1966 AM Radio Broadcast. War, Fire, Murder, Commies & Eight Feet of Snow.

Imagine it’s the winter of 1966. You live in upstate New York and the Blizzard of 1966, the greatest storm in its history, has paralyzed the area with up to 8.5 feet of snow. Two-hundred-and-one people are dead. Thirty-one froze to death. Forty-six died in fires trying to keep their homes warm. Others, dead from heart attacks while shoveling or from traffic accidents on slick roads.
In the storm’s aftermath, almost in shock, you flip between your two favorite stations, WBTA, Batavia and WKBW, Buffalo. AM radio is king of news and it will tell you not only of the dramatic rescues and tragic deaths of the storm, but of murder, the Vietnam war, the race against the commies to space, celebrity deaths, battles between Republicans and Democrats, and war between the Catholic church and divorce.
NOTES:
The recordings in this video were captured on an early 1960s RCA Sound Cartridge Player on February 1, 1966. To learn more about this fascinating device, please see my RCA Sound Cartridge series: • The Huge Cassette!
The recordings have been lightly edited to remove overly repetitive material and dead air. Songs have been removed to prevent copyright infrigement.
To learn more about the Blizzard of 1966: en.wikipedia.o...
TIME MARKERS:
0:00 Flux Condenser Intro
0:07 The RCA Sound Cartridge Recordings
0:16 Intro: Imagine This
1:39 WKBW Buffalo, NY
1:57 Buster Keaton Dead
2:27 The Blizzard of 1966
4:09 Everything is Closed!
4:22 Huge Drifts!
4:28 Running Out of Food!
4:30 The Blizzard of 1966
5:40 54” of Snow!
5:45 More Snow Coming!
6:04 Baby Girl Dead
6:19 Murder Charge
6:30 Republicans Absent
7:00 Race to The Moon
7:28 Weather Forecast
7:51 The Big Story
7:56 Buster Keaton Dead
7:58 See Something, Say Something!
8:07 Coffee With Fred
8:16 Station Change: WBTA Batavia, NY
8:35 Cancellations
10:32 Can You See Your Can?
10:46 Clear Your Plug!
11:47 They’re All Closed!
16:46 World/National News
16:58 Vietnam War News
17:05 Washington DC News
17:12 Sinking Freighter
17:20 News From Hollywood
17:27 Protane Gas
18:12 Vietnam War News
18:30 Pope Hope
18:47 Vietnam War News
20:13 Protane Gas Ad
21:09 Buster Keaton Dead
21:41 Time for Our Changing World
21:54 Weather Forecast
23:01 Our Changing World W/Earl Nightingale
26:13 Genesee County Savings
27:15 Our Changing World W/Earl Nightingale
27:36 Station Change: WKBW Buffalo, NY
28:04 Patricia Lawford Quickie Idaho Divorce
28:15 Vietnam News
29:10 Watch Channel Seven
29:22 Rod Roddy
29:41 Weather & Traffic
29:53 Snow Job?
30:09 Rod Roddy Confused
30:19 It’s 12:21, Got It?
30:26 WKBW Jingle
30:33 Station Change: WTBA Batavia, NY
30:35 4-H News
35:52 Batavia Agway
33:30 Weather Forecast
34:36 Color TV’s Here to Stay
35:28 Weather
36:42 Mancuso Motors
37:11 1962 Plymouth $795
37:19 1962 Rambler $695
37:28 1965 Chevy Impala
37:50 Local & Regional News
38:02 The Blizzard of 1966
38:43 Wortzman’s Furniture
39:37 Batavia News
39:57 Stranded Travelers
40:16 Business Resuming
40:39 Highway Conditions
41:41 Bus & Train Travel
42:16 Civil Defense
42:37 Weather Outlook
43:28 Conditions Are Bad
43:36 Many Stores Reopening
43:45 Beware of Drifting
43:53 Batavia Storm News
45:34 Telephone Delays
46:15 Power Interruptions
46:48 Wortzman’s Furniture
47:36 Bergen House Fire
47:49 East Albion Barn Fire
47:59 Attica Youth Rescued
48:25 Trapped Men Rescued
48:48 Local Man Dead
49:28 News Notes Summary
49:32 Post Office Deliveries
49:49 Bus & Taxi Service
49:58 Telephone Service
50:07 Train Service
51:16 Wortzman’s Furniture
52:14 Back to The News
52:15 Veteran’s Funeral
52:54 Babies Born In Storm
53:51 Important Bulletin!
53:56 Routes 5 & 33 W Clear
54:22 Stranded Should Stand By
54:46 No Travel In Other Directions!
54:57 Byron Woman Dead
55:19 Firemen Pestered by Youth
55:37 Praise for Emergency Crews
56:27 Air Force Academy Appointments
57:06 Hospitals Treat Travelers
57:45 Funeral Change
58:02 Batavian Woman Dead
58:29 No Travel Other Directions!
58:39 Wortzman’s Furniture
59:36 Drivers, Report to Buses!
59:59 102” of Snow Paralyzes City
1:01:03 Sponsored by Wortzman’s
1:01:16 Rand Witt Corporation
1:01:23 Assos Motors
1:02:27 WBTA Batavia, NY
1:02:32 Pyrofax Gas
1:03:35 The Gamby Show
1:04:43 Weather Forecast
1:05:12 Cancellations
1:05:57 Brenner’s Store
1:07:22 Surprise Department Store
1:08:34 CL Car Company Closed
1:08:46 Motorola Television
1:09:33 The Story of The Weekend
1:10:02 Newspapers Delivered
1:10:42 Weather Forecast
1:11:26 Sun Making The Scene
1:11:33 A Tale of Two Driveways
1:12:21 News Bulletin
1:12:24 Father & Daughter Found Dead
1:12:44 Stay Off Streets!
1:13:18 Convoy to Rescue 500
1:14:08 Father & Daughter Found Dead
1:14:31 Hedda Hopper Dead
1:14:43 State Headlines
1:14:45 102” of Snow in Oswego
1:14:54 Convoy Blasts Open Throughway
1:15:02 Catholic War on Divorce
1:15:13 Weather Forecast
1:15:37 Power Outages
#radio #recordings #sixties #amradio #vietnamwar

[@Mancada100]

Oddily I have found listening to old radio broadcasts at bedtime relaxes me and allows me to sleep soundly.

