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WFAA-TV tape: "Pres. Kennedy Master PK-10"
WFAA-TV tape: "Pres. Kennedy Master PK-10"

WFAA-TV tape: "Pres. Kennedy Master PK-10"

Object number1998.010.0010
Date11/24/1963
ClassificationsVideos
Producer
Creator
ObjectVideo, 2"
Credit LineWFAA-TV Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumMagnetic tape; Video, Quadruplex, 2"
Dimensions13 1/4 × 13 1/4 × 2 1/2 in. (33.7 × 33.7 × 6.4 cm)
Duration: 58.5 Minutes
Collections
  • Lee Harvey Oswald
  • All Online Objects
  • Jack Ruby
  • Broadcast News
Description2" video reel with original black and white coverage by Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA-TV. The reel includes news footage from Dealey Plaza, WFAA-TV studios and Dallas police headquarters on November 24, 1963. Coverage begins with an exterior shot of the Texas School Book Depository Building with WFAA-TV reporter Roger Sharp noting accused assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, will shortly pass by the site of the assassination when he is transferred to the Dallas County Jail. Footage transitions to the WFAA-TV studio where broadcaster Bob Walker speaks on the phone with reporter Bill Lord from Dallas police headquarters, where they are waiting for Oswald’s scheduled transfer. Coverage switches to Roger Sharp again, where he reports on the large crowds gathered to watch Oswald's arrival at the county jail. The feed is interrupted by Bob Walker to report that there has been a shooting at Dallas police headquarters during Oswald’s transfer. Bill Lord calls in to report that as Oswald was heading toward an armored vehicle, there was a loud bang, believed to be a shot. Bob Walker reports that Vic Robertson at the site of the shooting said that Jack Ruby, owner of a local night club, was the shooter. Walker recounts information on the shooting known at that time, reporting that Oswald has been taken in an ambulance to Parkland Memorial Hospital. A report comes in that Lieutenant George Butler positively identified Oswald’s shooter as Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby. Cameraman Jim Davidson, who just returned from Dallas police headquarters, discusses with Bob Walker what he witnessed during the transfer. The reel then plays tape from a later time, where Bob Walker reports that Oswald is dead. Feed transitions to Roger Sharp at Parkland Hospital where he announces that Oswald died at the hospital during surgery from cardiac arrest. For a moment, footage transitions to inside the Capitol Rotunda where President Kennedy lay in state. Coverage switches back to Parkland Hospital with reporter Paul Good sharing a profile on Jack Ruby, paired with an older mugshot on the screen, and Roger Sharp shares details of Oswald’s death. Back in the WFAA-TV studio, a 16mm film is shown of Oswald emerging from an elevator to a waiting vehicle, followed then commotion in the basement when the shooting occurred (seen from behind Oswald). The film includes a segment of audio with yelling and scuffling. The film then shows inside police headquarters where Jack Ruby is taken up an elevator, and a man leans into the camera to identify Oswald as the one who was shot. The film transitions to footage from outside Parkland Hospital where the mortally wounded Oswald arrives in an ambulance. A new film is shown outside Ruby’s Carousel Club. Coverage transitions to Paul Good interviewing a police officer who witnessed the shooting. Three news photographs of Oswald’s transfer are shown on the screen including moments before the shooting and Oswald on a stretcher. Bob Walker reports that Ruby has been arrested. Footage transitions to an official medical statement given by Dr. Tom Shires, chief of surgery, from inside Parkland Hospital. He details the attempt to save Oswald’s life and takes questions from reporters. Footage switches to Bill Lord interviewing people on the streets of Dallas outside of the police headquarters who were present during the commotion. Coverage switches back to the WFAA-TV studio where Paul Good provides details from an interview he had with Jack Ruby’s sister, Eva Grant, and other Ruby acquaintances that paint a contradictory profile of Ruby. Bob Walker passes coverage off to ABC in New York, ending the footage from this reel. Footage was recorded in Dallas, Texas on November 24, 1963. The tape is approximately fifty-nine minutes long.
Curatorial Commentary
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 footage of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald, shown on this tape at 37:05, can be watched at a superior angle and in slow-motion in WFAA-TV tape PK-16 (1998.010.0016) at 00:15, via the Museum's online collections database: WFAA-TV tape: "Pres. Kennedy Master PK-16" – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.

The photograph shown on this tape of the moment right before Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald (seen at 42:19) was taken by Dallas Morning News photographer Jack Beers (1994.003.0120). A print of the photograph may be viewed here: Photo of Lee Harvey Oswald moments before he was shot by Jack Ruby – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. - Riley Harris, Collections Cataloger

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

A photograph of the floral arrangement left as tribute to President Kennedy, seen on this tape at 4:49, may be found on the Museum's online collections database here: Image of memorial flower arrangements in Dealey Plaza on November 27, 1963 – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. Additional photographs of the many floral tributes left in Dealey Plaza during the assassination weekend can be viewed here: Results – Advanced Search Objects – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. - Riley Harris, Collections Cataloger

Multiple individuals seen and/or heard on WFAA-TV tape PK-10 recorded oral histories with The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza over the years. Among them are:

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

The noticeable tracking artifacts (jagged horizontal bands across the screen) seen on WFAA-TV PK-10 starting at 43:55 are original to the 2" videotape. This may be due to the degrading of magnetic particles on the tape or physical stretching, crinkling or warping of the edges. Fortunately, the audio track remains clear throughout this visual interference. - 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