in my perspective anyway:
March/April, and CBS cancels then bans the Smothers Brothers for refusing to censor comments made by a guest
the Vietnam war was raging, but Nixon had started troop withdrawals that June after very heavy casualties, all the while secretly bombing Cambodia without Congressional approval - peace negotiations are arranged by Kissinger in early Aug - they fail, but he will try again. Kent State won't happen until May of 1970, after Nixon announces Cambodia's being bombed
it's July and Apollo 11 has the entire world's attention as the 1st man walks on the moon "One small step for man..." who WASN'T watching tv then???
Aug 9th & 10th - in CA Charles Manson and his followers shocked the world with the helter-skelter Tate & LaBianca murders.
Aug 15th, the UK deploys troops in N Ireland - "Bloody Sunday" won't happen until Jan '72.
Aug 15th - in upstate New York about half a million young people were making history at Woodstock.
It's mid-Aug & families were trying to enjoy the last lazy days of summer in a world seemingly gone mad, before the kiddies go back to school.
Frank Reynolds, Howard K Smith, Walter Cronkite, Ted Koppel, Peter Jennings, Sam Donaldson, Dan Rather - these are the voices of network news. The Weather Channel won't be started for over another decade - weather forecasting is part of network news, a small part...
Sat, 5 PM CDT Aug 16th - "small hurricane Camille becomes very intense" reads the NWS statement, but who's paying attention??? I mean, look at everything that's going on???
the winds in Camille have jumped to 150 mph, up from 115 in the 3 pm. She's in the Gulf & headed toward a landfall somewhere along the coast. Families might be sitting down to dinner & listening to the evening news, there certainly have been headlines this year, this month, even this week - it's the end of the 60s, a hell of a decade & Camille is about to make it even more memorable...
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