NBC Radio News - Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster. 66 WNBC 1-28-1986

For historical purposes only.

[@p.l.vasquez9040]

Thanks for this upload! Even though this was a tragic day, the broadcast gives those of us who grew up with radio, especially AM radio, as a source of information and entertainment for the mind, that “radio feeling” that newer generations will never experience or understand. I was 17 on this day, and walked into Biology II class hoping to catch some of the launch, only to see my teacher crying. Once I found out what had happened, I called my Mom at home, and she agreed to come take me out of school so I could watch the coverage at home, as she knew how I loved the Shuttle program…good ol’ Mom. We all end up longing for the simpler times of our youth, but we’ve become so detached and depersonalized by technology and the Internet that I wonder if we can ever recover our humanity, our lost empathy, and our ability to communicate face to face. Radio wasn’t face to face, but it was as close as one could come to that feeling. The mind filled in the details. Rest In Peace, Challenger crew (and US manned space program).

[@johnraynarvoiceover]

Excellent upload thank you!

[@altfactor]

R.I.P. Jay Barbree. He covered every U.S. manned space launch for NBC, either on radio or TV, from Alan Shepard's suborbital flight in 1961 through the end of the space shuttle program.

[@LindaMerchant-bq2hp]

Cameron Swayze

[@declanhughes4107]

Heads up I don't know if this was intentional or not but the wrong nbc logo is being used

[@altfactor]

I don't know if NBC carried the launch live on radio. If they did, I hope that the early minutes of coverage will get posted on You Tube.

[@KamsPoliticalPredictions]

I think CNN was the only one to carry it live (save for a NBC affiliate in Los Angeles)

[@chvfd687]

There was some radio coverage. That was one way it spread quickly. I read a story recently of a weather forecaster who did radio plugs for their stations weather. An announcer was doing a live spot in the Knoxville, TN radio market when the man walked in the room and told the announcer and it was broadcast over the air.

[@WilliamBrown-vg8zv]

​@@KamsPoliticalPredictionsCBS Radio carried it...

[@nedwart]

57:44

[@LindaMerchant-bq2hp]

Obviously a major malfunction