In the pre-satellite days of 1963, Honolulu's television stations were on big-time tape delay. Early evening network newscasts were taped (on 2-inch quad) in Los Angeles or San Francisco and rushed by motorcycle messenger to the airport to catch Hawaii-bound flights that arrived in the islands around 10 p.m. If the planes were on time, the top stories would be shoe-horned into the local ten o'clock newscasts; if not, too bad.

The full network news broadcasts were aired later that night or early the next morning. Prime time shows also traveled by air and were shown on a week's delay. Fringe and daytime programming sailed on Matson freighters and were generally seen a month later than on the mainland. It didn't make all that much difference except during the holiday season when the delays were glaringly obvious.

It was about 8 A.M. (HST) on November 22, 1963, when the first radio bulletin from Dallas was heard in Hawaii. At KHVH-TV, the ABC affiliate, we interrupted regular programming with voice-over updates based on wire service and radio reports. At 9:15 A.M. we learned that President Kennedy was dead.

My memory of the next few hours is blurred. I know that I went on-camera with a handful of wire copy and a transistor radio plugged into one ear and stayed there for what seemed
like forever.

For the next eight hours or so, we did the best we could with what we had -- wire copy, radio audio, slides and photos, local reaction live and on film, and long intervals of still photos of JFK accompanied by somber music. The photos and music replaced regular programming for the next 72 hours.

In the meantime, we were on the phone with the network and the airlines trying to expedite shipments of an enormous volume of news videotape. The network folks were busy with their own problems and had no time to edit tailored coverage for Honolulu, so they sent everything, hour after hour of live coverage, much of which was of little relevance by the time
we got it. It all had to be edited and presented in context with the "new" news that was coming in on the wires. All of this by a news staff of about 20 people who were also responsible for keeping an all-news radio station on top of the story.

On day 2 (11/23/63) we did what made sense under the circumstances: we called our competitors at KGMB (CBS) and KHON (NBC) and suggested a cooperative effort. We all agreed to pool our staffs and our tapes, to put together the best video from the three networks and simulcast it, along with current developments, at specific times on all three stations, although the stations were free to do unilateral updates at any time.

The news simulcasts originated at one station and involved the anchors from the three stations along with guests from various fields -- politics, business, labor, education, etc. -- the network tapes and film packages from the local reporting staffs. Our competitive energy was redirected toward solving the common problems of logistics and the time difference. There were no commercial considerations since all commercials were on hiatus. Viewer reaction was overwhelmingly positive.

If memory serves, we did the simulcasts for the two hectic weekend days that followed the assassination. By Monday the 26th we had all worked out programming plans with our networks and went back to normal, unilateral news broadcasting. Looking back at it, I think the public interest, in a time of public shock and grief, was well served.

And that's the way it was, or at least the way I remember it.

Aloha,

Bob Sevey
bobcv@home.com