The only big event I remember happening while I was watching TV was the 1989 San Francisco Earthquake. I had started to watch the game, and when the earthquake hit I thought the cable had gone out, so I started trying to flip around to other channels. A few minutes later, I realized what happened.
I do remember watching the start of the Iraq War on CNN. I was a freshman in college and we stayed up most of the night watching it. I also recall being out shopping either just before or just after it started, and overhearing people being eager to ensure that they had CNN in their cable packages. When the Challenger exploded, I had the day off school, so I'd gone grocery shopping with my mother that morning. By the time we picked up my grandmother, she got into the car and told us what had happened. For the OJ chase, I was actually asleep when it started. I was working the graveyard shift at a convenience store at the time, and I tended to sleep in the afternoons. I had seen the news in the morning that he was supposed to turn himself in and had failed to show. When I woke up, the Bronco was going down the freeway. When 9/11 happened, I had just dropped my wife at school (she had just started her Master's) and was on my way back to my office when I heard the news on the radio that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I got into my office about 10 minutes later and started trying to stream what I could. Since this was 2001, that turned out to be NPR's live stream, since the CNN website was so overrun that it turned into text only. I worked in a basement office at the time, so we weren't John On Sat, Jul 25, 2020 at 10:57 PM Chris Neuman <[email protected]> wrote: > My wife and I moved from Toronto to Chicago about 10 days before September > 11. We were staying with a friend in Lincoln Park while we waited for our > place to be ready in Evanston and we’re occupying he second bedroom with a > view of the El tracks just south of Belmont. What woke us up first was the > relative absence of trains, then our host knocking and saying we should get > up and get to the TV. We watched like most people, transfixed, keenly aware > that we had just become foreigners, immigrants (Though I don’t pretend to > assume what we experienced was anything like our racialized friends). I > never saw so many flags on front steps in the space of 12 hours. And the > three Canadians huddled in a walk up on Bissell Street were delighted to > find a channel that carried the CBC coverage. The dulcet tones of Peter > Mansbridge and the less dulcet tones of PM Jean Chrétien were a balm in > those first raw hours. > > Sorry, not “what we’re you watching” but as I recall the channel > simulcasting CBC involved Al Gore — if memory serves it eventually became > Al Jazeera US, maybe? > > Chris > > On Thu, Jul 23, 2020 at 20:01 Ben Scripps <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I was in middle school English when Challenger happened; they ended up >> sending us home early that day. >> >> Like Kevin, I slept through the first couple of hours of 9/11. When I >> woke up around 11, I had a breathless message from a friend telling me to >> turn on the TV because something terrible had happened. Once the tube >> warmed up, whatever channel I was on was showing the Pentagon, and as I >> stepped up through the channels to get to my station, each channel along >> the way happened to be either on the Pentagon or in-studio anchors, leaving >> me to think “Well, a plane crashing into the Pentagon certainly is tragic, >> but it’s not that big a deal." Then I hit the Home Shopping Channel and >> saw they’d shut down and knew there must be more than what I’d seen. One >> of the weirdest days I’ve ever had at work. >> >> And Stan, I got the reference as soon as I saw “Texxon”. Still one of my >> favorite bits of SNL of all time. >> >> On Jul 23, 2020, at 3:41 PM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> As I look back, I wasn’t watching TV during any of the big moments. >> >> Challenger disaster: I was in Catholic school. We were in the habit of >> watching shuttle launches in the classroom to the point where it had become >> monotonous, so we didn’t even watch it live. It wasn’t until the principal >> came into the classroom and told the teacher the turn on the TV that we saw >> it replayed. However, a camera crew from KABC 7 went to my sister’s high >> school to get reaction from young people. If anybody has that videotape, >> please send it my way. >> >> 9/11: I was working a graveyard shift at a Kinkos-like copy store and had >> gotten home from work. Maybe an hour after I fell asleep, a friend called >> me and asked if I was watching. I asked what channel, and he replied “Every >> channel... we are at war.” >> >> Colombia disaster: I was in the Peace Corps in an Internet cafe in >> Kazakhstan. There was undoubtedly a mix of over-bass techno music playing >> overhead. One stranger walked over to me and patted me on the shoulder and >> said “I’m sorry” in Russian. A few seconds later another stranger did the >> same. I didn’t even know why they were offering condolences at that moment. >> >> Addendum: I recently bought and watched an episode of Kojak on the iTunes >> Store, specifically because the episode was originally broadcast the exact >> day and year I was born. If you ever get the chance, do some research and >> find media from your actual date of birth. There is no way anything >> remotely resembling that hour of television could be broadcast today. The >> treatment of women, the portrayals of minorities and drug use... oh my. >> >> On Thu, Jul 23, 2020 at 11:29 AM 'Bob Jersey' via TVorNotTV < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Aug 8th 1974, around 9:00pm east... "The Mac Davis Show," whose star was >>> riding the *Billboard* charts at the time, got its ending cut off when >>> on came whichever anchor (I'm guessing Reasoner) ready to throw it to the >>> White House, where President Nixon would shortly announce his resignation. >>> (I don't recall being able to watch the moon landing live.) >>> >>> B >>> >>> daniel anderson, today (7/23): >>> >>>> I was watching the World Series in 1989 when the Earthquake happened. I >>>> can still remember hearing Al Michaels say "I'll tell you what, we're >>>> having an earth-" before the feed cut out. I remember ABC airing something >>>> else for a few minutes, before Ted Koppel came on form Washington(where he >>>> was hosting Nightline). >>>> >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "TVorNotTV" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/21f9d1bb-eebc-47a1-9cca-e4ce153c018bn%40googlegroups.com >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/21f9d1bb-eebc-47a1-9cca-e4ce153c018bn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >> -- >> Kevin M. (RPCV) >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKgmY4CKT56_vU%3D9AZkHtD%2Bkbn4f0tydBgnQ36DcdBYpUaPb%2BA%40mail.gmail.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKgmY4CKT56_vU%3D9AZkHtD%2Bkbn4f0tydBgnQ36DcdBYpUaPb%2BA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/C158F613-3820-4010-8980-2FD03451830F%40benscripps.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/C158F613-3820-4010-8980-2FD03451830F%40benscripps.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAGU22ux47uJNvOG2dKEn2%2BAucC6bxEvPnhnCEzreYisooiPqNA%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAGU22ux47uJNvOG2dKEn2%2BAucC6bxEvPnhnCEzreYisooiPqNA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- John Edwards "You can insure against the weather, but you can't insure against incompetence, can you?" - Phil Tufnell -- John Edwards "You can insure against the weather, but you can't insure against incompetence, can you?" - Phil Tufnell -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. 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