65 years ago tonight

[Donna Halper]

At 03:26 PM 11/28/2007, Kevin Vahey wrote:
>It was the worst night in Boston history as 492 died at the Coconut Grove
>fire.
>
>I understand it was the first time in Boston radio history that the stations
>really went all out to cover breaking news. Donna may have some background
>on this.

Actually, the late 30s was the time when more in-depth news coverage 
became common.  In Boston, there were several brutal hurricanes in 
central and eastern Massachusetts that got lots of coverage in the 
mid to late 30s, plus in 1939, a submarine (the Squalus) sunk off the 
coast of NH, and that got everyone into intense coverage mode 
too.  By the time of the Cocoanut Grove tragedy, you had the war in 
Europe going on, and nearly all stations had expanded their news coverage.

Actually, the first stations to go out and cover news in Boston were 
as far back as the early 20s, when little WGI had a news-truck, as 
did WTAT (the portable station of the Edison Company and precursor to WEEI.).