1989 Loma Prieta World Series Earthquake Coverage (ABC & CNN)

The earthquake occurs at 7:04 pm Central Time. This is my attempt to bring together as much coverage as possible of this event. I have used CNN coverage to fill in some of the gaps. This is the most coverage I have found from those first few minutes following the quake.
Video Chapters
0:00 Broadcast Begins
3:59 Tim McCarver Highlights
4:32 "I'll tell you what we're having an Earth...."
6:01 CNN First Report on Earthquake
6:31 CNN Second Report on Earthquake
9:07 CNN Third Report on Earthquake
21:46 ABC News Special Report
32:57 Return to CNN Live Coverage of Earthquake
47:32 CNN Special Report
58:57 ABC News Special Report (In Progress)

[@StormSpotterMike]

I have added chapters in the video to help you navigate through some of the coverage.

[@pattiecermak3442]

And my brother was nineteen

[@RageTVHTX]

@@pattiecermak3442 me too

[@denelson83]

@@pattiecermak3442 My brother turned 15 on that very day.

[@jonwop]

Mike, I have been following you for years. Your posts of raw news coverage is a great primary resource into the history of these important events. Thank you!

[@bradbyington6662]

Al Michaels goes from play by play man to a news reporter. That’s a testament to his professionalism and abilities.

[@sambaker7703]

BAR NONE

[@weworks7811]

@@sambaker7703 I c what u did there

[@claytondusauzay6745]

Al Michaels was definitely the MVP this night. Gave much of the country much needed updates from the area.

[@JH-lu9lx]

Al Michaels is the G.O.A.T

[@golfberg1]

What's the Difference ?

[@elizabethm.6960]

Props to Ted Koppel for saying he wasn’t going to “babble on” and keep repeating the same unconfirmed info. That’s responsible reporting.

[@m.woodsrobinson9244]

So different from today, that's for sure.

[@TASCO26]

When news was news. Great reporting by CNN back in the day.

[@Stormpix]

I was thinking the same thing - I'm only 15 minutes into the video and I realized how much I've forgotten about how news used to be presented. It just seemed more professional - even their voices had a more sophisticated sound about them...I could listen to Bernard Shaw talk for hours.

[@ekop1778]

now its RACIST FAKE NEWS TODAY

[@taekwondotime]

Sad how far they've fallen.

[@taekwondotime]

These days you can't work at CNN unless you're a homosexual.

[@nickmitchell8689]

CNN breaking news division is still top notch as is the Fox News breaking news division. The problem with all the news networks is that opinion programming has overtaken real news so you only see the true news reporting at times of crisis.

[@zanemarte9877]

4:23 Shaking starts 4:34 Quake reaches San Francisco

[@taydrabrookshire347]

I got an ad ☺️

[@marshamariner7897]

Sounds like San Andreas when it started in LA and SF was quite then it hit. THATS the SCAREY part

[@Ronbo710]

I was working in Livermore that afternoon. It was insane shaking. What is amazing is where the bridge collapsed is right at the superstructure section coming out of the water. Had it been over an open section (under the bridge) it looks like it would have taken out the bottom deck right into the water.

[@ThatGuyInPhilly]

Senior in high school watching this and not sure what the hell happened? I changed the channel....the breaking news hit pretty much all networks kicked in. I was up until 1-2am watching coverage...with school the next day. I kept recalling the replay of the one car driving on the upper deck of the Bay Bridge, not knowing of the broken section just plunge, disappear to the lower deck.

[@RageTVHTX]

Anyone notice the hesitation from Tim McCarver just before the signal goes out. I think he noticed something was happening

[@denelson83]

I certainly did. He was feeling the quake right at that moment, and it tripped him up.

[@APOCALYPSE_X-MEN]

@@denelson83 I think you can hear Al Michaels saying "I think we're having an earthquake!" before the signal was lost.

[@denelson83]

@@APOCALYPSE_X-MEN He said "I tell you what, we're having an earth"...

[@allisoncorona7381]

@@APOCALYPSE_X-MEN That's what my Los Angeles newspaper's headline read the next day; "We're having an earth..."

[@alexanderdicola7397]

RIP Tim Mcarver

[@CTstardust]

I saw a video on this event in grade 7 science, it’s what got me into historic events and natural disasters in the first place. Its interesting “experiencing” these events in real time.

