Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci snapped this photo of former President Trump in the aftermath of a failed assassination attempt. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
For some reason, one detail stands out. I recall Chancellor saying that Hinckley had worked as a radio disc jockey in Colorado.
The whole thing sounded chaotic. Coverage of attempted political assassinations tend to be that way. I remember some of the same chaos on the radio when my Dad picked me up after school that same fall. I was then in the 7th grade. A team of soldiers had just assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
No one talked about the Sadat killing at school the next day. But everyone at school was abuzz about the Reagan shooting.
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A friend at school also watched the news and remarked the next day how one newsman nearly lost his composure when he learned that Reagan was actually shot. Not just shot at.
As I said, assassinations and assassination attempts are chaos. So you can understand the bedlam enveloping Frank Reynolds – then the anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight – as he covered the Reagan shooting from the news desk.
It’s easy to review major, breaking news events and see what was accurate in hindsight. But such scenes are pure furor in real time.
President Ronald Reagan views a giant get-well card while recuperating at George Washington Hospital after an unsuccessful assassination attempt by John Hinckley Jr. (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
"My God!" said Reynolds.
In seeming disbelief, Reynolds then turned to someone off camera, to confirm that what he just uttered on the air to millions was accurate.
"The president was hit?" asked Reynolds tersely.
A muted voice off-camera says something about "stable condition."
Reynolds was now volcanic with anger, but trying to keep it together.
He turned to his right, and glared off-stage, stunned at how the story just shifted geometrically in a few seconds.
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One can only speculate what spun through Reynolds’ head at that moment. Was this an unsuccessful assassination attempt like Squeaky Fromme pointing a gun at President Ford in a San Francisco park in 1975? Or was this going to be JFK at Dealey Plaza in Dallas?
"All this information!" Reynolds snarled, double-clutching the yellow notebook paper.
Reynolds strangled the sheet with such force that you hear it crinkle over the air.
Former President John F. Kennedy, the most recent president to fall victim to a successful assassination attempt, attends a press conference. (Photo: Mario Biasetti)
WLW is one of the nation’s most prominent radio stations. Billed as "The Nation’s Station," WLW is what the industry calls a "blowtorch." The station boasts a formidable, 50,000 watt, clear-channel signal which purportedly can reach 38 states at night. At one point, WLW was the strongest station in the world. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt flipped a switch at the White House which boosted the power to an astounding 500,000 watts. People in Europe could hear the transmission.
But WLW’s broadcast of the Kennedy assassination is emblematic of what hundreds of stations across the nation went through when the news broke.
At 1:30 pm et, WLW goes to the national NBC Radio newscast, hosted by Martin Agronsky. Agronsky does a report about Kennedy’s visit to Dallas. The national newscast concludes and local WLW host Fred Bernard takes back over in the studio. He gives the weather and talks about rain stretching from Toledo to Dayton. Bernard then plays the overture of the Broadway musical "Li’l Abner." I guess that’s what they played on the radio back in those days.
The overture only advances into a few soaring bars until it quickly fades. At the end, you hear Bernard slightly scratch the record as he lifts the needle and prepares to go on air.
"We’ll have to standby here for just a moment. There may be something happening," warns Bernard as calmly as he gave the weather report.
"Yes there is," says Bernard.
You then hear a studio door slightly squeak.
CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite reports the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Friday, November 22, 1963. (CBS via Getty Images)
This lasts for no more than ten seconds. The music cuts out cold. You hear two people speaking off-mic in the studio, in mid-conversation.
"…has been shot!" someone says.
"Who? Kennedy?" inquires another voice.
"Yeah," someone affirms.
"The president?" asks the second voice, incredulously.
"Yeah," the other voice confirms again.
Then things get serious.
A deep-voiced announcer voice begins.
"Here is a bulletin from the WLW Comex Newsroom," says an announcer-type, formally giving information about the shooting.
The voice says there were no casualties.
"We’ll keep you posted as the news comes in to the WLW newsroom."
Without warning, the music starts up again, halfway through the overture.
Ironically, the tune from the musical at this point is a satirical ditty titled "The Country’s In the Very Best of Hands."
The announcer comes back a few minutes later. Finally WLW switches to NBC Radio News and goes wall to wall with coverage. There’s even a live report from Robert MacNeil in Dallas who was traveling with Kennedy. MacNeil would go on to host the "MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour," on PBS for 22 years.
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There was pandemonium in Butler, Pa., on Saturday night. There were initial questions about whether there was actual gunfire.
I have experienced, watched and listened to many of these scenes before. Even covered or been a part of other moments like this in person.
There’s a common denominator in all of them. They are familiar to me. They’ve been familiar to me for decades.
They’re utter chaos.
Chad Pergram currently serves as a senior congressional correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in September 2007 and is based out of Washington, D.C.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-assassination-attempt-utter-chaos-newsroom-tale-old-time