[@carlosue5472]

I love listening to all the little closings. Please post more. They are so incredibly soothing to me. I want to time travel back to this time. My dad is a teenager in Vietnam, my mom is still a kid, my grandparents are all alive and at the prime of their lives there. I want to go back. 😭

[@TNitroH]

I remember a heavy snowstorm in 1965 in Indiana I was 8 and we walked to the store no cars would make it. And of course blizzard of 78 too.

[@WayneSmith-nm4gp]

Damn. I remember that KB news intro. Now I need a flux capacitor so I can hear it all live.

[@chuckdavis1323]

Who's the Genius who recorded and saved this? Awesome.

[@ezcleghorn4025]

I love this so much! Such a simpler time, even with all the complex issues when you could still count on the radio, even though I do love the age of instant gratification.

[@howardoller443]

@ezcleghorn4025 - Why do you "love the age of instant gratification"?

[@ezcleghorn4025]

@@howardoller443 are you kidding! I love the fact that I can speak to my smart speaker and tell it to play any song ever recorded and it plays it within three seconds. I love the fact that any TV show ever recorded is available to me with a couple of button pushes. I love the fact that anything going on in the news is available to me within 10 seconds. And much of this doesn’t even require having to type anymore.

[@howardoller443]

@@ezcleghorn4025 There's no need to get your undies in a bunch. I just asked a simple question. Thank you for answering.

[@0tt0z]

Wow! Thanks for posting. It's interesting to hear broadcasts from the past.

[@FluxCondenser]

My pleasure. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@TTM9691]

.....and you captured Buster Keaton's death announcements as well. Going to send this to my friend who is a HUGE Buster Keaton fanatic/collector.

[@BETTERWORLDSGT]

He was in a couple of those beach movies that same year He died, probably his last roles!

[@johnshields6852]

I was in 1st grade in 1966 Boston, when I stopped at my friend's house his mother had the radio on every morning, before we walked the 1 1/2 miles to school.

[@DCinchi]

Bostonian here, too. First grade for me in 1968.😂

[@oNeGiAnTLiE]

I was in Hamburg in first grade! Union st school.

[@Number4lead]

Even though its 66 the announcer still has that serious sounding tone and rhythm in his voice.

[@leonardbrinkman4410]

I was in sunny California back in 1966 during the winter and I used to listen to rock and roll at that time!

[@billd9667]

Lake effect snow is crazy. Maine gets tougher winters, but it builds slowly and wanes at the same rate. The strip between Detroit and Rome, NY, on the other hand, just gets buried in snow on a fairly consistent basis. Add strong winds and you have real trouble.

[@Redwood65]

No doubt. The effects from Lake Superior are incredible. An 85 degree summer day can drop to 65 in minutes and the winter storms are epic. 2022-23 was terrible yet I ran the snowblower only once this year.

[@jeffreymartire4473]

Growing up i listened to wkbw in 66 i remember the heavy snowstorms and squalls when my brother was in Saigon vietnam tet

[@jeffreymartire4473]

I lived in nassau county longisland and got wkbw that winter. Fascinating listening back then

[@Lisa-di1wi]

I was an 8-year-old third grader here in suburban Philadelphia that year. Unfortunately, I don't remember that snowstorm back then. In fact, as a kid, I was just too young to understand what went on back then.

[@FOURTYFIVERS45]

The whole speech on misery is spot on....wow..know many like that.

[@JackF99]

Those factory snow closings are interesting. Back then western NY had lots of manufacturing, before it became part of the Rust Belt.

[@GG-Wolfhound]

I loved upstate NY when i was a kid! My parents not much.

[@FluxCondenser]

You didn’t love your parents? Or your parents didn’t love upstate New York?

[@GG-Wolfhound]

@@FluxCondenser I love my parents. They did not like the 3 feet of snow!

[@billd9667]

LoL. Knowing now that Flux teaches English, this reply makes perfect sense. 😆

[@cindih13]

KB was the best. Wyoming County, yup, “still closed.” Always, lol. I was 10 but remember that winter. My grandfather came to my elementary school in Bliss with the farm flatbed truck so I could get home and wouldn’t be stranded there. Many were.

[@KongKingman]

I’ve noticed that there was a lot more Buffalo, USA based factories

[@spiritguy5238]

I grew up on KB radio 📻

[@chuckcurry2994]

It seems strangely similar to these days

[@Redwood65]

Fast forward to 16:40 if you want to hear the news. Everything up to that point is storm related closings.

[@carlosue5472]

The closings are the best part.

[@Redwood65]

@@carlosue5472 I don't disagree but since I'm not from this area the closings don't revive any fond memories of this storm. I grew up on the western shore of Lake Superior so I can certainly appreciate a major storm like this.

[@MichaelHansenFUN]

1:14:43 State Headlines i want that music dont edit

[@strangebotwin-]

Haaf

[@SusanSwora]

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