[@Mark-xl1ze]

Same also since I'm a baseball fan as well.

[@Star__girl626]

Same

[@SuddenUpdraft]

I was in San Francisco. The irony is that the rest of the country could watch this, but since there was no power we couldn’t. It was surreal and scary as hell.

[@jcngokai-76]

If I remember correctly, power didn’t even come back on until early morning on October 18, at the earliest, as late as the morning of October 20, and I couldn’t stop crying throughout the evening into the night.

[@gabrielquesnot7840]

I will always remember October 17, 1989 not just because of the earthquake, and not just because it happened before the start of the WS, but mainly because it happened on my brother and my uncle's birthday! We live in the central valley town of Modesto, CA. We were supposed to get together at my Aunt's house that day for their birthday party. My dad was watching the WS introduction while my mother was in the restroom getting herself ready. My brother was walking around the house. Then all of a sudden I hear my mother shouting at the top of her lungs "EARTHQUAKE!" As she shouted "earthquake," the tv went out, we felt the floor shake, a cabinet they had in the kitchen was rocking back and forth but thankfully it did not tip over and spilled a lot of miniature statues that they had. And finally we lost power to the house. Luckily there was no major damage to the house. We went straight to my Aunt's and Uncle's house. They were out of power as well. Didn't come back on til almost 2 hrs later. I assumed that's when the power came back on my parents house as well. It was something that my family and I will never forget. Thank you for posting this video.

[@tarheelking2515]

I like to say you were very brave telling your story and I know the events still haunt you to this day and to all baseball fans in 1989 this will never forget this

[@gabrielquesnot7840]

@@tarheelking2515 It never really haunted me. It was just the fact that the earthquake happened on my brother and uncle's birthday. That's why I remember that event very well.

[@baltazarcornejo1478]

Fellow Modestan!

[@gabrielquesnot7840]

@@baltazarcornejo1478 👍

[@glendabarton45barton48]

It was a strange day altogether! I woke up on Tuesday, October 17, 1989, in my apartment on Haight Street in San Francisco. It was unusually hot and muggy and I thought I had a miscarriage, I passed a clot of blood. My husband took to SF General (now Zuckerberg) Hospital and dropped me off, took off to visit his Mom in Daly City. I remember sitting in the waiting room, thinking about earthquakes. I looked at a man sitting right underneath a bulky t.v. fastened to the wall (no flat screens then). I thought of saying something to him but I thought better of it and moved out from my seat under a huge window. Soon I was in a Warren of dark windowless cells, or exam rooms, and it seemed completely deserted and kind of spooky, dark but like they were renovating back there. I seemed to be the only one back there. I had undressed, say on the exam table, and it started to move, more and more powerfully. I dashed to my favorite spot during an earthquake (good or bad I don't know but I feel safer with less wall above me and the support of the frame). I am a Nichiren Buddhist and I chanted "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo" at the top of my lungs, shouted it actually for 15 seconds which is how long the quake lasted. Terrified, I ran out, told the nurse bye and went across the street to a bar to try to call my hubby on a wall phone (no cellphones either). The phone didn't work, everyone was freaked out but soon my husband arrived in the parking lot of the hospital. He had driven 100 mph on 101 with almost no traffic, no lights,no cops.. .yet anyway We hung out, like people do, with his Mom and listened to the shocking news coming in, death, fire, just terrible scary times. Afterward my husband and I drove around the City and ogled the scenes of apocalyptic madness,flames reaching to the skies, it was dark, smoky, sirens blaring, the Bay Bridge hulking menacingly dark where one person died when a small section of the roadway fell in and she drove into it. There was no electricity or public transportation. In my apartment nothing fell off the walls or broke. The apartment doors were out of plumb but that was nothing. We were very lucky. We later found out that the double-decker Cypress Freeway I-880 top deck had pancaked, trapping and crushing many people. Here's the part that gave me goosebumps:. The week before,for no appreciable reason, my husband changed his day off to Tuesdays. If he hadn't, he would have been the driver of the Airport Express that picked up a woman and her young boy and at exactly 5:02 p.m., would have experienced for a few seconds or minutes the terrifying knowledge of pancaking cement roadway coming down on them before crushing to 18 inches high. It was his co-worker who died, along with the passengers and it was just terrible, tragic beyond measure. I chanted later for them and their families. Another strange thing was that my son was working as home run usher in Candlestick Park burning the World Series. On the day of Game Three of the World Series he stayed at home because he was tired of fans pelting him with popcorn and other flying edibles and watched the game at home. He's convinced but for that, he could have been under a cement overhang that was the only thing that fell in Candlestick Park. And I found out I didn't have a miscarriage after all. My son Vincent was safely tucked away in my tummy, having missed the biggest earthquake in quite some time. Or did he miss it?

