Boston TV Blackout 11/9/1965 (was: 1965 Blackout Airchecks)

["Peter Q. George" <radiojunkie3@yahoo.com>]

I was watching "The Major Mudd Show" on Channel 7 at
the exact time the power outage was beginning occur
(around 5:30 PM).  I noticed our lights in Randolph
were dimming and (I could swear) that I was also
noticing the commercial on Channel 7 (an ad for some
toy rifle) was slowing, starting up and stopping
several times.  Apparently, the power on Brookline
Avenue in Boston (Channel 7's old location) was
failing about the same time.  I never saw anything
like that before.  Finally the power completely failed
and we were without power for the rest of the night. 
My Dad was on the way home from Mattapan and was stuck
in traffic for a little while.  When he came home at
about 6:30, my brother's birthday party was light up
with candles and a battery powered lamp. WEEI was on
the air with news and info about the outage. What a
long night it was for this 6 year old kid! 

73,
Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts 



   
--- Paul Hopfgarten <paul@03038.com> wrote:
> Actually, the 2 coolest (non-radio) things I
> remember is that there was a
> Full Moon that night which really shone brightly w/o
> lights on, and the
> eerie sight of auto headlights shining being the
> only artificial light.
> (Hey, I was 8 years old then, what would you
> expect...)
> 
> Paul Hopfgarten
> East Derry NH 03041
> paul@03038.com
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org
> >
>
[mailto:owner-boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org]On
> Behalf Of
> > DonKelley@aol.com
> > Sent: Saturday, November 16, 2002 6:09 PM
> > To: bwelch@enercom.net; sid@wrko.com;
> > boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org
> > Subject: Re: 1965 Blackout Airchecks
> >
> >
> > Here's a 1965 blackout memory:
> >
> > Just after 5PM that day my mother live-parked in
> front of Clement
> > Drug in Wellesley and sent me in to pick up a
> prescription.  As
> > the druggist was ringing it up the power went out,
> and the
> > Monroe-Sweda register stopped with the numbers
> stuck in mid-spin.
> > He made a joke about not paying the electric bill
> and made change
> > from his pocket.
> >
> > As I walked outside a moment later I saw that all
> the lights in
> > Wellesley Square were also out.  I hopped in the
> car and
> > immediately head Art Gardner on W(snap)BZ/Radio
> 103 saying that
> > they were on the emergency generator due to the
> power outage in
> > Boston.  So this was a big one.  I said to my
> mother "I'll bet
> > that WMEX is too cheap to have an emergency
> generator" and pushed
> > the last pre-set button.  Indeed, WMEX (1510) was
> off the air,
> > and WKBW/Buffalo (1520) came booming in.  The
> announcer said "due
> > to the power outage across the city of Buffalo
> WKBW is now on the
> > emergency generator."
> >
> > So, through the miracle of radio, I knew within a
> minute that the
> > blackout covered the whole Northeast.
> 


=====
Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts
                           "Scanning the bands since 1967"
radiojunkie1@yahoo.com
radiojunkie3@yahoo.com
***********************************************************

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