Re: Observations and Memories about November 22, 1963.

["A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@world.std.com>]

Joseph Gallant wrote:
 
> I know this will be a couple of weeks late, but this is the first
> time since the 35th anniversary of the assisination of President John
> Kennedy on November 22nd that I have had a chance to send to the
> other members of this list my memories of that day.

I was a freshman at UMass and was just getting back to the dorm from a late
lunch.  I saw the crowd around the dorm TV and heard something about a
shooting and a "Governor Connoly" and didn't think much about it.  Then I
went up to the dorm lobby to get my mail and overheard the word
"assassination" in a converation with the Head of Residence.  I asked who
got shot, and she replied, "Kennedy, and they don't know whether he's dead
or alive."  I went up to my room and turned on the radio to hear more of
what happened.

Then I decided to go down to WMUA and saw a large crowd around the
teletype.  At this point, we still didn't know whether Kennedy was still
alive.  He had been in Amherst (though not at the University) just a few
weeks before, for the ground-breaking of the Robert Frost Library at
Amherst College, and one person there had stood only a few feet from him.

I remember going outside, behind the building, and saying a prayer that he
might recover.  When I came back in, the teletype was typing out the news
that he was dead.

The station was due to sign on at 4:30 PM, and I was supposed to be the
announcer.  We normally did "Music Theater" at that hour, a copy of WBOS's
format, with news on the hour, headlines on the half hour, and promos on
the quarter hour.  On this occasion, the classical music director picked
out some appropriate classical pieces (Mainly the funeral march from
Beethoven's Third Symphony -- It got played a lot that weekend.  Even more
often than WCRB plays "Homage to Queen Victoria" today.

The newspaper was using one studio to put out a special edition, using our
teletype material, since they didn't have their own teletype at that time. 
The control room and another studio were being used to prepare a special
report for later in the evening.  So they set up a line to the Tech
Department workshop and connected the remote consolette that was usually
used for Friday night broadcasts from the Student Union.  An engineer sat
at the consolette and played records, while I set a microphone on the
workbench.  Since we couldn't play the taped sign-on, I read the sign-on,
and then read an announcement that classes had been cancelled until after
the funeral (which effectively meant after Thanksgiving break).  I remember
that during my newscast on the hour, the program director came tip-toing in
with a piece of teletype paper in his hand.  I saw him and, when I finished
whatever I was reading, I backed away from the microphone, and he read what
he had, which was news of the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald.

After my shift was over at the station, I had supper at the Dining Commons,
then went to see my friend from high-school to see about arrangements for
going home, since his parents and mine took turns with rides.  Then I went
to a very crowded Friday night service at Hillel.

- -- 
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 A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                                     617.367.0468
 15 Court Square                                  lawyer@world.std.com
 Boston, MA 02108-2503                   http://world.std.com/~lawyer/
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