Your earliest "news" memory? (generational research thread)

[eyesroll]

I'm trying to prove something here. I'd like to know -- what is the first major news event you remember? By "news event," I mean something that interrupted TV and/or radio broadcasts nationally, that you remember clearly. (So if you were 2 1/2 when Kennedy was shot, and you vaguely remember your parents acting strange, that doesn't count.)

Please post the event, and the year of your birth, WITHOUT looking at other replies. It'll be interesting to see a timeline emerge. (I'll post mine as a reply after a few posts.)

[Loonman]

1. Nixon resigns

I remember that, somewhat.

[Coventina]

20. Nixon for me also

My parents had told me that day that Mr. Nixon, the President, was going to be on tv that night. I head "Mr. Dixon" who was a guy who went to our church. Well, I was really excited. I had no idea I personally knew someone who was so important, and more importantly, WAS GOING TO BE ON TV!
I anxiously awaited the event all day (probably to the puzzlement of my parents). Boy, was I ever disappointed when Nixon came on. It wasn't Mr. Dixon at all! It was some character totally unknown to me.

No wonder I ended up a lefty!

[tridim]

54. Nixon here too

I remember hearing lots about Watergate from John Chancelor, but I had no idea what it was all about. I was 3 or 4 years old.

[Blue-Jay]

124. Yeah, Nixon.

Don't remember much about the details. Just that my mom was steaming mad about his shenanighans. I seem to remember Walter Cronkite delivering the news about him.

[bif]

2. JFK being shot

Interrupted our day in school. I remember the nuns crying.

[terrya]

22. Same here.

I was 7, and in 2nd grade. I remember the principal announcing it on the loudspeaker.

I remember watching the funeral on television a few days later. Very sad time.

Terry

[Scurrilous]

55. Ditto...

..I was in 2nd grade at a Catholic school. The head nun came into the classroom and dismissed us. All the teachers were crying. An unforgettable day.

[onethatcares]

161. fourth grade/catholic school,

my way of relieving stress was to laugh(i have no idea why), the nun in charge beat me hard. It was an unforgettable day. That's the day america died.

[blondeatlast]

77. I was 3 but I remember my Mom's reaction and seeing John Jr.

salute his father.

[ProfessorGAC]

99. That's Mine, As Well

I was home sick that day and my mom was on the phone with her friend. She had been watching "As The World Turns", and they broke in with the news alert.

She didn't hear it clearly, and she asked me what they said. I told her they said "The President was shot." She hung up the phone and came running into the room. I still remember the look on her face.

The Professor

[curlyred]

105. me, too

I was in kindergarten and I remember vividly sitting in front of the TV watching the funeral.

[leyton]

3. I remember Clinton being elected.

I remember knowing of a Bush, a Clinton, and a Perot, and that Clinton guy winning.

Or the Tonya Harding / Nancy Kerrigan scandal. Whichever one came first.

[HFishbine]

84. Ignore

Never mind. Math error.

[Fenris]

4. Event: Gulf War I; Birthdate: 1984

[Wwagsthedog]

5. VE Day

nt

[HFishbine]

86. Cool!

That's a good one to have.

[Another Bill C.]

131. Me, too!

I remember that my friends' Hungarian grandmother was kneeling in front of the radio and praying. We were excited because we thought our dads would be coming home soon.

[afraid_of_the_dark]

6. Challenger explosion

DOB: 1980.

[Blue-Jay]

127. Good Lord, I was a freshman in college when that happened!

Time to buy some Just For Men at the drugstore, I guess.

[Mrs. Overall]

7. Martin Luther King being assassinated--

My Kindergarten teacher told us about it and tried to explain what happened, but I remember not understanding.
DOB: 1963


edit: forgot DOB

[slinkerwink]

8. okay, let's see.....

I remember that the Challenger exploded, and that there was a really bad earthquake in Turkey. I also remember that someone tried to shoot Reagan.

I was born in 1982.

[GOPisEvil]

9. Reagan being shot: 1968

I have vague recollections of other large news events, but the first thing I remember with crystal clarity is March 31, 1981.

[fudge stripe cookays]

76. I was a freshman in high school for that one...

I had just finished lunch and headed to social studies at Lanier HS, and our teacher, Coach Grace, put the TV on so we could se what had happened to Reagan.

[GOPisEvil]

80. I was in 7th grade...we kids were joking about "Carter's revenge"...

Our teachers who presumably had lived through Kennedy's assassination set us straight pretty quickly.

[calimary]

10. The Kennedy assassination coverage - that whole long weekend.

All I did was sit in front of the TV. I remember the four big NBC news stars - Sander Vanokur, Frank McGee, and I THINK Edwin Newman and John Chancellor, as sort of sub-anchors stationed at designated spots like the Capitol, the White House, the streets along the coffin's route to Arlington, beneath Huntley/Brinkley.

Birth year: 1953.

[NuckinFutz]

11. One small step for man...

one giant leap for mankind




born 1964

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

Hi there

1965. One year makes a big difference at that age -- I'll bet outside events felt a little less scrambled for you.

[NuckinFutz]

58. I wouldn't say less scrambled.

I also remember watching Nixon resign. Seeing him break down on national TV broke my young heart. I didn't really understand why he had to be so humiliated. Politics was beyond me at that age. I wrote a letter to him then. He may have been a dishonest, paranoid SOB, but he actually wrote me back and signed the letter. Knowing now what I did not then, I still can't bring myself to fully dislike the man. He at least had enough honor step down. And with all the stress and other more pressing things he had to deal with then, he took the time to answer my letter, and sign it himself.

[PragMantisT]

30. Moon landing

Born in early 1963
I remember asking why it was in black and white.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

35. Not me

Brazil didn't see color TV until 1973. :eyes:

[CrownPrinceBandar]

102. I remember watching it on TV...

details are vague, I was only 2 at the time.

[ikojo]

141. Moon landing for me too....

I stood in front of the TV in absolute awe.

If I MUST state the year I was born....




















1963

[noonwitch]

217. The moon landing was right before I started kindergarten

I remember that very well, because my mom made us watch it. I also remember coming home from first grade to find my babysitter wailing over the Beatles' breakup.

