It was 28 years ago today I met Ron Stone on TV, a few hours before Ronald Reagan said, “I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.”
On this day in 1986 I was at my Fort Worth apartment getting ready to go to work in the Sports Department of NBC-Channel 5.
Paul Harvey on WBAP radio broke the Challenger accident news to me. I turned on the TV, then rushed to the station to find there was nothing the News Department needed from me.
On this day in 1986 I was at my Fort Worth apartment getting ready to go to work in the Sports Department of NBC-Channel 5.
Paul Harvey on WBAP radio broke the Challenger accident news to me. I turned on the TV, then rushed to the station to find there was nothing the News Department needed from me.
It was the early days of advanced satellite transmission, so NBC News was sending the on-air signal of Houston’s KPRC to all of us affiliates. They did that when news was breaking so fast that no one had time to “package” it
into taped stories.
KPRC: the station which helped enable the television signal from man’s first step on the moon to be seen worldwide was now telling the tragic Challenger story.
It was my first time to watch Ron Stone. It was my first time (of many) to think he was Houston’s version of Walter Cronkite. Stone was composed and compassionate. I don’t remember exact words but he made me feel like although this was a terrible thing, it was under control.
He probably gave it a historical perspective, gently reminding Houstonians (and me in Fort Worth) that fatal tragedy had struck about this time of year in 1967 to the crew of Apollo 1 during a practice session.
I don’t think we reported much sports news that day.
Years later I would become his “neighbor” and later have the privilege of working at KPRC, alongside Ron Stone. He was just as impressive a co-worker as he was an Anchor. (So is his son, Ron, who I still keep in touch with via Facebook.)
I mentioned Apollo 1. Let’s not forget the Columbia crew who lost their lives in 2003 about this time of year, also.
And to a lesser but important degree, remember today the countless others whose lives were dramatically touched by these tragedies: NASA employees, contractors, families and to some extent the whole Clear Lake community.
The space program’s achievements and failures created a stress, anxiety, and tension on people and their families because they are “…pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.”
into taped stories.
KPRC: the station which helped enable the television signal from man’s first step on the moon to be seen worldwide was now telling the tragic Challenger story.
It was my first time to watch Ron Stone. It was my first time (of many) to think he was Houston’s version of Walter Cronkite. Stone was composed and compassionate. I don’t remember exact words but he made me feel like although this was a terrible thing, it was under control.
He probably gave it a historical perspective, gently reminding Houstonians (and me in Fort Worth) that fatal tragedy had struck about this time of year in 1967 to the crew of Apollo 1 during a practice session.
I don’t think we reported much sports news that day.
Years later I would become his “neighbor” and later have the privilege of working at KPRC, alongside Ron Stone. He was just as impressive a co-worker as he was an Anchor. (So is his son, Ron, who I still keep in touch with via Facebook.)
I mentioned Apollo 1. Let’s not forget the Columbia crew who lost their lives in 2003 about this time of year, also.
And to a lesser but important degree, remember today the countless others whose lives were dramatically touched by these tragedies: NASA employees, contractors, families and to some extent the whole Clear Lake community.
The space program’s achievements and failures created a stress, anxiety, and tension on people and their families because they are “…pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.”