[@mynewyork165]

The beginning is so eerie, knowing what's going to happen.

[@redditor2112]

Thanks for putting this on bro

[@petermoran2832]

This was almost reminiscent of Jim McKay's 20-plus hours covering the Munich Olympics tragedy 17 years before.

[@garylagstrom3864]

I remember my first visit to San Francisco was in July and August of 1989. I remember flying back to LA from SF and seeing the San Andreas Fault and thinking I wonder when this fault will generate another large earthquake. I got my answer on Tuesday October 17th while watching the World Series on TV like everyone else! I’ll never forget it! TELL YOU WHAT WERE HAVING AN EARTH…..Al Michaels before being knocked off the air by the 7.0 Earthquake in Game 3 of the World Series October 17th 1989.

[@traybern]

I TOLD you could win a World Series with just TWO starting pitchers!!!!

[@mariaconcettamanzi6128]

Rip Peter Jennings

[@robjohnson1530]

@StormSpotterMike I am loving these videos... these eyes have seen a lot in nearly 36 years on Earth, its nice to see them again :)

[@rsprockets7846]

THE PERFECT STORM FOR BROADCASTERS MAJOR EVENT HAD ALL NEWS PERSONELL IN FIELD WITH MINICAMCREWS TO DOCUMENT THEM INDEPENDENT OF THEIR PRODUCERS ADD THE SATT TRUCKS ABLE TO REBOOT AND GET THE SIGNAL OUT OF AREAS INDEPENDENT OF LAND LINES MADE IT POSSIBLE TO REAL TIME THE EVENT EPIC REPORTING

[@RageTVHTX]

1:53:07 Wow one thing I remember from watching this coverage were the images inside the dark and empty Candlestick Park. Was interesting to me then that there was still a live camera there. When I remembered this event over the years I still remember this

[@JJAcrosstheUSA]

I was 10 when this happened. I remember watching the pre-game and then watching the ABC News special report until 2 in the morning.

[@lesliechan31]

I'll never forget this day. I lived in Oakland at the time and it was the scariest thing I've ever gone through.

[@jennieC_]

Thanks I remember when this happened

[@georgesenda1952]

We felt it 10 miles north of downtown Sacramento.

[@Srdjana-]

I was 13 years old, in my bedroom, in Pittsburgh, watching game 3 pregame when the screen went bonkers and I knew something bad happened.

[@surferpam1]

Loma Prieta quake - 6.9; Northridge quake (1994) 6.7

[@Crazy4BobSaget]

RIP Bernard Shaw who passed last year

[@tourover9249]

I lived in Sacramento during that time, but i was visiting my brother all the way in Warner Robins, GA.

[@alexlevingston]

I've been to Warner Robins twice in 2009. One for my band competition Second is when my school football team made the playoffs. Warner Robins is a cool name. It sounds like a restaurant name.

[@jenhaley]

still remember this during the baseball game.

[@ElLuis1122]

Interesting, I don’t usually watch baseball games. But that day I happened to have the interest to watch this specific game 0n tv back in my country. I remember the image getting all messed up and the announcers from our local channel saying there was probably a problem with the satellite signal. Instead of looking for anything else just stayed tuned to the same channel until they popped back on saying the game was canceled because of some major earthquake. We were able to get the news, but watched the images until the next day. That’s my story from that day.

[@ajk]

were or weren't? that's wild though, where are you from?

[@ElLuis1122]

@@ajk I'm from Guatemala and living in Los Angeles since 94.

[@RageTVHTX]

Kind of the same with me. I really hadn’t been into sports much less watching it at all since I was 10. For some reason I decided to tune in and I was glued for the rest of the night.