[eyesroll]

12. I was born in 1975

and my answer is the Challenger explosion. I am willing to bet that most people born within a couple of years of me (who don't read my reply) also answer Challenger immediately, even though most of us, if prodded, can remember Reagan getting shot, a new pope, the bombing of the barracks in Beirut, etc.

[Bluzmann57]

13. I was in first grade

and our principal came into our classroom and said that JFK had been shot. When I got home, my little sister was in her playpen crying, and my mom was staring in absolute shock at the TV. Shortly after that my dad got home from work and we had a family discussion about it. If that doesn't count, I distinctly remember when Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the moon(and it really happened conspiracy freaks). Now that was neat! On edit. born in 1957.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

14. This is a test....

and the Ed Sullivan show telling the folks what would happen if there was a nuclear explosion. Still remember the people whose eyes melted out of their sockets...Ed told the folks not to let kids see, but of course I watched--and had nightmares about it. This was ca 1956. Then they started the Conelrad "This is a test" which spooked me no end.

Born 1951

(edited to include dates)

[Snow]

165. Oh, jeez, I'd forgotten about that......

wonder now what the point of it was. A nascent peace movement getting started?

[TrogL]

15. Sputnik

born 1955

My father had some sort of involvement with International Geophysical year and was an amateur astronomer.

We went out in the back yard to watch it go over.

[kodi]

82. ditto

3 year old (b. 1954) when it happened, whole family went outside to see it it could be seen.

next was cuban missile crisis, dad and mom got us (sister too) from school, loaded up car and went to a mountain cabin for a week. all we listened to was the radio on trip and at cabin. folks were damned scared and so were my sister and i.

it was only with the signing away of the USSR in dec. 1991 that i felt that i would not die in a nuclear war.

[PVnRT]

16. Off the top of my head, Challenger

I don't know if that counts or not, but we were watching it in my third grade class when it when kaboom.

Born in 1978.

[bowens43]

17. JFK shot.......

I was 5, in kindergarten, it was announced over the loud speaker.

I was born in 1958.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

18. The Apollo missions. Born in 1965. (nt)

[tigerbeat]

19. nixon resigning

i was born in 1968. remember the speech and the coverage afterwards. i also remember my parents talking about it forever and the kids on the playground saying things about it.

[Mandomaniac]

21. Challenger Explosion

Born in '77.

They interrupted recess to show us. Damn liberal media, I was thinking at the time.

[blackcat77]

23. JFK's inauguration -- DOB 1952

I was almost 8 and I *should* be able to remember something before that, but I really can't.

[jono]

24. Challenger disaster

We watched it during Kindergarten. Born in 1980.

[lucidmadman]

25. It wasn't breaking news but...

...I was born in '51 and I remember my father yelling at Adlai Stevenson during the '56 convention on TV. I also remember that during the World Series that year I thought Yogi Berra was a really funny name.
I know these don't fit your criteria but I couldn't help myself...

[JanMichael]

26. Nixon resigning, then the space station (USSR/US) hookup.

"July 17-19, 1975: U.S. astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts participate in Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, docking together in space for two days."

Also body bags on the nightly news.

[Burma Jones]

27. Dr. King's Assassination -- born in 1959

I remember other news stuff like Churchill's Death, the Gemini missions stuff like that, but if you're talking about "we interrupt this broadcast for an important..." then it will have to be MLK's death followed by RFK's.

[geniph]

36. We're close to the same age, new_beawr

and I remember those two events most clearly as the first, also.

I vaguely remember JFK's death, because my whole Irish Catholic family went into shock. But RFK's death is the first one where I understood the implications of what the news was reporting.

[GreenPartyVoter]

28. 3rd Grade: Iran Hostage crisis

[skippysmom]

93. Same here

I can remember Walter Cronkite opening the news every night with the date and that this was the xth day of captivity.

Born 1972, BTW.

[arcane1]

29. my great-grandmother watched this boring "tv show" when I was a kid

it was called "Watergate" and bored the hell out of us

since I didn't know it was news at the time, I won't count it... the earliest thing I remember offhand was the hostages in Iran

on edit- I was born in 1967

[JitterbugPerfume]

32. Th earliest I can recall at this time is

reading when I was about 12 yr old about the Rosenberg execution . I also remember the Dewey- Truman election

[geniph]

31. RFK's assassination

I remember JFK's assassination, too, but I was too young to really understand why everyone was so upset. But RFK's assassination, I understood enough to know that meant he wouldn't become President - I remember asking who would run for President now?

[ThoughtCriminal]

33. George Wallace closing my big brother's

school on the day he was starting 1st grade in order to prevent it from being desegregated. I was five.

[MuseRider]

34. The first thing that comes to mind

is the shooting of JFK but I do have a vague memory of his election. Born 1953

[JitterbugPerfume]

39. I also remember

Queen Elisabeths coronation I watched it on a new fangled black and white TV at school

born--1940


and the Mc Carthy hearings


i am old I THINK I remember FDRs death , but I might just remember daddy talking about it

I remember seeing sugar ration stamps in moms desk drawer

and having to say "under God " in the pledge for the first time My dad was(is) a staunch Republican and I thought it said " and for the republicans for which it stands" LOL

[bobbieinok]

159. remember Elizabeth's coronation - watched a friend's TV

army-McCarthy hearings - my dad was so fascinated at the back-and-forth he decided we should get a TV

[Lars39]

37. Apollo 7 splashdown.

Or at least this is my most vivid memory of interrupted tv.

[NashVegas]

174. I Remember That!

But didn't use it, I was very detached as a youngster. Same thing with 11 & 13.

[arwalden]

38. Kennedy Funeral

[fudge stripe cookays]

40. Born in 1966...

I can remember hearing the name "Sharon Tate" on the news when I was around 6, but didn't really know who it was until years later when I read Helter Skelter.

I remember in 1974-- it seemed like the whole summer there were NO CARTOONS because Nixon or all the other boring guys were always on. Rough on an 8 year old.

I guess my first big memory of MAJOR news flashes was when I was 12 and we all enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner clustered around the TV watching footage from Jonestown. Morbid huh?

[GOPisEvil]

43. Oh yeah, Jonestown...I remember the Congressman killed by the plane.

I remember that image...

