ABC-TV News Broadcast (1983: Doomsday)



On the evening of September 25, 1983, the American Broadcasting Company, known as ABC, was broadcasting the latest episode of Hardcastle & McCormick titled "Man In A Glass House". the episode aired at 8:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) and was scheduled to air for one hour. At approximately 8:52 PM, ABC News interrupted the episode with a special news bulletin concerning the launch of nuclear missiles by the Soviet Union. The following is a transcript taken directly from a videotape made at the time of the event and covers the period of time from approximately 8:52 PM EDT to 9:03 PM when the Emergency Broadcasting System took over.

8:52:12 PM EDT

The airing of Hardcastle & McCormick was abruptly cut to the words ABC News Special Report along with the ABC News jingle and a voice saying “We interrupt this program to bring you a special report from ABC News in Washington with Ted Koppel.”

8:52:23 PM EDT

The image switches to the ABC News Studios in Washington D.C.. Reporter Ted Koppel, who had anchored the ABC Sunday News earlier that evening, is present. Several staffers are visible in the background at work stations.

"Good evening, We have just been notified by the White House that an announcement involving a matter of national importance is about to be made. We do not know anything about the nature of this announcement but i understand that we will be going to the White House press briefing room very shortly an- (He is interrupted suddenly to listen to his earpiece) Ladies and Gentlemen, it appears that we will now be cutting to the White House for this important announcement"

8:53.40 PM EDT

(CBS cuts to feed of Deputy Press Secretary Larry Speakes in the White House press room, at 8:53 p.m. EDT, giving the announcement of the incoming Soviet missile attack on the United States, and his subsequent collapse after stepping from the podium. The scene cuts back to ABC studios in Washington at 8:59 p.m. EDT; sobs are heard in the background, and Koppel sits there in stunned silence.)