Did most Americans have televisions when JFK was assassinated?

[Mike 03]

Another post brought this question to mind.

If I'm recalling what my parents told me, they didn't actually own a television but they had a friend who had a television and watched coverage with them.

Does that sound plausible?

If you didn't have television, could you listen to the radio and get constant coverage, the way we can today, or did you have to tune in only when news programming was on? I'm trying to get an idea of whether there was constant coverage during the week after the assassination in some form or another. Could you listen to the radio all night and hear nothing but coverage of the events of that week?

Thanks in advance for any memories, reflections!

[apcalc]

1. All my acquaintances and family had TVs. Black/white only.

Last edited Tue Feb 18, 2020, 04:09 PM - Edit history (1)

[Raven]

2. We had TV. There was constant coverage for days.

[Frustratedlady]

3. By that time, we'd had TV for many years, so I don't know about your parents.

We rarely left the TV during the coverage. It was an extremely emotional time.

[True Blue American]

4. Most had black and white.

Color TV was very expensive.

[polmaven]

9. Exactly!

I was sitting in the living room with my mom and sister for the days following the assassination, watching our black and white tv.

[Mike 03]

6. I'll double check with my mother.

Maybe I'm remembering it wrong.

They were young and maybe struggling during that period. Or maybe there's another reason why they didn't have TV yet.

[Chipper Chat]

5. Everything was live. The entire world watched live.

[hlthe2b]

7. Close to 90% of households had tv by 1960

https://www.cnn.com/2014/05/29/showbiz/tv/sixties-five-things-television/index.html

[Chipper Chat]

8. Schools let out. Events were cancelled. Businesses closed up.

Churches were full.

[Lindsay]

11. Not all schools let out.

I had an English test the period after they announced to the school over the PA system that the President had been shot.

I never did so poorly on any other test in my life.

[wnylib]

24. That's awful. Even if they did not let

the kids leave, at the very least the teacher should have cancelled the test.

When school resumed on Tuesday, none of my teachers even tried to have a regular lesson. They knew we wanted to talk about it.

[Farmer-Rick]

55. I was in Catholic elementary school. The teachers and nuns were in tears.

The nuns closed school for 3 days after he was murdered.

I didn't understand what was going on but I knew it was very bad. My parents and older brother were glued to the TV. The rest of us 5 kids were sorry for the sadness but happy to have an unexpected break from school.

[dameatball]

10. In my experience, most families had tv well before then. Probably one reason they began

televising the debates in 1960.

[katmondoo]

12. Yes we did. I cried for 3 days watching TV non stop.

[True Blue American]

15. I was watching,

“ As The World Turns,” when Walter Cronkite came on, took off his dark rimmed glasses, with tears in his eyes announced,” The President is dead!” Gave the time and place.

[Sancho]

13. Yes, most Americans had tv....except

in the early 60s rural areas often had poor reception or limited channels. It was common to see antennas with motors so they would rotate. My grandparents had a farm - and put up a large antenna tower (50 ft?) with a directional control on top. We could point the antenna to improve the picture, and get two channels. The neighbors would come over to watch Gunsmoke or Billy Graham. There was no cable TV.

Urban areas usually had the big three networks - ABC, CBA, and NBC - and mostly B&W tvs that were heavy to move.

At any rate, everyone had radio - and transistor radios (AM) were very popular.

I heard about the assignation on a radio during a school lunch break.

[Chipper Chat]

30. Dont forget the Dumont Television Network.

We still have those wonderful Jackie Gleason reruns to thank them for.

[Sancho]

34. Yes...we occasionally would tune in UHF and get Dumont...

[raccoon]

14. Everybody I knew had one. Small town SC. Nt

[sl8]

16. According to these Nielsen figures, about 90% of households had a TV then.

https://www.tvb.org/Portals/0/media/file/TV_Households.pdf
National Television Penetration Trends

[sl8]

17. Memories and reflections from 1962 South Carolina (not mine):

[Sancho]

37. I was living on James Island in 1962...so that was great...

could have been me. 100% the way it was, except most of us could communicate in Gullah on the islands.

[Srkdqltr]

18. I think most people in cities had tv. Seems like the day of there were news bulletins then updates

On the evening news shows. I lived in Detroit and most stores closed that day and were closed all weekend. Most stores were closed on Sunday anyway. Back then we might not have heard anything about the president for days or weeks. He wasn't reported on all the time like this one is. There were news radio stations who had news on the hour. For the viewing and funeral there was continuous coverage on all networks . Just 3 at the time although in Detroit we could get Canadian news from Windsor.