[Snow]

164. This will chill you....

During the early 60's we were living in Indianapolis. My parents had adopted my brother and sister from Korea through the Holts, and decided to start what would now be called support group. We gathered monthly, usually at our house, which was huge, for a potluck supper. There were probably around 2 dozen families who came regularly, including a local minister whose church was in a poor neighborhood and offered a soup kitchen. Rev. James Jones. (he always went by James, never heard him called Jim).

[arcane1]

47. ah yes, you recall that boring tv show too

I was so glad when it was finally cancelled :silly:

[mantis49]

41. JFK assassination

birth yr 1953

[Lindacooks]

45. Yep, me too

JFK's assassination. Although I was just pissed because there weren't any cartoons on our B&W tv. That's my main memory.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

42. Reagan being shot

Funny, he was shot by the brother of George W. Bush's friend Scott Hinckley, John Hinckley, who was having lunch with Bush that day. Hinckley Sr. was one of Bush's biggest campaign backers. If John Hinckley was successful, Bush would have been president.

Just a coincidence.

[DrWeird]

44. Mt. St. Helens eruption.

Erupted 1980, born 1977.

I remember the news, although I might be biased, since I also remember the ash blocking out the sun and falling like snow.

[PrestoChango]

46. Challenger Explosion

Born in 1975.

[ET Awful]

48. Born in '69, led a sheltered childhood . . . Iran Hostage Crisis

I remember us doing a thing at school (small town) where we put each hostages name inside a yellow balloon and let the balloons go (filled with helium of course). Obviously no real purpose to it other than to . . . well let balloons go :).

[devilgrrl]

49. The 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich...

I was 8 years old at the time.

Mark Spitz wins 7 gold medals
The USA Basketball team gets dicked out of a gold medal by weasely Soviet time keepers
Olga Korbut dazzles in gymnastics
The Israeli wrestling team is taken hostage and murdered by terrorists.

[HawkerHurricane]

50. Apollo 11

Moon landing in 1969(?).

51. JFK being shot

born 1956, right about the same time as the Hungarian Revolution was born and smothered

[CPschem]

52. challenger explosion or iran contra

reoccurring early memories of oliver north all over the news... maybe that's why i'm so screwed up.

[Rabrrrrrr]

53. McKinley assassination

sad, sad day.

Seriously, though, it would be the landing on the moon. Though that wasn't a big "interrupting" news thing, since veryone knew when it would happen, but we were all gathered in school to watch it.

As far as big interrupting news, probably Reagan's assassination attempt. Of course, I remember the Iran Hostages and also the Camp David accords and other things before the assassination, but we were never interrupted for any of those things. Reagan's assassination attempt, though, was announced by our principal over the school speaker system when it happened. I remember - I was in German class. I also remember not really caring, since I knew, even at that young age, that Reagan was an evil man.

[NoPasaran]

56. I was born in 1956

I remember being in the car with my mother and aunt when they went to vote on Election Day 1960.

I remember the the Mercury space missions---unhappy because there was no Captain Kangaroo those mornings.

I remember seeing MLK's March on Washington on TV.

More clearly, I remember JFK coming to Colorado (where we lived at the time) to dedicate the AIr Force Academy.

I recall a fair amount about JFK's assassination and funeral.

[capriccio]

57. Have you no decency?

Army-McCarthy hearings
1946

[Snow]

64. So how did you hear about it? Radio?

I'm theorizing I don't remember anything before age 7 because we didn't have a tube, & I don't remember my parents doing radio news.

[Darwin2002]

59. sputnik

n/t

[Snow]

60. We didn't have a tv yet for the earliest such event I remember -

the neighborhood women went down the block to the one house that did have a tv & watched it - Queen Elizabeth's coronation (that's Elizabeth the Second, for all you smart-aleck whippersnappers). That was June of 1953, so I was 7. Hmmm. Odd that I don't really remember anything earlier.

[cmf]

61. "Interrupting" news - Challenger, but…

I think it's a little misleading, since I remember several news stories before that. My earliest news story memory was Reagan's landslide win in the 1980 election. :puke: I also remember Mt St. Helen's eruption. I don't have any actual memory of the news when Reagan was shot, though. Which means my parents probably didn't let me watch the news that day. I was born in 1976.

[tom_paine]

62. Watergate/Nixon resignation

(born in 1967)

[democracyindanger]

63. Mt. St. Helens

Born 1969, happened in 77 I think.

[villager]

65. King's assassination - if you mean only "breaking" news

...it was a text crawl at the bottom of the screen, while my sisters watched afternoon cartoons ("The Flinstones," I think). I went in to ask my mother who King was -- the name was only vaguely familiar -- and then I told her he'd been shot. "What!?" She sat up, bolt upright, from the bed...

however, two years earlier, I stayed up to watch 1966 California election results with the bigs, and when it became apparent that Reagan was the winner, one of the jokes was "if he ever becomes President, I'm leaving the country!"

Everyone laughed, because the idea of the country at large making such a ridiculous mistake seemed impossible.

Needless to say, that memory haunted me throughout most of the 80's.

I was born in 1959.

[Westegg]

66. "War Is Over---Nixon"

This was the headline in the "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette" some time in 1973. I was ten years old at the time, and, given my mother's extreme anti-Nixon bias, and my own youthful innocence, I took the headline to mean: "America has declared that the war is over. Nixon? What's your response? We're telling YOU that goddman war is over, dude!" Ah, sweet youith.

Next thing I remember is Nixon's resignation speech, August '74. My family was vacationing in Maine that month, and we were at a restaurant in Portland. As we waited to be seated, Nixon's resignation speech was playing on the TV in the bar, and everyone---my family included---crowded around the bar to watch the speech. Which, thankfully, did not last long. I was hungry, and wanted some of them Maine lobsters!

[smallprint]

67. John Lennon shot -- born 1975

I remember the pictures of the crowds assembling outside his apartment building.

[On the Road]

68. The First One I Remember Actually Seeing on TV

was Johnson announcing he would not run for reelection in 1968. I was 14 then.

On Edit: Of course, I remember hearing that Kennedy had been shot, but I don't remember any actual news coverage.

