JFKvideo's Blog

By Richard Ray

Today marks the 45th Anniversary of the assassination of JFK and we've added a lot of new material to the JFK Video: The Dallas Tapes special Web site -- including an Emmy Award winning documentary called JFK: The Dallas Tapes. You will find it in four segments (no commercials but breaks for commercials) and it runs about 22 minutes. It's as reported when it happened by Channel 4 reporters (it was KRLD-TV then and a joint radio-tv operation) on the day of the assassination and the week that followed. The original snapshot, unfiltered by conspiracy theories and official reports -- a fascinating look (sorry but I really do like it) at a very different world and a very different city then the one we know today. 

We've also added vintage tape of Dan Rather live shots. Rather was a young correspondent for CBS based in Dallas at the time and he worked out of our studios here with Channel 4 photographers and reporters. As I write this, Rather has canceled out on a scheduled appearance at the Sixth Floor Museum tonight -- putting them in something of a bind. But, his reporting from that weekend in 1963 is here for all to see. Check it out.

Rich

UPDATE ON 1992 REPORTS (SEVEN NOW)

February of 1992, a couple of JFK researchers uncovered documents and photos in the City Archives that triggered a nationwide manhunt and a whole series of reports from a much younger (and darker haired) Richard Ray on Channel 4. The documents answered some of the mysteries surrounding the assasination and exposed at least one man who claimed to be in the on the plot as a fraud. The photographs they uncovered actually raised new questions about a possible coverup.


On the JFK Video: The Dallas Tapes page we have become to add some of the reports I did that February and into March. The first SEVEN stories I did are on there now and there will be at least a couple more to come over the next few weeks. I think you will find them fascinating to watch on a couple different levels -- you will also see vintage Clarice Tinsley and John Criswell and a couple of anchors that have long since departed Channel 4.

It was a ratings period so we milked the stories, traveling to rural Oklahoma and San Diego and Houston to run down leads. They play out like a serial, with cliff-hanger, stay-tuned for more endings. Take a look. You will find them at the bottom of the story queue under the title of "News Stories."

Rich

UPDATE ON 1992 REPORTS (SEVEN NOW)

February of 1992, a couple of JFK researchers uncovered documents and photos in the City Archives that triggered a nationwide manhunt and a whole series of reports from a much younger (and darker haired) Richard Ray on Channel 4. The documents answered some of the mysteries surrounding the assasination and exposed at least one man who claimed to be in the on the plot as a fraud. The photographs they uncovered actually raised new questions about a possible coverup.


On the JFK Video: The Dallas Tapes page we have become to add some of the reports I did that February and into March. The first SEVEN stories I did are on there now and there will be at least a couple more to come over the next few weeks. I think you will find them fascinating to watch on a couple different levels -- you will also see vintage Clarice Tinsley and John Criswell and a couple of anchors that have long since departed Channel 4.

It was a ratings period so we milked the stories, traveling to rural Oklahoma and San Diego and Houston to run down leads. They play out like a serial, with cliff-hanger, stay-tuned for more endings. Take a look. You will find them at the bottom of the story queue under the title of "News Stories."

Rich

JFK & Hit Man HarrelsonNov 19, 2007 | 3:21 PM
Category: News
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I hope a lot of you have had a chance to check out the new JFK Video site on myfoxdfw.

        http://media.myfoxdfw.com/JFKvideo

  It's been a big hit with web users already and we've just begun to add vintage video from that fateful weekend in 1963 and decades of assassination stories since. 

Today we add another really interesting element -- a jailhouse interview with Charles Harrelson, convicted hitman and father of actor Woody Harrelson.  The inteview was done in 1982 by Channel 4 reporter Quin Mathews and it's the only extensive TV interview Harrelson ever did.  When Harrelson was cornered by police in West Texas, wanted for the murder of a federal judge in San Antonio he blurted out something about having killed president Kennedy.  He later claimed it was just a lie he told to keep the police officers from shooting him. 

We'll run a preview package on Fox4 News at 6pm and you can find the longer Harrelson interview on the web now.

You should also find the hospital room interview done at Parkland Hospital with Gov. Connally just days after the assassination (in which he was seriously wounded) on the website before the day is out.  With luck I'll add a bunch more on Wednesday.  Keep checking back.  You can find hours worth of fascinating historical stuff on their now.  Hours more to come.

Rich

"I'm not really a JFK expert," goes the new twist on an old gag line, "I just play one on TV."

I'm really not an expert but I do know some -- serious researchers who I'll recruit to help me answer questions you may have about the hard evidence surrounding the assassination.

I will also be transparent about my own beliefs. I came to Dallas in 1983. Like most Americans (60% plus according to polls I've seen) I believed then that there must have been a conspiracy involved in the killing of JFK. But, after a few years of researching stories and seriously examining the evidence I came around nearly 180 degrees. I now believe that Lee Harvey Oswald fired three shots. And, that may be the end of the story. Am I absolutely convinced there was no conspiracy -- no one else involved? Maybe not 100 percent convinced. But, nearly so.

Now you know where I'm coming from but I hope that won't stop you from asking serious questions and it certainly won't prevent me from trying to get serious answers.

Ask away here in this blog and we'll see what we can do. I have a lot of duties as an anchor and reporter for the Fox affiliate in Dallas but I will make every effort to respond as quickly as possible. And, I will cite my sources so you have the opportunity to explore further on your own.

Richard Ray

Fox4 News/Dallas

Where you in downtown Dallas on the day JFK was shot?

Were you watching news coverage of his visit even before he was shot?

What do you remember about Nov. 22, 1963?

We want to hear your stories and memories about the presidential assassination that happened right here in your hometown.