[snowybirdie]

19. Absolutely, yes

I worked at a Sears. When we heard the news, we headed to the tv department. I watched it all unfold looking at a wall of tv sets, all turned on to the same station. 40 or so images, all reflecting the tragedy. Burned in my memory forever.

[WhiteTara]

20. We had tv from about 53 on.

I watched I Love Lucy live. The little Mermaid was my fav cartoon.

[Taraman]

21. Everyone I knew had a TV. We were one of the last to get one.

My father was concerned about their potential for propaganda and that people would stop reading.

My home room teacher came in that morning, weeping, and dismissed the class. She could barely say, "Just go home." I'd never seen a teacher cry before.

[redstatebluegirl]

22. Everyone I knew had one.

[wnylib]

23. There were still some families that did not

have TV by the end of 1963, but I think the majority of people did have one. Some TV's could only get VHF stations (NBC in my town), while others got both VHF and UHF. Very few had color TV then. The quality of color TV was very poor at the time.

Both TV and radio broke into regular programming with news flashes when significant events occurred.

There were no all night or all news TV stations then. ALL 3 networks broke into regular programming when the first news flashes of the Dallas shooting were reported. Initially, no one knew if anyone was actually shot, so "flashes" came in as info was confirmed.

When it was determined that JFK was hit and en route to the hospital, ALL regular programming stopped and did not resume until the day after the funeral.

I was 14, home sick from school, but recovering well enough to be out of bed. I was watching TV (NBC) when the first "flashes" came in. Within 20 munutes, regular programming ended.

The assassination was on Friday. On Saturday, our local newspaper printed a guide to the timing for events .and coverage on all 3 networks regarding the assassination. So I (and my family) watched people line up at the Rotunda to pay last respects to the casket as anchormen mentioned the number of people, length of the line, and ID'd government people and celebrities who showed up.

Stations ran films and photos of JFK and Jackie arriving at the Dallas airport, waving at crowds on the motorcade route, Jackie in her stained suit as LBJ was sworn in, etc. repeatedly, in between new events. They gave background on Oswald and how he was caught and arrested.

Oswald's transfer in the jail was covered, so we saw him get shot. We watched as John, Jr saluted his father's casket. The funeral was televised, as well as the march to the cemetery and lighting of the eternal flame. We watched, since schools, government offices, and many businesses were closed for the day.

Don't know about radio coverage at the time since I was glued to the TV from Friday through Monday.

[Fla Dem]

25. Yes, by the 1960s most families had televisions

Last edited Tue Feb 18, 2020, 05:12 PM - Edit history (1)

Television in the 1960's. By the very early 1960's around 90 percent of households owned a television. The television established as every american families new favorite piece of furniture. Television had became the main source of communications in American society.

Television in the 1960's | Sutoriwww.sutori.com › story › television-in-the-1960-s--ZAhEhJtNcestLbo8..

[AirmensMom]

26. No.

We lived in Germany (Dad was in the Army). I was very young, but still remember it. I don't remember listening to radio, either, although my dad probably did while he was on base. I don't even think our car radio worked.

[The Genealogist]

27. I know my dads parents didnt have one

I thinj it was well into the 1960s before they had one. They could afford it, but Grandma believes it was pretty much just garbage, and wouldnt have it in the house.

[Jarqui]

28. It happened at mid day

Our classes were stopped and our teacher brought in a radio to listen to the news and Walter Cronkite.

Didn't see any TV until I got home from school. I think that was the case for many who had jobs or went to school.

There were many black and white TVs in homes. But you wouldn't see many of them walking through the airport or shopping malls like we do today.

The coverage was as big as story as any in that decade. Newspapers carried a lot of the story to people back then.

I saw Jack Ruby shoot Oswald live. I watched the funeral and little John John salute his Dad, etc. There was no shortage of TV coverage but it wasn't 24/7 cable as newspapers and radio played a bigger role in how people got their news back then.

[Eyeball_Kid]

29. Yes, televisions were plentiful. I didn't know anyone who didn't have a television.

I followed the events through television, and saw the live shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby. It was chaotic, the whole sequence of events. Making sense of it all was expertly put together by Hartmann and Waldron in their book, "Legacy of Secrecy."