[ScreamingMeemie]

69. With clarity? I would have to say the fall of Saigon. I was 5.

[frebrd]

70. "Japanese Bomb Pearl Harbor"

Born February,1936.

[bmbmd]

71. Cuban Missile Crisis

"Look" magazine had that cover with all of the American tanks and troops and cannons facing toward Cuba. Scared the bejesus out of me. I can still see my dad, who was a WWII vet, watching tv, reading the paper, and fretting about going back to war. We thought the nuclear war was upon us.

[elfwitch]

72. Jon Lennon Shot

I was born in 1971. So I was 9 when this happened.
I was born a Beatles fan (my mothe played it for me in the womb).
Big shock for me when he died.

[dolgoruky]

73. Scotland Vs England at Wembley

When the Scotland fans invaded the pitch and and proceeded to destroy the goalposts.

I think it was 1974, and I was born in 1968.

Probably got that toally wrong, including my birthdate.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

87. Tom Baker being replaced by Peter Davison on Doctor Who

Well. I was five, and it was news to me! I remember the Falklands War pretty well.

[Bertha Venation]

74. Nixon's Resignation. 1963.

[chiburb]

218. Resignation from what? n/t

.

[Faygo Kid]

75. 1960, Nixon-Kennedy election

I was 9. I remember the heated debate about possibly electing a Catholic, and I remember watching the first debate on television. First political memory before that may actually be the drills in elementary school for nuclear warfare (head between the legs in the hallway, to kiss your ass goodbye). Don't remember Ike, although I should.

[blondeatlast]

78. Civil Rights marches--I was very young, but they packed a wallop.

Seeing firehouses and dogs turned on people really bothered me.

Some things aren't easily forgotten, not should they be.

I wasn't over 6 years old, but my mom and dad knew that we were watching something that would change the US forever, and they were so right.

[carolinayellowdog]

79. John Glenn goes into orbit

February 1962. They herded the entire school into the auditorium and we watched the take-off on TV together. (I remember the 1960 election but no specific event.)

Born 1953.

[HFishbine]

81. First Man on the Moon

I was only six, but I remember it in all its grainy black and white glory because my dad sat me down in front of the TV and told me, "Remember this, it's important."

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

89. Heh. Same story, same age.

And all of us 1965'ers probably wondered "What the hell is this all about? I want to go back to my toys. Boring."

[Bertha Venation]

92. Same for my eldest sister

For the 25th anniversary of the first moonwalk, her local newspaper ran a call-in line for peoples' memories, a select few of which they published on the date. They printed my sister's. It went something like this:

"My sisters and I were all outside playing, and our mother stood in the doorway and yelled at us all to come and watch the TV. I remember it not because of a man walking on the moon but because she wanted us all back in the house!"

[name not needed]

83. Oklahoma City

back in Kindergarten. I remember seeing it on TV before my dad took me to school.

[elfwitch]

88. are you 12?

How old are you?
Do your parents know you constort with hippies and commies?

[name not needed]

106. 15.

[beyurslf]

225. WOW. It's great to see young people involved. Most of us here

were surely adults when that happened. I was at work and had many friends in OKC. (Live in Wichita just a couple hours away.)

[ikojo]

144. OK I feel REALLY REALLY old now

Oy vey! You were in KINDERGARTEN in April 1995?!

I was at work on the day of the OKC bombing. I knew as soon as they reported it that it was done by a good ole boy militia type. At this time I used to listen to A LOT of Art Bell and he had a lot of open phones where people talked endlessly about Waco and Ruby Ridge and how they loathed the FBI and the government.

[elfwitch]

215. I was working at Citicorp at the time

I found out at work too.

[ulysses]

85. Nixon's resignation.

We were on vacation, and I was made to watch it.

[theorist]

90. Challenger explosion.

Born 1981.

[wysimdnwyg]

91. Elvis' death

I remember the funeral procession pretty clearly.

Born: 1969

[scottcsmith]

94. Elvis Presley's death

I was born in 1968. I do remember the news announcement that Elivs Presley had died. I think that would have put me at age nine. I also recall when Jimmy Carter was elected president.

[beyurslf]

95. Challenger explosion is the 1st I know I remember from tv

We were watching in 4th grade, Mrs. Dooley's class. I think the whole school was watching. There was a teacher on board the shuttle.


I vaguely remember Reagan being shot but I think that was more remembering my parents' reactions and hearing adults talking about it around me. Same thing with John Lennon.

Born: 1976

[myrna minx]

96. I recall when the Iran hostages were taken.

It interrupted my Saturday morning cartoons. I also recall the election of Jimmy Carter. I was born in the early seventies.

[elfwitch]

97. now that you mention it...

I remember the hostages.
My elementary school had up a poster with a days being held count.

[Kickin_Donkey]

98. Born in 1962.

The first major news event that I remember, in which national broadcasts were interupted, was the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon with Neil Armstrong in 1969.

I was too young to remember JFK in 1963, and I have no recollection of RFK/MLK in 1968, but I do remember the constant overall drumbeat of news when I was a young child: nothing but the Vietnam War.

[damnyankee2601]

103. I'll second that.

The morning body counts are really my earliest radio news memory. But sadly, it didn't interrrupt programming.

My parents dragged me out of bed for the Apollo landing, but it didn't come to mind when I was considering my answer, so I guess it doesn't count.

What are we "proving" anyway?

[damnyankee2601]

100. 1971 (2?) United Airlines crash at Midway in Chicago

First time I ever saw that kind of carnage on TV. And it stayed in the news for weeks because it killed E. Howard Hunt's wife. She was carrying thousands of $$ in small bills that are still unexplained.

YOB: 1962

BTW: Will Durant observed that human generational memory is about 50 years, becuase that is when the 1st person accounts die off. You can see this happening now, as the young neocons have nobody to explain the dangers of fascism to them.

[ScreamingMeemie]

120. What is incredible is the picture that someone took of that flight.

It is horrible to look at that plane still in the air, but obviously doomed. :(

[pmbryant]

179. You may be thinking of the 1979 O'Hare crash

That one killed 279 people, as I recall. Growing up in Chicago at the time, my memories of the news coverage of that crash are vivid.

