The Press: When the News Tickers Fell Silent

On ABC Baretta was solving a murder. A new pair of made-for-TV lovers (Italian and Jewish, natch) were trying to get it all together on CBS. Susan and Sam, an NBC comedy pilot, was getting a midsummer test flight. Then—phfft!—all over the U.S.

So heavy is the concentration of communications operations in midtown Manhattan that the New York blackout had an impact that was immediately felt throughout the nation—and the world as well. All three networks transmit their signals from New York by air waves to relay towers and satellites—or by cables—for pickups by affiliate stations across the country. The two major U.S. wire services, Associated Press and United Press International, feed news from New York headquarters to more than 16,000 U.S. and foreign newspapers, radio stations and TV news desks. Scores of New York-based syndicates, ranging from Dow Jones and King Features to Hearst and Fairchild, also transmit daily features (political columns, advice to the lovelorn, gardening tips and much, much more) by electronic impulse to thousands of clients. When the dynamos serving New York went dead, so—at least briefly—did a large portion of international communications.

Hard Hit. All three networks were back on the air within six to eleven minutes after they had been blacked out. At CBS and NBC, emergency power systems atop the Empire State Building were quickly activated. ABC, lacking such a system, had to switch its broadcast feed clear across the continent to Los Angeles. The networks were not as successful in letting their viewers know just what had happened. All finally came across with bulletins that broke into their regular programming after 10 p.m.

Newspapers across the country were particularly hard hit. The major snafu was in getting wire service copy. A.P. officials say that the blackout caused about a 1½hr. delay in moving copy, but in a number of cities the wait was considerably longer. U.P.I, was not even that lucky. Without A.P.'s back-up system of regional computers, U.P.I, had to dictate its New York stories by phone. U.P.I, could not resume normal operations until 6 p.m. the next day.

With deadlines at hand and the normally clattering wire service tickers standing mute, editors all over the world had visions of gaping holes in their newspapers. In Houston, Post Night Editor Ernie Williams fretted: "I had only three paragraphs on the downing of the helicopter in Korea, and five graphs on the blackout. But how was I going to put giant heads on stories like that?" Fortunately for Williams, the A.P. wire started moving just at deadline, and he was able to flesh out his two top stories. For Cincinnati Post Sports Editor Tom Tuley, the biggest problem of the evening was getting the ball scores. He fared well by telephoning U.S. cities, but when he called Montreal, everybody at the other end kept saying "On ne parle pas anglais. "He finally called Pittsburgh for the Expo-Pirate figures.