/internal/media/dispatcher/74205/fullJohn Sparks Oral History10/06/2006Duration: 53 MinutesHi-8 videotapeOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza2006.001.00500Oral History with John Sparks
Sparks was a trumpet player in the band at Eastern Hills High School in Fort Worth in 1963. His band performed "Hail to the Chief" for President Kennedy at the Hotel Texas breakfast on the morning of the assassination. Later, as a producer at WFAA-TV/Channel 8, he saved the station's original Kennedy assassination footage from being destroyed in the early 1980s.Oral Histories6339126220Oral historyA veteran Dallas/Fort Worth broadcast producer and journalist for more than four decades, Sparks saved the original WFAA-TV/Channel 8 films and videotapes of Kennedy assassination news coverage from being destroyed in the early 1980s. On November 22, 1963, as a trumpet player in the Eastern Hills High School band, Sparks performed at the presidential breakfast at the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth.
Interview conducted at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on October 6, 2006 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is fifty-three minutes long.Fort WorthFort Worth breakfastTrip to TexasOral historiesSparks, JohnHotel TexasWFAA-TVDallasFort WorthNews Media (OHC)Fort Worth (OHC)Childhood Recollections (OHC)Authors, Filmmakers, and Researchers (OHC)A longtime friend of The Sixth Floor Museum, John Sparks recorded a second oral history on January 13, 2016. He has also taken part in several Living History educational programs for student groups, including this conversation in 2016: Living History with John Sparks - YouTube. In 2014, Sparks moderated a panel discussion with 1963 Dallas Times Herald photographers in 2015, which may be viewed here: Dallas Times Herald 1963 - YouTube. - Stephen Fagin, Curator