There is a photo of the airplane in the air, just after takeoff, but with the wings pointed vertically. Indeed, obviously doomed. :-(

--Peter

[CanuckAmok]

101. Neil Armstrong walking on the Moon...

I'm 36, so I was 3 then, but what I remember is everyone in the neighbourhood transfixed on the TV (we had the only TV in our village in England at the time), and then being bundled up to go outside with everyone and look at the Moon in the sky.

[Pithlet]

104. Reagan shot. Born in 1972

I remember watching the news before then, but that is the one that sticks out in my memory the most. I also remember when Elvis died, but I say Reagan because that is the first news story that really affected me, because it actually unfolded on TV. I remember watching the confused aftermath, vividly.

[CBHagman]

107. Hearing radio report on JFK's assassination the morning after

I remember sitting at the breakfast table and listening to the news report that appeared on John Gambling's program out of NYC. It's the earliest news memory I have.

I was born in 1958.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

108. May of 1961

I wasn't yet 3. My mom got me out of bed to watch the first manned space flight with Alan Shepard in the Freedom 7.

Been spacey ever since.

[spinbaby]

109. John Glenn, I think

I was born in 1954. There was no news that interrupted radio and TV during my early childhood because there was no radio or TV. They existed, of course, but my parents didn't believe in that kind of new-fangled nonsense. I got my news from the papers and from school.

I remember John Glenn going to space and looking at the pictures in LIFE magazine. I also remember being asked to choose between pictures of Kennedy and Nixon during the 1960 elections.

[UrbScotty]

110. The 1996 Election

I was a HUGE fan of Clinton, and I was SO nervous about him losing to Dole. In hindsight, I had little reason to be worried: Clinton won, 379-159.

I vaguely remember when CBS News broke in on a Friday night. My brother was angry that they had interrupted a "cool part" Unsolved Mysteries. It takes a lot for the networks to break in to primetime television. I'm guessing that was when Nixon died.

Born in 1987

[Whitacre D_WI]

111. Reagan getting shot.

I was excited, because I thought that if he died, Jimmy Carter would get to be president again.

I have vivid memories of the hostages being held in Iran, but not of their capture or their release. I suppose I just remember the yellow ribbons 'round the old oak trees.

I was born in 1975.

[flamingyouth]

112. Nixon resigning, most of all

Vague memories of the '72 election.

I was born Christmas 1968.

[DS1]

113. Sadat's assassination 1973

[Pithlet]

122. Are you sure it was 73?

Because I remember when that happened, and I was born in 72. I was old enough to be in school.

[fudge stripe cookays]

143. I think DS1 means born in 73. ;)

Sadat was assassinated in 1981.

[Pithlet]

149. Oh

Never mind :blushing:

[VelmaD]

114. Carter's inauguration

I was born in 1970 and the first thing I really remember news-wise was Jimmy and Rosalyn carter walking the parade route on inauguration day.

[Xithras]

115. Beirut barracks bombing

Born in 1975.

I remember this vividly because my uncle was a Marine in Lebanon at the time and I somehow misunderstood the broadcasts to mean that ALL of the Marines in Lebanon had been killed. It took three days for us to find out that my uncle wasn't anywhere near the barracks, but I was raptly tuned to the TV's until then.

After that, probably Challenger. We were watching live on TV. I remember that the teacher was sitting at her desk behind the TV and wasn't really watching, and when it blew I unleashed an "Oh Fuck!" that was probably heard halfway across the school. The teacher came out of her seat, ruler in hand, to slap me across the knuckles for my outburst but stopped dead when she saw the TV screen.

I didn't get thumped that day.

[Bunny]

116. JFK assassinated.

1958

[HEyHEY]

117. hmmm.... I'll say Mulroney brings in the GST

No wait........ Tracy WIlson at the Calgary olympics.

[proud patriot]

118. Gas Lines and the Hostage Crisis

I was born in 69 ...:hi:

[Deja Q]

119. I recall some hostage situation in 1980

Every adult-world news item prior to that is a hazy washout.

We all wonder about the innocence and care-free nature of the child. Children are oblivious to most of the hatred adults practice. Well, except the bullies and those who like to taunt others - but nobody's perfect.

Sad part about all of this is that I was 7 at the time...

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

125. 1960 election

My dad was a precinct captain in Chicago. I remember wearing a Kennedy for President button on my school uniform.
DOB 1953

[SoCalDem]

121. Republican National Convention 1956.. 1949

The only thing on our new tv...We lived in Panama, and there was nothing on tv..day or night except that.. I think I could have repeated the speeches verbatim.. then after about a month of that... we finally got some other shows :)

[cedahlia]

123. Here's mine

Event: The Challenger Explosion
Year of Birth: 1979

[booradleyjr]

126. Apollo 1 fire on the launch pad that killed 3 astronauts. Born 1960 n/t

[LTR]

128. Probably Nixon resigning, most likely 1976 election

And the Bicentennial.

As far as the election goes, we had a mock election in my elementary school. Ford won, and I was one of the only boys in the class to vote for Carter (a girl I liked in my class voted for him, so that probably influenced my decision).

I was born in '68.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

129. death of indira gandhi

i was 7 maybe? my brother announced it...dont think i cared...day off school (turned out due to riots we got two weeks off)

[Rabrrrrrr]

140. Were you living in India?

Or did it coincide with some of those wonderful NYC riots?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

142. nope lived in india at the time

live in nyc now

[Rabrrrrrr]

146. Didn't realize there was such bad rioting there

But then again, there's much about the world I never realized, considering my only news sources were American, and they didn't give a rat's ass (and for the most part, still don't) about what's happening elsewhere in the world.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

151. after she died

lots of sikhs were attackeed and killed...it was awful

[RFKHumphreyObama]

193. While I don't remember that event myself

Some Indian friends of mine (who were residing in Singapore at the time) had the misfortune of arriving in New Delhi on the night of the assassination and were caught up in the midst of the violent rioting as they caught a taxi home to where they were due to be staying. They were trapped there for a considerable period of time and witnessed some horrific, violent and frightening events that chilled me when I heard about what they had been through.

