Skip to main content
Advanced Search
WFAA-TV tape: "Pres. Kennedy Master PK-6"
WFAA-TV tape: "Pres. Kennedy Master PK-6"

WFAA-TV tape: "Pres. Kennedy Master PK-6"

Object number1998.010.0006
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
  • All Online Objects
  • Broadcast News
Description2" video reel with original black and white coverage by Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA-TV. The reel contains news footage and coverage from Dallas, New York City and Washington, D.C. following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Coverage begins with ABC broadcaster Edward P. Morgan in Washington, D.C. discussing the future Johnson administration and the current political situation. ABC News journalist Bob Young in New York reports that a rifle has been found in the Texas School Book Depository, believed to be a 7.56 Mauser German-made Army rifle; a photograph of the alleged weapon is shown. News coverage transitions to Dallas’ WFAA-TV studio where program director Jay Watson and chief photographer Bert Shipp play newly developed 16mm black and white film of the rifle found in the Depository being brushed for fingerprints. The film also includes scenes of the interior of the Depository, the sniper's perch and investigators. A picture of Lee Harvey Oswald, who is suspected of shooting Officer J.D. Tippit, is shown to the audience. Film shows the presidential motorcade on Main Street in downtown Dallas, Dealey Plaza moments after the assassination and the exterior of the Texas School Book Depository. Broadcaster Bob Walker joins Jay Watson in the studio to read a statement from the Dallas Citizens Council. Watson then reads a news bulletin that includes the account of eyewitness Charles Brehm. A photograph is shown of the hearse transporting the President’s remains from Parkland Hospital to Dallas Love Field. Jay Watson provides information about the scene inside the hospital. There is on-the-scene coverage outside Parkland Hospital from the WFAA-TV mobile unit with broadcaster Ed Hogan. Reports come in about Governor Connally’s condition in surgery. As a bystander in Dealey Plaza, Jay Watson recounts his perspective on the assassination. Footage transitions back to Ed Hogan outside of Parkland Hospital where he begins to interview individuals standing outside. Footage was recorded at the WFAA-TV studio in Dallas and ABC News in New York City and Washington, D.C. on November 22, 1963. The tape is approximately seventeen minutes long.
Curatorial Commentary

Towards the end of this videotape, beginning at 16:53, WFAA-TV broadcaster Ed Hogan is seen at Parkland Memorial Hospital. Hogan recorded an oral history with the Museum in 2002, which may be accessed here: Ed Hogan Oral History – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. In addition, at the very end of the tape (17:19), Hogan approaches a woman who identifies herself as Mrs. Quincy Adams. This bystander, later identified as Suzanne Adams, recorded an oral history with the Museum in 2009. It may be accessed here: Suzanne Adams Oral History – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. - Riley Harris, Collections Cataloger, and Stephen Fagin, Curator

More 2" videotapes from the Museum's WFAA-TV Collection (1998.010) may be viewed via the Museum's online collection database here: Results – Advanced Search Objects – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza - Riley Harris, Collections Cataloger

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  
The ABC News broadcaster seen at the beginning of this videotape is the late Edward Paddock Morgan (1910-1993), a longtime newspaper, radio and television journalist who worked at several networks including ABC, CBS and PBS. Notably, for ABC Radio, Morgan reported on the breaking news of the sinking of the SS Andrea Doria, after its collision with the MS Stockholm on July 25, 1956. Morgan maintained his composure during the broadcast and did not tell listeners that his teenage daughter was among the passengers aboard the Andrea Doria. Although initially believed to have been killed, his daughter, Linda Morgan, was discovered alive the following day. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

This videotape includes 16mm black and white film shot inside the Texas School Book Depository while crime scene investigators gathered evidence. At 04:27, Lt. J.C. "Carl" Day, head of the Dallas Police Crime Scene Search Unit, is seen dusting the rifle for fingerprints using a small brush. In 2006, the late Mr. Day donated crime scene equipment and supplies from his career, including this brush that was used on November 22, 1963: Fingerprint brush – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. Various black and white photographs of Carl Day on the sixth floor may be found in the Museum's online collections database, including this Dallas Times Herald image by William Allen: Image of Dallas Police Lieutenant J.C. "Carl" Day pointing to rifle location – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.

Prior to his passing in October 2008 at the age of 94, Day recorded multiple oral history interviews with The Sixth Floor Museum, including this recording in 1996: J. C. "Carl" Day Oral History – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. - 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

As heard on this videotape at 12:24, Charles Brehm's eyewitness account from Dealey Plaza was read from a news bulletin. The Museum’s Collection includes several photographs of Brehm in Dealey Plaza and at the Dallas County Sheriff's office that day. More information and photographs on Mr. Brehm can be found via the Museum's online collections database here: Search "Charles brehm" (Objects) – Search – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.

The Museum's Oral History Collection includes several interviews with assassination eyewitnesses from Dealey Plaza, including 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 on the corner of Houston and Elm Streets. More oral histories 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