WFAA-TV tape: "Pres. Kennedy Master PK-9"

Two individuals seated at the head table, as seen on WFAA-TV tape PK-9, recorded oral histories with The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza:

• (14:06) - Fort Worth Congressman Jim Wright, later U.S. Speaker of the House (gentleman standing): Speaker Jim Wright Oral History – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.
• (14:40) - Wagoner Carr, Attorney General of Texas from 1963 to 1967, (gentleman sitting): Waggoner Carr Oral History – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.

- Riley Harris, Collections Cataloger

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 During that era, it was common for television stations to dispose of or recycle outdated broadcast tapes in order to save space and reduce costs.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   

More of KTVT's pool coverage from the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce Breakfast can be found on tape PK-1 (1998.010.0001) in the Museum's WFAA-TV Collection: WFAA-TV tape: "Pres. Kennedy Master PK-1" – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. The PK-1 coverage includes President Kennedy's speech from the breakfast.

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

The Museum's Collection includes photographs, artifacts, and oral history interviews relating to the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce Breakfast held November 22, 1963. These select items may be viewed on the Museum's online collections database here: Results – Advanced Search Objects – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.

Living Histories public programs recorded with breakfast attendees include John Sparks and William Cravens, (Living History from the Fort Worth Breakfast), both students in the Eastern Hills High School Band (the band can be heard at 00:20); and Lisa Lazo Herndon, (Living History from the Hotel Texas) a student who met First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy moments before she walked in to the breakfast.  - Riley Harris, Collections Cataloger