I vividly recollect Rajiv Gandhi's assassination though. I developed an interest in politics early and Rajiv Gandhi was one of my first political role models and a hero of mine. I was following developments in India closely and fully expected him to be returned to power in the general election for which he was campaigning when he was assassinated. It was 6:30AM in Singapore when I switched on the BBC world service and discovered what a senseless, tragic and appalling fate he had met. To state that I was crushed and devastated would be a profound understatement. I still have not fully recovered from the impact of his death.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

198. i dislike all the gandhis

awful corrupt dynasty, however still their murders were horrific

[HawkerTyphoon]

130. A picture of Tojo

in a loincloth, behind bars. Front page of the New York Daily News. My mother was shocked by the "obscene" picture. (So I had to check it out.)

YOB: 1941

Maybe earlier
A big funeral, my parents said the body had been on display so long the board of health insisted he be buried ASAP. FDR?

[ronnykmarshall]

132. Gemini launches

I remember them in mid 1960's.

I was born in 1961. That's probably the first news event I can recall. Could be 1965.

[baldguy]

133. One of the Apollo landings

I can't remember which - Kindergarden, 1st, 2nd grade. The school wheeled a big b&w TV - with rabbit ears - into the class for everyone to watch.

[Nikia]

134. 1980 presidential results

I remember sitting there watching it with my grandparents and teenage aunts and uncles. I was born the last day of 1977. Strangely, I did not really understand it. When Reagan became president, I thought that the president had just changed his appearance. I believed that about some game show where the host had changed as well.

[trof]

135. Death of FDR.

I was at my great-aunts' (sisters) apartment. They were my childhood babysitters. I was 4.

They were listening to the radio. I think there had been earlier broadcasts saying the end might be near, or maybe they had been alerted by neighbors. We didn't usually listen to the radio when I was there.

I don't remember the broadcast itself, just Aunt Mattie and Aunt Lucia crying. I asked why, and they told me that the president was dead.

I'm not sure if I knew who the president was, and probably didn't understand "dead", but I remember them crying and telling me why.

Here's a broadcast of the funeral:
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/vofdrdeath.htm

I also remember a radio newscaster named H. V. Kaltenborn
http://www.otr.com/kaltenborn.html

[bobbieinok]

156. death of FDR here too

(born in 1940)

I was at a friend's house and a woman came in. She and my friend's mother started crying.

I went home and told my mother that 'something bad' had happened and people were crying.

Then kids' radio shows weren't played.

[BigBigBear]

136. Specific event

JFK's funeral (not the shooting, oddly).

Vaguely do recall JFK press conferences, though.

M/YOB: 4/1958

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

137. john lennon being killed

i was just shy of 4 years old.

[bushh8ter]

138. The war in the Falkland Islands

Not as exciting as Nixon but its what I remember being on the TV.

1973

[southerngirlwriter]

139. Born: 1978

Earliest news memory -- Reagan being shot.

[camero]

145. Carter's election

I didn't get into news until then. Too busy playing ball. I was 9 when he got elected.

[Don_G]

147. Born In '53

And having my ex-Navy father ask me to help him watch Sputnik pass overhead in the central US.

[b-ballgurl]

148. when Bill Clinton was reelected

i was born in 1992 :hangover:

[slinkerwink]

157. wow! you're very young!

I have a sister that's your age.

[Snow]

167. Heh! Hey Slinkerwink - I have

a son who's 11 years older than she is, & my daughter is 7 years older.......

[populistmom]

200. I spawn geniuses

That's my girl!!! :)

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

150. Live coverage of the last dinosaur's last breath

On radio, of course.

[LibInternationalist]

152. Challenger Explosion - Born 1980

[Cat Atomic]

153. Carter's failed hostage rescue. I was born in '72.

.

[nostamj]

154. born 1955

kennedy assassination. and oswald shot by ruby.

was a kid (3rd grade) but i do remember it.

[Piltdown13]

155. The 1980 election, and Iranian hostage crisis...born in 1975

n/t

[sleipnir]

158. Born '79, the '84 Dem Convention (specifically Jesse Jackson's speech)

Very early in my life, but I think it's put me to where I am now! :evilgrin:

I can remember Jackson giving the speech, had no idea what he was saying, but my parents sure were focused. And them some other stuff happened, but it was one of my first "news" remembering events.

[MountainLaurel]

160. Three Mile Island

Born: 1972.

I remember it because I was convinced that the radiation was going to come the 200-plus miles through the air and kill us all. What my anxiety-prone grandmother had to do with that particular conviction remains a question.

[pinto]

162. Eisenhower and Kennedy meeting b4 inauguration. DOB '52

[Hand]

163. Um... Army/McCarthy hearings...

Back around 1955 or so, I guess. I was only five or six years old at the time (bron 1949). My parents were watching it on our antediluvian BW television--matter of fact, they may have bought the thing with that in mind.

Call me Methuselah... :7

[BlackVelvetElvis]

166. Watergate hearings. DOB: 1966

[Lydia Leftcoast]

168. I remember hearing

about Stalin's death (my mother is half Latvian) a couple of months before my third birthday (It astonished me to realize this), but the first major event I watched on the news myself was the Hungarian Revolt of 1956. I also remember people talking a Senator McCarthy, but I don't remember seeing him on TV or anything.

The first time I saw television was when I was three. We went to my great-uncle's house to watch Queen Elizabeth's coronation on TV.

I was born in 1950.

[Lisa0825]

169. Born in '68... remember bits and pieces of Watergate...

More specifially, I remember my father bitching about it "I'm sick and tired of hearing about goddamned Watergate!" I didn't know wht it was, and tried to listen to the news to see what was making daddy so mad. I knew it had something to do with the president, but that's about it. He grumbled about what he'd do if he were president. I asked mom if daddy was going to be president, and how people got picked. She said people took turns. I thought dad would be president someday, and he'd make sure the water gate wouldn't break.

Now, as far as understanding something that was happening.... I remember the bicentennial... gas rationing.... oh, and this song, to the tune of "Barbara Ann":


went to a mosque
gonna throw some rocks
tell the ayatolla gonna put you in a box
bomb iran! bomb bomb bomb bomb iran
bomb iraaaaaaaaan! bomb bomb iran!

you got me rockin'and a rollin', rocking and a reelin'
bomb iran! bomb bomb! bomb bomb iran!