[brer cat]

31. We didn't.

My sisters and I were avid readers and my parents didn't want us to spend time watching TV. They didn't get one until I graduated from high school in 1964.

We went to a neighbor's house to watch coverage after the JFK assassination. I don't recall listening to radio for coverage.

[radical noodle]

32. Everyone I knew in 1964 had television

although I'm sure there might have been some poorer or remote households without TV. At that time we only needed an antenna and once the TV was paid for, there was no cost for watching.

The JFK assassination was 24/7 for days.

[CanonRay]

33. I think all my friends had TVs by then.

We got out first one in about 1957. I was glued to it after the assassination.

[2naSalit]

35. People relied on Newspapers, remember those?

We had tvs but we also listened to the radio and got news on the hour stuff but people either relied on tv and printed news. On tv there was full coverage during the events up through the funeral, I recall a lot of it. Not many people were glued to the screen, we had lives to live, outside the house.

That's what I recall. I was kind of young but we had just returned to New England from Key West a couple months prior and the political scene was a big topic in our house so I heard a lot about what was happening.

[Glorfindel]

36. Yes, they did. We got our first TV set in 1954

and still had it in 1963...a huge Sylvania floor model with "Halo-Light" to prevent eyestrain.

https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/sylvanias-halo-light-who-remembers.64552/

It was black and white, of course. The color TV's back then were pathetic...just smears of greenish-orangey blobs. I don't know about radio coverage. I had a little transistor radio that I listened to sometimes, but frankly the music wasn't very good. (This was pre-Beatles, after all.)

We were all glued to the TV after the assassination. My grandfather and I watched Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that the world had changed, and not necessarily for the better.

[Bayard]

38. I was in first grade class

Our teacher turned on the TV that was only used for our Spanish lessons. I think the teacher (Mrs. Cundiff) was in shock. All the little kids didn't know what to think, but grasped that something huge and horrible had happened.

We had a little black and white at home, and my mom cried non-stop, especially during the funeral. I watched it all with her.

[bikebloke]

39. Everyone had televisions.

My father bought one in the early to mid 50's.

[lastlib]

40. Yes, it was covered on radio as well as TV

Radio was pretty universal then (it was nearly all AM--FM didn't get big for another decade, from what I remember). Coverage of Kennedy's assassination was wall-to-wall on it. My family didn't have a TV at the time, but my granparents up the road did, and we all watched coverage on it as much as Mom would let us. In between TV sessions, we listened on radio.

[nancy1942]

41. Yes.

There was constant t.v. coverage during the entire period. This included the on-air shooting of Oswald; everyone had their t.v.'s on around the clock and yes, everyone owned a t.v. at that time. We still had distinguished press then:Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, etc. This was back in the old days when they reported the news and omitted any commentary; most of us had enough sense to form our own opinions based entirely upon the facts. Fox News was not a factor at the time. The John Birch society was in its' infancy and stirring up right-wing conspiracy theories that the Republican later accepted as fact....and acted accordingly.

[sarge43]

42. We even had TVs in the barrack's day rooms.

That weekend they were on all day well into the evening.

As memory serves, there was continual coverage. Updates, background, talking heads, interviews, both experts and on the street, etc.

The day of the funeral was a down day service wide (critical duties excepted). The day rooms filled up and we all watched. There was a lot of crying and cursing.

Did hear the initial news on a radio in the duty section.

[MissMillie]

43. My parents had a TV

and they didn't have much of anything--financially speaking.

They told me there was nothing but JFK coverage on all 3 channels all afternoon and evening that day.

By 9:00 Eastern time, they turned the tube off and "consoled each other."




My twin sister and I were born one month prematurely the at the end of the next July.

[catbyte]

44. We had one and everybody I knew had one. We weren't rich & neither were any of our

friends, family, and neighbors. I do remember it being on the radio all the time when we'd go someplace in the car. I saw my first murder on live television when I was 8 years old.

[Mendocino]

45. We always had a BW TV.

Went to a relatives house to watch a color set for the first time, saw Bonanza. My parents were too frugal, didn't have color till 1969.

[lunatica]

46. I saw it all from Mexico

TVs were ubiquitous there too.

