From Publishers Weekly
Before November 22, 1963, people depended on the morning or afternoon newspaper for their news. But once Kennedy was shot, America turned to television for up-to-the-minute reports—most of which were supplied that fatal weekend by Huffaker, Mercer, Phenix and Wise of Dallas's KRLD, a CBS affiliate. As Huffaker explains, back then a TV reporter had to be able to do everything, from getting the scoop at the scene to writing the piece and reading it on the air. Mercer describes the huge sound cameras they'd lug, with film that they'd have to process and edit in time for the next newscast. As each of the authors gives his account of the segment of the Kennedy assassination he was most involved with—the race to get the injured president to the hospital, Oswald's flight and capture, Ruby's shooting of Oswald and Ruby's trial—he opens a window into that earlier era of broadcast history. In the conclusion, the contributors make comparisons to today's "embedded" reporters. One big difference emerges: in 1963, the KRLD crew had a whole nation awaiting their latest report. The integrity and dedication of these four veteran journalists is impressive, as is their ability to make a 40-year-old event come alive again. 43 b&w photos. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Editorial Review, Publishers Weekly
. . .[their] integrity and dedication . . . is impressive, as is their ability to make a 40-year-old event come alive again.

Editorial Review, Library Journal
. . . a fast-paced recounting . . . thought-provoking chapters about . . . news and its uncertain future. Recommended for academic and public libraries . . . .

Book Description
Broadcast journalism came of age in the Kennedy Assassination crisis and helped to hold a mourning nation together. Four reporters on the scene relate their experiences.

From the Publisher
The authors of this riveting first-person account, Bob Huffaker, Bill Mercer, George Phenix, and Wes Wise, were reporters for the Dallas CBS affiliate KRLD Radio-TV News, one of America’s largest and best equipped news organizations. These journalists covered Texas and worked with Dan Rather, Walter Cronkite, and the rest of CBS News in bringing area news to the nation. When covering JFK’s Dallas visit suddenly evolved into reporting a worldwide tragedy, they kept as calm as possible, to encourage the world to remain sane. At the epicenter of that crisis KRLD News earned the nation’s highest honor for its on-the-scene reporting, presented by the Radio Television News Directors Association, which recognized the KRLD News staff’s reaction to the sudden tragedy: "KRLD deserves the highest praise for the manner in which its personnel moved without a moment of hesitation from what was to have been normal coverage of the arrival, presentation and departure of the President, into fascinating, elaborate, complete and deeply detailed coverage at the local level of what has to be easily the story of our modern lives."

From the Author
Here, finally, is the view from the street about November 22, 1963. This reporters' account of the Kennedy assassination brings to full focus the personal anguish as well as the professional pressure endured that day by those who could not take the time to cry. This book will become part of the real and permanent history of a dark day for America. Jim Lehrer, The NewsHour

From the Inside Flap
The minutes, hours, and days after President Kennedy was shot provided no ready answers about just what was going on, what would happen next, or what any of it meant. There was, instead, a jumble of images, impressions, and information, very little of which had yet taken coherent form. Uncertainty reigned, not tidy story lines. For millions of Americans transfixed by the terrible breaking news, television emerged as a way to keep track of it all. But the journalists who brought the story to the television airwaves could only rely on their skill, their experience, and their stamina to make sense of what was clearly, at the time, the biggest story of their lives.