[solinvictus]

170. US forces leave Saigon

1975, I was 5 and my mom cried while watching the live news report.

[youngred]

171. The Coup in Soviet Russia

interrupted my morning cartoons. Garfield specifically. I was born in 1983


I have vague recollections of watching the news before that but nothing specific

[aQuArius]

172. Prince Charles & Diana get married!

I was VERY small, but the entire world stopped; just for them. All I can remember thinking is how much I wouldn't want to wear such a loooooooooooooong dress. I was a bit of a tomboy.

[NashVegas]

173. Munich Olympics / Israeli Hostages 1972

born in 1963, I have plenty of memories of watching the Apollo 11 & 13 stuff, but didn't feel emotionally involved in them.

[Armstead]

175. Presidential Debates -- Kennedy and Nixon

Yikes! It's time for the rest home.

Of course I was a real little squirt then,. I had no clue what they were talking about, except I remember watching with the parents.

Also remember the Cuban Missle Crisis real clearly.

1952

[BlueStateGirl]

176. Elvis 's death. 1973

[fortyfeetunder]

177. JFK assassination

JFK's assassination when I was 6. I grew up in DC and that was a big deal. It was a week like a national holiday, not much learning going on. My first grade teacher's husband was in the color guard during the funeral; she was very proud of that.

RFK visited my elementary school the year before that.

I also vaguely remembered The Bay of Pigs, but I wasn't coherent enough as a toddler to ask my parents what that meant.

[pmbryant]

178. Carter v Ford election in 1976. Born in 1968

I vaguely remember the pulling out of troops from Vietnam in 1973, watching my Dad as he read the newspaper account.

But the first news event I remember quite clearly is the 1976 Presidential election, and how close it was. I also remember TV shows being interrupted when Chicago's legendary Mayor Richard J. Daley died in 1976, but I think that was in December, after the 1976 election, so that event loses out.

--Peter

[ButterflyBlood]

180. The Oklahoma City bombing - for events that interrerupted TV

my earliest "news" memory was Dukakis's defeat, but that was scheduled programming. I was born in 1983

[Dogmudgeon]

181. Cuban Missile Crisis

I was five.

The Cuban Missile Crisis really hit home for me. My father was a missile technician, and one day he came home early from work, packed up a lot of his uniforms (and put one on), and said he wouldn't be home for a while.

I remember thinking that he was going to war, and I would never see him again. And that the Russians were going to be coming over and killing us because of Cuba. I also knew that nuclear weapons were huge fire bombs, and had seen some science fiction shows on TV about them. The possibility of mutant soldiers worked on my imagination, too.

My mother was scared out of her mind; they really thought that the USSR would go to war over the missile crisis. But some days later, he came home and all was okay.

(This next part will make much more sense to people who live in or around Philadelphia.)

When I got older, I learned that they had a "contingency plan" in the event of a nuclear war. We lived in Delaware County, PA, and Dad worked in a Nike-Ajax installation norteast of NAS Willow Grove, which put Philly and the naval air station between the two of us -- NASWilGro was a secondary target in 1963, as was the Philadelphia shipyards. The plan was to go north to Phoenixville, then track over to the east and meet at the house of a friend of my father's in Hatboro. If Philly had been nuked, more than half of the trip would be opposite to the refugees, and there was a better than 90% chance that even the 50-rem level fallout plume would not reach to Hatboro.

In May of 1964, we moved there anyway, but by then, the nation was just getting over JFK's assassination and was outraged over the Beatles' long hair.

Yeah, even though my parents didn't drink, didn't beat me, never played around on each other and were otherwise reasonably happy, my childhood has kept more than one shrink occupied. :)

--bkl
"Everbody knows that psychiatry is crap
except people who are crazy ...
Where's my E-Meter?"

[TOhioLiberal]

182. Watergate hearings...

YOB: 1962

They interrupted afternoon cartoons.
Trekkerlass

[dawn]

183. John Lennon's death. I was born in 1970.

That's the biggest one that sticks in my mind. We were in the car, ready to go out somewhere. My dad turned on the radio, heard about it, and wept. My dad never cried, so it was a big deal.

[scarlet_owl]

184. Challenger disaster.

I was very young, born in January, 1981, on the day before Reagan was inaugurated.

[corporatewhore]

185. Sorta rember end of first gulfwar clearly rembermom wanting tovote perot92

i was born in 1985

[AlGore-08.com]

186. Born in 1963 - - The Watergate hearings

I remember watching the news well before that, since my family watched NBC nightly news together every night. ("Good night, Chet." "Good night, Dave.") I remember my sister telling me that Nixon was bringing the troops back from Vietnam, and knowing about the 1972 election because of my parents' McGovern sticker got me in trouble in grade school, my Grandfather talking to us about the Apollo program, and talking to my Mom about civil rights and her refering to events on the news as examples (the latest that could have been would be 1970).

But the first event I remember disrupting television was the Watergate hearings.

[mouse7]

187. RFK being shot.

My mom was helping work on his campaign. We were all up late to watch the results come in from California. We watched his speech and I was getting ready to go to be after his victory speech when the news broke.

[zwielicht]

188. Chernobyl, 1986

We weren't allowed to play outside for weeks, Chernobyl is only a few hundred miles from here (vienna). I was born in 1979 (and can't recall earlier events). Nice thread idea!

[montana_hazeleyes]

189. First thing came to mind

is the plane crash of Richie Valens,Big Bopper&Buddy Holly.
I was about 9 so I can't figure why I can"t think of anything earlier than that.
Maybe not that much happened in the fifties,then the sixties came and all hell broke loose.

[mykpart]

190. I was born in 1947.

My earliest news memory is of the sinking of the Andrea Doria. I don't know what year that was.

edit: I looked it up - it was 1956.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

191. I vaguely recollect the downfall of Ferdinand Marcos

And, since the Philippines was in relatively close proximity to Singapore, it was a major event in the news telecasts and the newspapers there. I was born in 1981 and was five at the time. I can also vividly recollect Gorbachev in Washington (under Bush I), the release of Nelson Mandela, the reunification of Germany, the election of Lech Walesa as the President of Poland and other momentous events that occurred during the 1989-1990 period.