[@tarheelking2515]

The 49ers has to play some home games at Palo alto at Stanford university because of damage of candlestick park

[@Mark-xl1ze]

Yeah.... they played the Patriots.

[@jennifershrader1687]

I hope ABC retired that ‘Now you’re home’ song

[@walteryoung5247]

I was a kid when this happened. My dad and i was watching with dinner mom made for the family dad and i was talking about the series. When it started i was like omg. Dad got very quiet. He on the phone to California real fast.

[@christopher3386]

The Tim Conway commercial is the best part of this.

[@christophersermeno8631]

When you need a play by play man for natural disasters...you get Al Michael's....

[@claytondusauzay6745]

Definitely one of those "where were you when..." moments.

[@tedmontana2745]

I was waching the game .....like all normal People around the world .

[@deannelson9565]

I still find it amazing how much they just sort of gloss over the complete collapse of the Nimitz freeway. For so long obviously is not is great for TV cameras is the fire god of the Marina District but damn that's where the ductal racks up the most and it's obvious the second you see it.

[@noahleon1235]

The same date was in Kane's backrooms video of the first contact one.

[@magdalenasoul1734]

Dear Spotter Mike. My name is Magdalena Soul. I have a radio station called kmsf-db. I would like to convert this video to audio and air it live. I live in san francisco and remember this earthquake. I would do it as a tribute

[@almostfm]

When they took the bases off the field, that means they're not playing that night.

[@chadhOneAtl]

The reporter asking an average reporter in San Francisco. Not an expert. “What magnitude was that earthquake?”

[@JJAcrosstheUSA]

Something odd I picked up At 1:47:53 the on-screen graphic says “The Stadium” rather than “Candlestick Park”. Granted they changed it moments later but that just stuck out to me. That and the time 1:42:23 displayed when they were showing the fire jumped ahead 2 minutes.

[@Dorthy-wx9fq]

I remember this earthquake, my mom was watching it on TV and when the earthquake happened it knocked the station off the air and she asked me "what happened?" I didn't know so got my keys and went out to my car and got on the radio to find out if they knew, was an oldys station and I drove a 1964 Dodge Dart. And it was not on either. By the time I got back in it was on TV.

[@KARLMARTIN8595]

In the ABC News Specoial Is the back rooms video stolen by Kane Pixels

[@rsprockets7846]

1:40:42 IS THAT ROSEANNE????

[@penguinsports46]

4:36 signal hijacked due to earthquake

[@jcngokai-76]

That was 5:04 pm PST and there’s no signal hijack at all. Electric breakup kept happening during the earthquake. I was utterly distraught by the constant shaking throughout the evening. I felt the earthquake when I was doing my homework.

[@jeepthing98]

yikes ABC reported the Golden Gate bridge had collapsed?? @18:03

[@jeffreycooper5187]

Always thought Sydney Kohara was pretty!

[@liampaynefan4life496]

I was 2 years old

[@kclefthanded427]

A story within a story, what are the odds?

[@MrDuds1984]

18:05 ABC reported the GG Bridge collapsed??? Really

[@alejandroarteaga8739]

❤

[@nealcherry7169]

A young Bret Hume before his days now at Fox news

[@Irvuri13]

apparently was her favorite word

[@WilliamTBooth]

34 yrs ago...could a bigger earthquake be coming?

[@deannelson9565]

A bigger one is definitely coming that's how the big one works. A 6.9 undoubtedly substantially less than the one the rock the same city back in the late 1800''s.

[@AlonsoRules]

Just wait till the Hayward goes. That will be way worse.

[@AlonsoRules]

yep Northridge showed that

[@AlonsoRules]

there was a Brian Hackney story with a scientist saying that the earthquake will start in San Pablo Bay and go in both directions - that's a scary thought

[@bigal1024]

Candstick was not securely sound... lol

[@supa3650]

Thank god my mom did not die.She was 7 when it happend

[@ObesityFantasy-pq4ub]

6:00

[@supa3650]

And it was a 3.5

[@supa3650]

Ya my first earthquake was in 2018

[@allisoncorona7381]

My first earthquake was the 1971 Sylmar quake.

