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WFAA-TV tape: "Pres. Kennedy Master PK-1"
WFAA-TV tape: "Pres. Kennedy Master PK-1"

WFAA-TV tape: "Pres. Kennedy Master PK-1"

Object number1998.010.0001
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)
Duration: 36 Minutes
Collections
  • Fort Worth
  • Broadcast News
Description2" video reel with original black and white coverage shown on Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA-TV. The reel contains news footage of President Kennedy's Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce breakfast speech at the Hotel Texas from pool coverage captured by local independent station KTVT-TV. The footage begins with crowds awaiting the arrival of President Kennedy. President and Mrs. Kennedy are greeted by applause, and the President gives remarks to attendees. Following his speech, Fort Worth civic leader Raymond Buck presents a cowboy hat and boots to the President, and Dr. Granville Walker leads a prayer before the Kennedys leave the Hotel Texas for Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth. The Kennedys greet the crowd as they make their way to the motorcade outside of the hotel. Footage videotaped in Fort Worth at the Hotel Texas on November 22, 1963. The tape is approximately thirty-six minutes long.
Curatorial Commentary

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. This pool coverage of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce breakfast was shot by Fort Worth independent station KTVT-TV. Their footage would have been instantly shared with other local TV stations, which is how this copy of the broadcast became part of the Museum's WFAA-TV Collection. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

The Museum has recorded a number of oral histories with individuals who saw the Kennedys during their visit to Fort Worth on November 21-22, 1963, including several who attended the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce breakfast. A portion of the Museum's Fort Worth-related oral histories may be accessed via the Museum's online collections database here: Results – Advanced Search Objects – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.

The Museum's collections also include a wide range of materials associated with the Hotel Texas in downtown Fort Worth, including original photographs, signage, press credentials and even a cocktail napkin and hotel glassware. Browse a selection of Hotel Texas-related artifacts in the Museum's online collections database here: Results – Advanced Search Objects – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. - Stephen Fagin, Curator