Unsung Heroes

[Joe Elliott]

I agree with you that tapes used to record station output were indeed recycled, after a period of time, but I seriously doubt they would destroy the tape of the day Kennedy was murdered.

I now agree with you. I was perplexed that the recordings would start in mid broadcast, like the old tape ran out and a new one put in. It is now clear to me that in general, the local radio stations were not recording anything when they heard about the assassination, and while concentrating on getting the news and broadcasting it, took up to an hour or more to setup and start recording the broadcast. I now believe, so far as I know, that no tape, once made, was lost. But it is also clear, that in many cases, no recording was made during that first hour.

The comment "NBC News is reporting DOA." doesn't have to mean that it was broadcast. It could just as easily have been a comment by a NBC News reporter that was overheard by Sabastian. You just suppose there must have been a broadcast.

I doubt a police officer would overhear and reporter talking and call dispatch to report that “NBC News is reporting DOA.” The fact that he was using the radio means, to me, that he wasn’t at police headquarters but was patrolling in his vehicle. Officer E. G. Sabastian isn’t going overhear a reporter at headquarters, walk past the dispatch office, go the garage, get in his squad car, get on his radio and report to dispatch that “NBC News is reporting DOA.”

“NBC News is reporting DOA” means hearing a media broadcast, either over TV or radio. And we know it wasn’t TV. And he wouldn’t have been watching TV. And likely based on the voice of an announcer who reported for NBC, or at least often reported for NBC, but sometimes ABC. Like an announcer for either WBAP or WFAA. It would not have been WBAP but it might have been WFAA.


By the way, was E. G. Sabastain assigned to chat up reporters and report back to dispatch what they were talking about?

No.

https://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/dpdtapes/tapes2.htm

1:25
75 (Ptm. E. G. Sabastian)      75 is at Forest and Central

which I interpret as Officer Sabastian is in his patrol car at the intersection of Forest Lane and North Central Expressway, several miles north of Dealey Plaza and police headquarters and not likely to encounter any reporters. And reports from “NBC News” has to be coming in over the radio.

[Joe Elliott]

Unsung Heroes for the Lone Nut Narrative :

- Jack Ruby
- J Edgar Hoover
- Allen Dulles
- Gerald Ford
- Arlen Spector
- Dan Rather

Actually, only Gerald Ford and Arlen Specter make my list as, not heroes, but men who made a positive contribution to this case.

I think the other LNers on the board would agree with who I list and who I don’t.

[Martin Weidmann]

I now agree with you. I was perplexed that the recordings would start in mid broadcast, like the old tape ran out and a new one put in. It is now clear to me that in general, the local radio stations were not recording anything when they heard about the assassination, and while concentrating on getting the news and broadcasting it, took up to an hour or more to setup and start recording the broadcast. I now believe, so far as I know, that no tape, once made, was lost. But it is also clear, that in many cases, no recording was made during that first hour.

It is now clear to me that in general, the local radio stations were not recording anything when they heard about the assassination

Pray tell, just how did that become clear to you?

I was perplexed that the recordings would start in mid broadcast, like the old tape ran out and a new one put in.

Which only tells me that you don't really understand how an output recording system used to work, back then. You seem to be under the impression that somebody had to change tapes ever so often, when in fact the system used a big real tape that was slowed down so it could record a full 24 hour output on one tape. There normally were two machines, with the second one starting a minute or so before the tape on the first machine ran out.

I doubt a police officer would overhear and reporter talking and call dispatch to report that “NBC News is reporting DOA.” The fact that he was using the radio means, to me, that he wasn’t at police headquarters but was patrolling in his vehicle. Officer E. G. Sabastian isn’t going overhear a reporter at headquarters, walk past the dispatch office, go the garage, get in his squad car, get on his radio and report to dispatch that “NBC News is reporting DOA.”

Why would the reporter that Sabsatian possibly overheard be at DPD headquarters? Cops on the street meet people and overhear conversations all the time. Sabastian may well have known the reporter to be a NBC News employee, and when he heard him say the officer was DOA he simply got curious and wanted to get confirmation by calling it in. Since names of people were/are not normally broadcast on police radio, he may well have gotten around that by saying "NBC News is reporting..."

“NBC News is reporting DOA” means hearing a media broadcast, either over TV or radio. And we know it wasn’t TV. And he wouldn’t have been watching TV. And likely based on the voice of an announcer who reported for NBC, or at least often reported for NBC, but sometimes ABC. Like an announcer for either WBAP or WFAA. It would not have been WBAP but it might have been WFAA.

“NBC News is reporting DOA” means hearing a media broadcast, either over TV or radio.

No it doesn't. Not necessarily anyway. Yesterday on CNN I heard a reporter say "tomorrow the New York Times is reporting....."

By the way, was E. G. Sabastain assigned to chat up reporters and report back to dispatch what they were talking about?

No.

