Re: news on the weekend re-visited

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

H Glazer wrote:
 
> Now, if the president had been killed, or some nation were bombing
> American cities, I'd certainly expect all regular TV and radio
> programming to cease. My question is: Would this be possible today? If
> an assassination were to take place on a weekend, what would happen at
> the downsized radio stations with a satellite music feed and a
> minimum-wager or such babysitting the downlink? Or at USA Network, with
> no news department or on-air staff, just engineers making sure "Silk
> Stalkings" is ready to air?

God question.  And what would they run in its place?  Then again, what did
stations do at the time of the Kennedy assasination?  Stations affiliated
with a network, of course, could take the network feed.  But what about the
many stations that didn't?  I don't remember what most of them were doing,
but I do remember WMEX playing classical music during that weekend.  I seem
to remember hearing the funeral march movement from Beethoven's Third
Symphony on WMEX, and I somehow have the impression that they may have
played that one piece over and over.

That was probably the most played music during that weekend.  I remember
hearing (and later hearing a rebroadcast) that WGBH-FM was broadcasting,
live, the Friday afternoon Boston Symphony concert.  The announcer didn't
have a clue as to what was going on until the conductor, Eric Leinsdorf,
came to the microphone and announced that the President of the United
States had been the victim of an assasination.  He then said that the
orchestra would play the funeral march from Beethoven's Third Symphony. 
According to newspaper accounts, some members of the orchestra guessed what
must have happened when they saw the music being distributed to them.
 
> Obviously, sporting events would be halted in the event of an attack or
> assassination, as they were in 1941 and 1963 (at least for a while;
> right, Pete Rozelle?). But would all media even be able to shift gears?

Were sporting events halted? 

I remember being in court the day Reagan was shot.  A court officer brought
a note out to the judge.  During a pause in my examination of the witness,
the judge said, "By the way, I've just received word that there's been an
attempt to assasinate the president."  He gave what details he had, then we
stood there in silence for a few moments.  I was the one who broke the
silence by asking the witness the next question.

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 A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                                     617.367.0468
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