[@rsprockets7846]

@@allisoncorona7381 2011 nyc WE HAD A 5.6 TEMLOR ALONG EAST COAST

[@inhonorofmary6825]

I remember this..I was young

[@SOULRELIEF22]

GOD brought me to California 3 days after Loma Prieta. What an EXCITING ride this has BEEN!

[@SOULRELIEF22]

In ALL THESE 33 YEARS I've NEVER been in an earthquake! HALLELUJAH! 🙏🙌💞

[@StrivingTowardsWhatIsAhead]

I see OJ. I see OJ and he be lookin all scared. And I’d be scared too. There’s cops all deep in this.

[@pattiecermak3442]

I was twenty two

[@sambaker7703]

Lou Waters !

[@alejandroarteaga8739]

😂❤

[@frederickriano7657]

When CNN was real news….

[@Billyscatpack]

This is very shocking., CNN used to report news??

[@rdt8]

Honestly, I found this reporting from CNN and ABC News to be pretty crappy compared to the news report in your other video from the local Bay-Area Channel 7 news outlet. I understand that broadcast/communications technologies were considerably limited at the time when compared to current capabilities, but all CNN and ABC News could talk about was the stupid baseball game. They didn't even mention the major Oakland-area expressway collapse and barely mentioned the Bay Bridge collapse. They didn't offer any safety tips, tell people to shut off gas lines. Didn't even break from their stupid advertising. The local news did such a better job and I hope they won some sort of broadcast journalism industry award for their calm, exceptional reporting. This local news reporting is soooo much better: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hmbJe5eDa56jmLM

[@almostfm]

You've got to realize that both CNN and ABC were providing national coverage and that changes what you focus on. Safety tips would have been meaningless for the 99% of their audience that _wasn't_ in the Bay Area. Also, basically all of the two network's resources were at the Stick, and it's not like they could just go driving around getting local information.

[@petesantos319]

Great reporting by CNN back in those days. Just relevant and informative news about this devastating earthquake. If this was today's CNN , they would blame President Trump for this earthquake. Seriously.

[@josephtisdale5262]

George H. W. Bush was president at time.

[@petesantos319]

@@gp. I am speaking of the coverage on CNN. CNN is the official spokesdepartment for the Democratic Party. ABC is the same way people. Much of the nation know this fact. The true sheep are people like you who believe every word from these liars and propagandists. Yes, George Bush was president at the time but I am talking about how the press is Today. People wake up !!! Get a clue, get a brain.

[@allisoncorona7381]

What does politics have anything to do with earthquakes?

[@petesantos319]

@@allisoncorona7381 it's not the earthquake itself but the coverage of it. The reporting back then was accurate and concise. They didn't Blame President Bush for any of it. They ,the media, didn't like but at least the didn't politicize everything. Now, everything is politicize and Blame politicians They don't like. Like President Trump.. there is no political integrity anymore. Everybody had a narrative, a cause they support. Many people don't trust the media

[@petesantos319]

There is no journalistic integrity anymore either.

[@woundeddove]

Baseball SUCKS. I lived there and moved from Carmel California in 1982. I thank JESUS CHRIST for saving my family. My X was teaching at DLI. I was in Germany when this happened.

[@LaKellita]

It might suck to you, but baseball saved a lot of lives that evening.

[@zanemarte9877]

@@LaKellita True. Because that World Series was between the two Bay Area teams Oakland A's and San Francisco Giants in 1989, and as a result a lot of people decided after work to stay out and head to the bars to watch the game that night. My parents (who were only dating at the time) both survived the quake and told me all about what has happened. As a Bay Area local I learned all about what has gone on that night.

[@AlbertQian]

@@zanemarte9877 Yep, if the Bay Bridge was at usual trafficked levels you would have seen more casualties where there was a collapse. Ditto on the Cypress Viaduct-things were bad there anyway, but it could have been far, far worse.

[@josephtisdale5262]

You're much safer in an aircraft flying over a quake.

[@SOULRELIEF22]

St John 3:16! 💞 JESUS is RETURNING SOON! 🙏🙌 There will be NO PROFANITY in the KINGDOM of GOD! Deal with it.

[@namman6115]

Ok yes i understand this ,but this is a video of one of the worst earthquakes in the history of the US and how it was covered by local news, a lot of people lost their homes and some died,why are you talking about profanity?