So what? Was Victoria Adams a police officer? Yet she still overheard a message on the DPD radio. Regardless of what Sabastian's assignment was, that doesn't preclude that he overheard somebody saying a fellow officer was DOA and wanted to check with the DPD dispatcher if that was true.

https://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/dpdtapes/tapes2.htm

1:25
75 (Ptm. E. G. Sabastian)      75 is at Forest and Central

which I interpret as Officer Sabastian is in his patrol car at the intersection of Forest Lane and North Central Expressway, several miles north of Dealey Plaza and police headquarters and not likely to encounter any reporters. And reports from “NBC News” has to be coming in over the radio.

You can interpret that as much as you like, but it is meaningless. If he had heard a report on the radio he would have known that it was Tippit who was DOA, but he clearly did not know that because he asked the dispatcher "That the officer".

Another point of interest is this. Let's say you're right and Sabastian did hear it on the radio at 1.25 or just before that. According to the official narrative, Tippit was allegedly shot at 1.14/1.15 and picked up by an ambulance at 1.18. The drive to Methodist Hospital from 10th/Patton is about 4 minutes, which puts the arrival of the ambulance at 1.22. There were no reporters with the ambulance, only Davenport's police car which started following the ambulance en route. Back in those days reporters had to call in stories by phone, so for the story to be broadcast at no later than 1.25, there were only three minutes, after the ambulance arrival, available for a reporter to get to Methodist Hospital, talk to a doctor, find a phone and call it in and get the story on the air..... Not very likely...

Now, if Tippit was really shot at around 1.06 or 1.07 it would be a different matter, but I don't think you want to be having that discussion....

[Joe Elliott]

It is now clear to me that in general, the local radio stations were not recording anything when they heard about the assassination

Pray tell, just how did that become clear to you?

My at least two stations, KBOX and WFAA, starting there recording at some random moment, an hour or so after the news broke about the assassination.

If the radio stations were all recording their broadcasts, why are we missing so much of the first hour with multiple stations?

[Joe Elliott]

Why would the reporter that Sabsatian possibly overheard be at DPD headquarters? Cops on the street meet people and overhear conversations all the time. Sabastian may well have known the reporter to be a NBC News employee, and when he heard him say the officer was DOA he simply got curious and wanted to get confirmation by calling it in. Since names of people were/are not normally broadcast on police radio, he may well have gotten around that by saying "NBC News is reporting..."

“NBC News is reporting DOA” means hearing a media broadcast, either over TV or radio.

For every person who says something like “NBC News is reporting . . .” and says this because of an NBC reporter that they just happened to talk to, there are thousands who would say this because of what they heard on TV or over the radio. Yes, it’s possible that a reporter wearing a badge saying “NBC News” stopped officer Sabastian in his squad car, miles from Dealey Plaza, and told him, “There is something I need to tell you. A police officer has been reported DOA.” But it is not likely.

[Martin Weidmann]

My at least two stations, KBOX and WFAA, starting there recording at some random moment, an hour or so after the news broke about the assassination.

If the radio stations were all recording their broadcasts, why are we missing so much of the first hour with multiple stations?

My at least two stations, KBOX and WFAA, starting there recording at some random moment, an hour or so after the news broke about the assassination.

This is a mere assumption on your part, based on the fact that you have no earlier recordings. It's does not prove that "the local radio stations were not recording anything when they heard about the assassination"

If the radio stations were all recording their broadcasts, why are we missing so much of the first hour with multiple stations?


That's a good question for which I have no answer. I can only speculate about what could have happened to those tapes. But absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. What I do find somewhat strange is that two stations would start taping about an hour after the news broke. That, to me, is too much of a coincidence. Why, if they weren't taping already, would they wait an entire hour?

[Martin Weidmann]

For every person who says something like “NBC News is reporting . . .” and says this because of an NBC reporter that they just happened to talk to, there are thousands who would say this because of what they heard on TV or over the radio. Yes, it’s possible that a reporter wearing a badge saying “NBC News” stopped officer Sabastian in his squad car, miles from Dealey Plaza, and told him, “There is something I need to tell you. A police officer has been reported DOA.” But it is not likely.

Yes, it’s possible that a reporter wearing a badge saying “NBC News” stopped officer Sabastian in his squad car, miles from Dealey Plaza, and told him, “There is something I need to tell you. A police officer has been reported DOA.”

Here you go again... repeating the same stuff that has already been proven incorrect in the other thread. Perhaps that's why you jumped to this thread again. Sabastian wasn't miles from Dealey Plaza. At around 1.25 he was near 400 Jefferson East in Oak Cliff, which is where the dispatcher told him to go after a jacket was found at a parking lot there.

Nobody stopped Sabastian in his patrol car. That's just BS. Far more likely is that Sabastian arrived at 400 Jefferson East and overheard somebody say that a cop was DOA, and possibly that they heard it on NBC News even though we know that couldn't have been the case, so he quickly asked the dispatcher.

Your desperation to cling to the notion of a radio broadcast about Tippit being shot or killed at 1.25 is getting tiresome. In the other thread it has already been explained to you that, if the official narrative is true, Tippit was declared dead at Methodist Hospital at 1.22. Back in those days there were no live links. All stories had to be called in by phone. There simply is no way that any radio station could have put out a broadcast about Tippit at 1.25. And no such broadcast has ever surfaced.