interview ten years later in 2003, which was later featured on C-SPAN (Kennedy Assassination: Bill and Gayle Newman, Part 1 | Video | C-SPAN.org). Following those interviews, Bill and Gayle Newman have generously participated in a number of public and educational programs at The Sixth Floor Museum over the years. Most notably, at the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination in 2013, the entire Newman family, including grown children Bill III and James Clayton, participated in a special Living History program, which may be seen here: Living History with The Newmans. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

A number of the individuals featured on WFAA-TV tape PK-4 have recorded oral histories with The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza over the years. Among them are:

--Riley Harris, Collections Cataloger, and Stephen Fagin, Curator

In addition to several interviews with the Newmans, the Museum's Oral History Collection includes interviews with a number of assassination eyewitnesses in Dealey Plaza. Subjects include James Tague (1999.003.0003), a bystander struck on the cheek by a bullet fragment; Mary Sue Bennet (2010.001.0083), an employee at the Texas School Book Depository; John Templin (1995.043.0018), an eyewitness who can be seen in the Zapruder film; and Dr. Toni Glover (2012.001.0024), an eleven-year-old standing on a pedestal at the corner of Houston and Elm Streets. More interviews can be found on the Museum's online Collections database here: Results – Advanced Search Objects – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. - Riley Harris, Collections Cataloger