Boston radio coverage of Pres. Ford's death

[marklaurence@mac.com]

 On Wednesday, December 27, 2006, at 09:24AM, "Steve Ordinetz" <hykker@grolen.com> wrote:

>Did any of the music stations do anything?  I'd guess not...I recall when
>Ike died (1969?) WRKO dropped all contesting for a day, went to a more
>subdued presentation & seemed to focus on the more AC-ish stuff on the
>current chart.  A little different situation though...WRKO's audience at
>the time likely had at least some memory of Ike's presidency, where to
>anyone under 40 today Ford was only someone they read about in history
>class.  I feel old.

It was 1969 when Ike died, just 8 years after leaving office.  In current affairs terms, that would almost be the equivalent of Bill Clinton dropping dead, which would be sure to cause more of an emotional impact than today's news.  Clinton of course is much younger than Eisenhower in 1969, which would add to the shock.

But a lot of stations wouldn't be able to change their presentation today because when news breaks at 11:45 PM, there aren't any human beings on the premises.