About the Author
Bob Huffaker broadcast the motorcade, Parkland Hospital scene, and the shooting of Oswald. He interviewed the assassin’s mother, and his interview with Ruby won the Texas Association of Broadcasters award. An investigative reporter, Huffaker produced a nationally recognized documentary on Black Muslims. He was an Army officer and policeman, and he taught as an English professor until 1980, when, as investigator for the Texas Legislature, he exposed his university for falsifying class records. In 2004, the university, now Texas State U., honored him in its Star Hall of Fame for defending press freedom when he headed its student publications committee from 1974 through 1980.Huffaker was editor for Texas Monthly, Studies in the Novel, Studies in American Humor, and The Modern Humanities Research Association Bibliography. His book John Fowles is seminal scholarship on Fowles. He has written for Southern Humanities Review, The Dallas Observer, True West, and Texas Parks & Wildlife. Bill Mercer stood vigil at Dallas Police headquarters and confronted Lee Oswald in a midnight press showing. Among flowers at JFK's death site, he reported words of sympathy on wreaths—and on the minds of those gathered to express grief at JFK’s death. Mercer is a broadcast pioneer, the voice of the Dallas Cowboys, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, University of North Texas Eagles, and the Cotton Bowl. He wrote a history of the Navy LCI: combat landing craft on which he served in the Pacific during World War II. He is a member of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame, baseball’s Texas All-Pro’s Hall of Fame, and University of North Texas Athletic Hall of Fame. He teaches radio-TV at UNT. He broadcast television wrestling for decades, earning a vast following with what became the most popular TV show in Israel. George Phenix has spent his life in press and politics. After leaving KRLD News, he was a lobbyist for the Texas Municipal League. He wrote speeches and television shows for political figures including Governor Preston Smith. He ran the Washington office of Congressman J.J. Pickle, writing some 250 speeches for the legislator in a single year. After four years in the nation’s capitol, he returned to Texas as Executive Assistant to US Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Phenix published several weekly newspapers, and he is publisher and co-founder of Texas Weekly, the state’s oldest and largest political newsletter. Wes Wise is a pioneer of sports broadcasting. In the 1940s and 1950s, he was a well-known baseball play-by-play announcer for the nationwide Liberty Broadcasting System. He was Southwest Correspondent for Sports Illustrated, and his writing appeared in Time and Life.His numerous awards include three Press Club of Dallas "Katies" and the Southwest Journalism Forum award from Southern Methodist University.Wise became Mayor of Dallas in 1971, serving as President of Texas Municipal League and board member of the US Conference of Mayors.He touched more developments of the assassination than most reporters. As president of the Dallas Press Club, he escorted Adlai Stevenson at the day’s press conference before capturing the only newsfilm of the attacks on the UN Ambassador. He covered the motorcade, played a double role at the aborted luncheon, encountered Jack Ruby the day before he shot Oswald, waited at the county jail for the Oswald transfer that went wrong, and testified for both sides in the Ruby trial.In his five years as Dallas’ mayor, Wes Wise helped the city overcome its tarnished reputation. As Dallas’ first independent mayor in decades, he helped the city toward racial equity, guided it through desegregation and the uneasy Sixties, fought to memorialize JFK’s life and death, and with support of Dallasites, pulled the city up from international disgrace.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

When the News Went Live: Dallas 1963, a thoughtful and fast-moving book by four former Dallas broadcasters, is earning widespread respect of journalists and other readers who praise its depth, authority, and readability. This compelling first-person account is being touted as perhaps the clearest view yet of the JFK assassination and its aftermath. From separate and interwoven viewpoints at the center of that tragedy, four authors show what really happened, how they covered the stunning events for the nation, and how radio and television news has developed through the decades, both technically and ethically. The book is already in its second printing.

The tellers of this vivid tale, Bob Huffaker, Bill Mercer, George Phenix, and Wes Wise, reported for the Dallas CBS affiliate KRLD Radio-TV News, one of America's largest and best equipped news operations. They worked with Dan Rather, Walter Cronkite, and CBS News in bringing Texas news to the nation. When broadcasting JFK's Dallas visit suddenly evolved into reporting a worldwide tragedy, they kept as calm as possible, to encourage the world to remain sane.

In the center of that crisis, they earned the nation's highest honor for their on-the-scene reporting, presented by the Radio Television News Directors Association, which wrote, "KRLD deserves the highest praise for the manner in which its personnel moved without a moment of hesitation from what was to have been normal coverage of the arrival, presentation and departure of the President, into fascinating, elaborate, complete and deeply detailed coverage at the local level of what has to be easily the story of our modern lives."  