[customerserviceguy]

47. In urban areas

and especially the first ring of suburban areas, yes. My family lived in Gary, Indiana at the time, and we could get all of the Chicago stations, so having a TV was a part of the good life then. Areas that were outside of broadcast station range had to either buy an expensive antenna mounted high on a pole in the yard, or wait for cable to come.

And the TV was focused heavily on the Kennedy assassination and its aftermath. I remember being a kid playing Monopoly on the living room floor when Oswald was shot, all on live TV. Up until that point, we labeled the cartoon man in "Jail" as Oswald for a couple of days before that.

I don't have any recollection of radio in those days, but if there were primarily news-based stations in those days, I'm sure that there would have been fairly continuous coverage. The Kennedy assassination and the space program really brought TV news to maturity, and that's probably when they surpassed radio as a means of getting news. The visuals were so compelling.

[kas125]

48. Hi! I lived in Gary then, too.

I was in 5th grade at Brunswick school when it happened. We were in the multipurpose room waiting for the 6th graders to do a play. The play was canceled and my class was sent into the library where we were told what had happened. I think we went home after that.

[customerserviceguy]

49. I vaguely remember Brunswick school

I went to Catholic school at St. Mark's when we lived in Gary, and was in the second grade. I remember our nun telling us all to get out of our desks and drop to our knees to pray for the life of JFK when the report of the shooting came over the PA system. Everybody from that time knows where they were when they heard the news.

Right after the school year, our family moved to Merrillville in the summer of 1964. We got caught up in "white flight" from Gary and areas surrounding Chicago, and I encountered my first racists at that time, at least the ones I was aware of. In Gary, my Cub Scout den had a den mother who was a delightful Latina lady whose own son was one of us in the den. We'd sing our silly made up songs, often corrupting ad jingles from TV to make them funny, and she'd laugh with us.

[kas125]

50. I was a Brunswick kid, you were a Glen Park kid, lol.

We moved to M'ville in 1968 and I'm still here. When I was in high school I saw blatant racism for the first time here, too. By the time my kids were in school it wasn't like the old days and I was glad we lived here, where my kids would grow up knowing all kinds and colors of people.

[customerserviceguy]

53. Yes, Merrillville

is indeed a diverse community now. Six years ago, my lady and I drove to the Midwest and stayed at a Marriott in Merrillville for almost a week, venturing out on day trips to Michigan, Wisconsin, and Chicago. I was delighted that Bar Louie was just a few doors down from us, and they had Three Floyds Gumballhead on tap!

We did drive to Crown Point, and saw that it was still essentially all Caucasian, though. But when we had Italian beef sandwiches at Portillo's, we could see that people of all ethnicities were enjoying them. What I couldn't quite believe was how small our front and back yards were at the house we lived in from 64-69. I remember them being much bigger when I had to mow them at the age of thirteen!

[kas125]

56. I said the same thing when I went to look at our Brunswick house.

It's tiny and so is the yard. And the "woods" on 6th Avenue that I was terrified of getting lost in when I was a little girl is just one little vacant lot, lol. Gumballhead is my absolute favorite!

[customerserviceguy]

57. You're lucky to have it so available!

Like I said, we drove, and we came back with 18 cases of various beer products, two of them were Gumballhead that my lady found in Chicago while I was walking down Memory Lane at the Museum of Science and Industry that afternoon. She's not much for museums, but she is hyper-competitive, and being a Jersey girl, was not going to head home without enough to share with the best of our friends!

Hey, thanks for another stroll down Memory Lane!

[kimbutgar]

51. Yes everyone my parents knew had a tv.

I was very young but I remember my parents commenting how the streets were empty the day of JFK’s funeral. And the grocery store workers said no one was in the big grocery down the street. And the manager had a tv in the office that the workers watched.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

52. I think so, though they would have been black & white.

Coverage was non-stop all day, and although we were watching TV instead of listening to the radio, I'm sure it was non-stop on the major radio stations too.

[randr]

54. We had TVs

But had to plug them into a horse drawn generator thing and watch on a party line

[hamsterjill]

58. We did not have a television.

I was five when Kennedy was killed. I heard it on the radio and ran in to tell my parents. They didn't believe me until they heard it themselves.

We lived on a small ranch where my dad was the foreman. There was a television in another house on the property where the owner stayed. The owner was not in town so we went to the house to watch the coverage. It was heart wrenching.

[Still Sensible]

59. Most in the US had TVs, but ours was

black & white. We finally got an RCA color tv in 1965.