Inside Breaking News…Live At CNN For The Challenger Disaster
On June 16, 2014
- TV History
Inside Breaking News…Live At CNN For The Challenger Disaster
About a half hour before the Challenger space shuttle was launched on January 28, 1986, a CNN tape crew had come into the main news studio to shoot a feature on how the news is covered. What their camera recorded in Atlanta was the same kind of chaos erupting across the country in other news rooms. Where were you when you heard the news?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TvIKue2NOSo
A crew just happened to be in the CNN Newsroom/ Studio shooting promotional/documentary footage of a random day’s work at the network. This is their montage …
I was in the WLS-TV newsroom, then on the 9th floor of the building in which I now sit. None of us were watching the launch, it was so routine. The news director dashed out of his office, saying, ‘the capsule blew up, the astronauts are dead,” and it took a few seconds to realize he was talking about the shuttle, and the scope of what had happened.
ABC used to cover the launches. I was doing graphics for the launch from New York…when it exploded, we all looked at each other and said “did what we think happened just happen?” Then the tears…….oh my…what a day….
This was from when CNN was still in the lower level of the old Progressive Club on Techwood Drive.
Doing taped interview at WYSP in Philly . Mic on yet GM opens studio door to interrupt. Why ? Shuttle exploded. Politely send interview guest away with apologies but then do live on air news updates for rest of day.
Working Late Night with David Letterman, just walked into Control Room 6A and watched every news feed including NASA in disbelief
My daughters 7th birthday.
This is an AMAZING account of breaking news! I was in NYC as a student at the Center For The Media Arts down on 26th. We had no visual of it happening but obviously heard about it all day. By the time I got back home to NJ I saw the devastating footage. By the way here is an excellent tribute to the crew:
http://youtu.be/nK0QE68_Dds
I was working at WCIX-TV in Miami as a news photographer and was on my way, along with reporter John Turchin, to the Eastern Airlines flight attendants’ union hall across from MIA to do an update on a possible strike. When we walked in, everyone in the building was huddled around a small, black and white TV set. We didn’t have a clue what was going on as our assignment desk hadn’t yet notified us of what had happened. We innocently asked and one lady who turned around told us “the shuttle just exploded”. Needless to say, we immediately called the station and they had just become aware of the situation. Obviously, our original story was dropped and we began working on a Challenger sidebar. At that time, CNN was the ONLY network carrying live launches, as everyone else had become complacent. That changed overnight.
In the showroom of Fanning Cadillac-Buick in Chicago. We had a TV set up for service customers to watch while they waited for their cars. Someone had switched it over to the live coverage, and the GM and I walked by as it lifted off. We both stopped to watch just as it happened. He turned to me and said “This will be like when JFK was shot.”
Sure enough, the showroom fell silent, and was business was non existent for days afterward.
This used to be a feature in the (old) Newseum. Don’t know if it made it across the river.
Picked one heck of a day to be home sick from school. I remember John Palmer interrupting the Scrabble game show on NBC.
I was about 3. I watched it on CNN with my mom. One of my earliest memories.
i was in clearwater driveing back 2 tampa could see the Y smoke trail
Yup on Don Swains web that’s me, I contributed the Challenger audio. I listened to and recorded it except for the first half hour which was given to me by Brad Johnson
I was at a station in KY, doing a traffic system installation. Monitors all around, of course — we all watched the launch and then were flabbergasted as the Challenger exploded.
Watching CNN, as no other network was live on the air except CNN (at least in my TV market).
I was listening to it on the radio in NYC. It was not covered on TV. WABC with Bill Beutel broke the news with the first televised special report. Went back to regular programming. NBC came up next with John Palmer anchoring.
I was at home, in Miami and my apartment was right on Biscayne Bay. I was watching it on TV and as soon as it happened, I ran to my balcony and I could see the the smoke ball from there. We could often see shuttle launches from Miami as the rocket flame and smoke trail was visible even 200 miles away.