Where were you when Kennedy was shot?

[BKuzak]

I'm not close to 50 yet but it's always fun to hear about where people were when big things happend in history like 9/11 and the Challenger explosion.

So anyone- over 50, where you were when Kennedy was shot? I know if you were watching As The World Turns, it preemepted it. General Hospital was probably premepted all the way that day.

[SFK]

I wasn't born yet. My great-grandmother was a maid and I remember her telling me that she was washing clothes when she heard the news and she sat down and cried.

[alphanguy74]

I wasn't born yet, either, of course... but I find the live broadcast fascinating to watch. TV was still technologically cumbersome, so the long period of dead air at 12:30 is expected as they try to switch from the live Feed in New York, to Walter Cronkite in Washington, D.C. I had read that the initial bulletins by Cronkite were only on audio, because the TV cameras at the CBS Television News center in Washington took 20 minutes to warm up before they would become operational. Cronkite was in the studio at the time it occured, and immediately ordered to cameras to be turned on, so there would be video coverage as soon as possible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD7pUkhBzi0

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[SFK]

Yeah, I think I watched what you described on YouTube a few years ago. It was an edited compilation of all of Cronkite's voiceover updates over a static CBS news graphic. That's very interesting about the cameras/feed from Washington. I definitely took notice of the fact that we weren't seeing him, only hearing him, and I attributed it to the era, but it's neat to know exactly why it was done that way.

[SFK]

*Correction* Cronkite was in New York where he anchored the CBS evening news, not Washington.

[Sundance]

I was in grade school. The principal made the sad announcement on the public address system. Everyone was so silent.

[Nate4]

My grandma who recently died was in middle school when he died. They had everyone go into the lunch room and they showed NBC news. Then all went home early.

[Cheap21]

An unfertilized egg within my mother

[Mr. Vixen]

This.

[Khan]

I was in my other life...as JFK. #gunshy

[Wizzerkat]

I was in my playpen and my mother had the TV on for ATWT when she heard. I was a little over a year old.

[YRBB]

Yes, I believe that was my situation as well.

Show-off

But, no, seriously, that's cool.

[Ryan Chamberlain]

Nothing but a gleam in my daddy's eye since it was 24 years before I was born.

My mom told me some stories about it though. She was sick home from school (She was 11 almost 12 at the time. My mom is pretty old. As she had me when she was 35.) Her mom and her grandma were watching As The World Turns (EST) and they broke in and said he was shot. My mom, grandma,and great grandma were in shock and awe.