Bob Huffaker broadcast television's first murder when Jack Ruby shot Lee Oswald. He broadcast the motorcade and the Parkland Hospital scene, interviewed the slain assassin's mother, covered Jack Ruby's trial and finally his death, having conducted an award-winning courtroom interview with Ruby.  He earned the Ph.D. and was an English professor until 1980, when, as investigator for the Texas Legislature, he exposed his university for falsifying class records. This year the university, now Texas State University, placed him in its Star hall of fame for defending press freedom when he headed its student publications committee in the 1970s.

 Huffaker was an editor for Texas Monthly, Studies in the Novel, Studies in American Humor, and Modern Humanities Research Association. His book John Fowles is cited as seminal scholarship about the novelist, and his work has appeared in Southern Humanities Review, The Dallas Observer, True West, Senior Advocate, and Texas Parks & Wildlife.   

 Bill Mercer stood vigil at Dallas Police headquarters and confronted Lee Oswald in a midnight press showing, where he informed the assassin that police had charged him with the president's murder.  Among flowers at the assassination site, Mercer reported words of sympathy on wreaths-and on the minds of those who gathered in grief at JFK's murder.                

Voice of the Dallas Cowboys, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, University of North Texas, and the Cotton Bowl, Mercer is honored in the Texas Radio Hall of Fame, Texas All-Pro's Hall of Fame, and UNT Athletic Hall of Fame. He also gained fame as a wrestling announcer and wrote a history of the Navy LCI: World War II combat landing craft on which he served in the Pacific. George Phenix has spent his life in press and politics.  After leaving KRLD News, he was lobbyist for the Texas Municipal League. He wrote speeches and television shows for a number of politicians including Governor Preston Smith and Congressman J.J. Pickle. After four years as Pickle's aide in Washington, he returned to Texas as Executive Assistant to US Senator Lloyd Bentsen.  Phenix published weekly newspapers around Austin and for more than two decades has published the premier newsletter Texas Weekly, which he founded. 

Wes Wise, as president of the Dallas Press Club, escorted Adlai Stevenson at the press conference before later filming the night's attacks upon the UN Ambassador. He helped prepare JFK's security for the next month's Dallas visit, broadcast the motorcade and the scene at the Trade Mart, encountered Jack Ruby the day before Ruby shot Oswald, waited at the county jail for the aborted Oswald transfer, and testified in the Ruby trial.

Wise was a well-known baseball announcer for Liberty Broadcasting System in the 1940s and 1950s.  He wrote for Sports Illustrated, Time and Life, winning Southern Methodist University's Southwest Journalism Forum award, among others.

Wise was elected mayor of Dallas in 1971 after four years as councilman.  He was president of the Texas Municipal League and board member of the US Conference of Mayors. In five years as mayor, Wes Wise helped Dallas overcome its tarnished reputation.  He not only reported this segment of history; he made some of it himself.  As a reporter, he set records straight; as Dallas' first independent mayor in decades, he helped the city toward racial equity, guided it through desegregation and the uneasy Sixties, fought to memorialize JFK's life and death, and helped pulled the city up from international disgrace. 

FROM THE CRITICS

Jim Lehrer - The NewsHour

Here, finally, is the view from the street about November 22, 1963. This reporters' account of the Kennedy assassination brings to full focus the personal anguish as well as the professional pressure endured that day by those who could not take the time to cry. This book will become part of the real and permanent history of a dark day for America.

Kent Biffle - The Dallas Morning News

This book has more legs than the Rockettes. The slim page-turner possesses a crisp, objective quality that, like a good movie, never stops moving.

Bob Schieffer - CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent

The first accounts of how the Kennedy assassination happened came from the local radio and TV reporters of Dallas. For the first time, some of the best of those reporters tell the gritty tale of how they did it. The story they tell is riveting, insightful and filled with new detail about that awful weekend that changed America.

Dan Rather - CBS News

People often ask me "what it was really like" to be in Dallas on the day Kennedy was shot. . . . When the News Went Live provides an eloquent answer to that tough question, as four newsmen who were there, on the ground, tell how it "really was" through their eyes and ears.

Sterlin Holmesly - The San Antonio Express-News