CBS RADIO NET ALERT NEWS REPORT, JULY 13, 1977

CBS RADIO NET ALERT NEWS REPORT, JULY 13, 1977
CBS Radio News broke into affiliates’ regular broadcast schedule, with reporter David Jackson (1945-2015) reporting on a major power blackout which had just hit New York City.
The power went out at 9:34 p.m. local time. A lightning strike was being blamed for the outage and CBS News Broadcast Center was operating on emergency power. Mayor Abraham Beame declared New York City a public emergency. New York airports were closed and traffic in the downtown was bedlam. Reporter Doug Poling described the scene from the corner of 57th and 8th Avenues on what he called a “hot, muggy night” (it was 90 degrees F). Reporter Jerry Landay (1929-2013) also calls in a description of the scene from his vantage point. Local WCBS Radio’s Jerry Nachman (1946-2004) details the steps the city was taking during the blackout. NOTE: Click on my "Playlist" and hear all the radio newscasts placed in chronological order. My Lowell Thomas reports are being placed in a separate playlist as time permits.

[@cfishel15]

This was the first night I discovered WCBS on my radio in Virginia Beach - a night to remember!

[@josephacri3908]

Thank you Charles for another great slice of a memorable time😊

[@FootyOnTheRadio]

i love the stuff you put up.

[@jeffreyreyes6800]

What a scary time for new york

[@myklehicks32]

It was my 8th birthday on that day when the blackout came. It was July 13th 1977. My mother had a celebration for me.

[@polskilis3308]

I also was Born on the 13th of july

[@johnpastore7685]

I was 11 years old, living in Howard Beach Queens NY.

[@Manunkachunk]

That final description of “bedlam, people everywhere” came directly from WCBS anchor Ben Farnsworth in midtown that night.

[@TheBrooklynbodine]

I live in Fairmont, West Virginia, and listen to the CBS Evening News online on WCBS-AM. I wish WCBS-AM would go back to a five-minute newscast at the top of the hour. All in all, though WCBS 880 is a damned (pardon my French) good station.

[@altfactor]

CBS correspondent Doug Polling's (so?) report was from a location just two blocks from the case News headquarters (Polling's report was from the corner of 8th Avenue and West 57th Street; the CBS News headquarters was/is just past the corner of West 57th Street and 10th Avenue (as you head towards the Hudson).

[@jp_ribeiropena]

Wow! I guess this has been featured on a PBS documentary about the Blackout. Incredible recording

[@tillyny]

I remember that day so well...my family had gone from upstate NY to the Bronx and Westchester to visit family. We were on our way home, and Dad had pulled into a filling station (hot, muggy evening and no air conditioning in the station wagon) to top off the tank for the ride home. We got about three blocks past the station when there was a lightning (which still scares the bejesus out of me) strike and then everything went instantly dark around us...every house, business, street light, traffic signal, etc. Not a light in sight except for the headlights of the vehicles on the Taconic Pkwy. It was really creepy.

[@davidspear9619]

Remember it all well. 10 years old, living in Nassau County with my single Mom and younger Sister. It started when the TV transmitters went dead and I believe we'd temporarily lost power on Long Island, as well. Combine this mess with the ongoing threat and unknown location of the Son of Sam killer, it was high anxiety time.

[@alantorres6097]

Boy, what I wouldn't give to hear extended coverage of this! About the closest thing I can find are two videos, each roughly 45 minutes long, of WABC radio coverage. And I don't even think the second one starts at the same time the first one ends.

[@colettenasielski8190]

I Remember This Thank You

[@Diskoboy1974]

The Net Alert intro always creeped me out for some reason.

[@robertwelchny]

I'll bet it was by design. It is a special report

[@rasheedali615]

I’m not sure why they got rid of that jingle. I always liked it. The new digital version isn’t as good.

[@claytonbrown7100]

That alert tone scared the daylights out of me when I was little.

[@Diskoboy1974]

​@@robertwelchnyThey also used it for their top of the hour network news breaks.

[@janetoconnor3636]

Not me IMHO it was a very funny and unique kind of sound which I never hear the nEt alert just the regular CBS sounder and I am in my early 60's so I remember all three network soundsers.

[@johnpastore7685]

I remember this radio broadcast

[@colettenasielski8190]

I Remember This

[@gli7utubeo]

Really Bad Day for the city...; of course nobody thought of the bad days to come decades later in 2001 or 2020. Time marches on.

[@mytimemachine]

Having been born in neighboring Connecticut, I can say that New Yorkers are remarkably strong people. They certainly have weathered a lot in recent years.

[@TheBrooklynbodine]

They also had a blackout in 2003 (the most recent), and going way, WAY back, 1965.

[@TheBrooklynbodine]

@@mytimemachine Well, as the Frank Sinatra song says "If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere," and I'm beginning to believe it more and more.

[@gli7utubeo]

@@mytimemachine Also, it goes without saying of course. BIG thanks for all your excellent airchecks over the years. Some of the best on youtube or anywhere. Real slices of life.

[@mytimemachine]

@@gli7utubeo Thank you so much--I'm glad you are enjoying these recordings.

[@martinarg101]

I was born that day.

[@TheBrooklynbodine]

Bet your parents had some stories to tell you, huh? I've lived in West Virginia all my life. I turned 14 a few weeks earlier and remember it well.

[@B.J.Murphy-fr8pz]

Then what was added a missile Intel agency another sat somethings there