But I guess the first major international events I can recollect that genuinely interrupted television broadcasts and kept us glued to our TV screens was the Gulf War in 1991. That was the first time that Singapore commenced showing CNN several hours today and our family was glued to the TV and BBC radio for updates as the date for war approached and then as the war unfolded. It got to the point where some of the kids even commenced bringing radios to school to get the latest news.

[tsakshaug]

192. dob 1961

I vaguely remember JFK's funeral. Nothing leading up to it

[ChoralScholar]

194. "Decision 1980" Coverage on KARK(NBC) - Little Rock

ON EDIT: I was born in October 1977

My parents took me when they went to vote together. I didn't completely understand the process then(hell... I still don't sometimes). I just remember my mother voting for Reagan and my father voting for Carter. (they canceled each other out in elections often) After that I remember watching the returns come in from each state for Carter and Reagan (and maybe Jesse Jackson, but that might have been 1984)

But the rest is history. 12 years of neoconservative oppression. :)

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

195. RFK Assassination

I was seven years old.

[ncrainbowgrrl]

196. Challenger Explosion

They interupted my favorite show (Punky Brewster) to talk about the challenger explosion. I was very very upset- and then I started getting upset about the explosion itself instead of my desire to watch TV.

Born in 1979

[gator_in_Ontario]

197. Kennedy Assassination

I was born in 1958.

[twistedliberal]

199. Challenger explosion

Born in 1977. That's the first that sticks out in my mind.

[LynneSin]

201. A Vietnam special Report from Walter Cronkite - sometime in the late 60's

I can't remember the date or the age but I do remember it was before I was in Kindergarten and I believe it was sometime before the end of the sixties.

I remember my mother was in the kitchen cooking or something and I was watching the CBS evening news. Walter Cronkite came on and said that the next report should have parental supervision, but there were no parents to shoo me from the room.

The report contained children my age who were suffering and crying. My parents had to sleep with me for over a week I was so terrified from the report.

[Lorien]

205. I remember those reports too

I'm about your age, and my parents never shooed me away in time, either. I recall being totally freaked out by images of the dead soldiers and children with horrible injuries and burns; nothing our corporate media has shown us from the Iraq war compares to those horrible black and white images from Vietnam. The media wasn't afraid of the truth then.

[arwalden]

202. I Vividly Recall The "Huntley-Brinkley" Theme Song On The TV News

... for me, it was a sign that we'd be eating supper soon... and that bedtime wasn't too far behind that. My day of play was coming to an end.

-- Allen

[tigereye]

203. Kennedy assassination for me

sitting in my little pilgrim costume and hearing the mailman telling my mom and neighbors about it. Didn't really understand, but knew it was serious.

[Lorien]

204. Moon landing ; 1965

n/t

[Throckmorton]

206. Watts Riots, 1965

I was born in 1961

[zwielicht]

207. i love this thread!

history is so young :)

[liberalitch]

208. Moon landing 1968...

I was only 3 but it was a VERY big deal in my household.
Also... biggies were the TET offensive and Nixon Resigning (my parents had a resignation party).

[alfredo]

209. The McCarthy hearings. MacArthur firing.

The McCarthy hearings are what turned me against Republicans. I was born in 1945 during the assault of Iwo Jima.

Edited twice for stupid reasons.

[LosinIt]

210. Either John Glenn's flight or the Kennedy assassination -whichever earlier

ag 48. I had the chicken pox during the Glenn flight and mom rocked me most of the day, holding my hands so I wouldn't scratch, while we watched the coverage on TV. My complexion thanks her.

[ChoralScholar]

211. Born 1978

I definitely remember the Challenger disaster, the whole school was in the cafeteria watching....I remember thinking "Oh my God."

I vaguely remember the Olympics, but I think its mostly because my mom tells me stories of how I use to try and imitate what the gymnasts were doing....She enrolled me in classes asap.


By the way, this is Choralscholar's wife....I wondered why it didn't ask me for a login....

[bobthedrummer]

212. I remember the McCarthy hearings, President Eisenhower's heart

attack, and Sputnik all the 1950's events that interrupted regular t.v. broadcasts.
I was born in 1949.

[tinnyguy1777]

213. When the Chinese Army came across

the border with North Korea, and began to push the American Army back down the penninsula of Korea, in the early 50's. I was born in 1940.

[Gringo]

214. Cronkite talking about guerillas in Cambodia

around the time we were pulling out of SE Asia. I had to ask my mom why the "gorillas" were fighting over there!

I was born in '69.

[catzies]

216. The Watergate hearings on TV the summer when I was 12.

My brother and I were at our grandparents' place in Key Largo and resented the preemption of daytime TV. They day Nixon resigned, Grandma said, "Now you kids stay out Grandpa's way today. He's in a bad mood."

Now a political event I particpated in but don't remember was MLK's March on Washington in '65 when I was 3.

I do remember being in an anti-war protest in Miami sometime in the late 60s and carrying the sign that said "War Is Not Healthy for Children and Other Living Things."

Ah, memories of being a hippie kid. :hippie:

[NightTrain]

219. 1969 moon landing

I was three at the time.

[trackfan]

220. If you don't count the JFK assassination -

which, according to your criteria, would be kind of borderline for me, I would have to say the Watts Riots.

[Barad Simith]

221. LBJ announces he won't seek another term (1968)

I was seven years old, and I only remember it because our parents were getting angry at my brother and I for complaining that our show was preempted.

On edit:

Okay, I hadn't read your post very carefully the first time. My earliest clear memory about a news event that interrupted national broadcasts was in 1969: The Apollo 11 moon landing. (I was eight years old; born in 1961). Unlike the Johnson broadcast, I was fully aware of what was happening during the Apollo 11 mission.

[gyopsy]

222. 1984...

and the first news event i remember seeing was the iran-contra scandal. I was very little. Must've been maybe 3 or so.

[cosmicdot]

223. JFK campaign visit to Norfolk, VA just days before the '60 election

[voice of reason]

224. Moon Landing

1969.

I remember my parents getting my sister and I up way early to watch the landing on our black and white TV. I was barely 5.

v.o.r.