What is the earliest major news event that you remember in your lifetime? (2 Viewers)

[IvanKaramazov]

The OJ Simpson chase

Jesus Christ, I was in graduate school and saw the verdict come down when I was out to lunch with my grad school buddies.  Are you like 20 or something?

Edit: Oh my god.  I am apparently really old relative to the population of this board.  I am going to have to fire up my best of Van Halen playlist to get this all out of my system.

 

[joffer]

Think it was the Iran hostage crisis

 

[bucksoh]

Elvis Presley  only remember that because my mother was screaming and crying like a banshee.    

 

[Ted Lange as your Bartender]

I remember all the stuff with Three Mile Island happening but I was too young to understand what it meant.  

So I’ll go with Reagan either getting elected or soon after getting shot

 

[joffer]

Think it was the Iran hostage crisis

I remember all the stuff with Three Mile Island happening but I was too young to understand what it meant.  

Good one.  That was before the hostages and I remember it.

 

[Brony]

Evel Knievel's failed Snake River Canyon jump

Me too 

 

[bigmarc27]

Earthquake during the World Series. I would have been 8, but was a huge baseball fan. 

Next two two would be LA Riots and David Koresh. 

 

[Long Ball Larry]

Challenger explosion is the first that comes to mind.

edit: didn't even read the first post...

 

[higgins]

Iran hostage saga. 

 

[Brony]

I was a few days old when Apollo 13 was happening. I just knew Tom Hanks would save that mission. 

 

[Long Ball Larry]

Yeah, I remember Baby Jessica too.  A fair amount that I remember from 86/87 -- Halley's Comet too.  I was looking at a list of events in 1985, and don't have memories of any of those; so, I feel like that's where I started.

yeah, ok, we must be like the exact same age

 

[OrtonToOlsen]

Watergate hearings.  They preempted all my favorite kiddie shows.

 

[In The Zone]

Jimmy Carter being elected POTUS.

Sports related is Carlton Fisk's 1975 game 6 World Series HR.

 

[otello]

Nixon resigning

 

[El Floppo]

Later on, I remember being in the car...maybe on the way to school, for news of Harvey Milk.

And of course hearing Howard cossell tell us about John Lennon

 

[Snoopy]

Carter becoming president, then Jonestown.

 

[mr. furley]

Reagan being shot 

this is the one for me

 

[Binky The Doormat]

JFK assassination.  I was two months shy of my 5th birthday.

Same here.  I was in kindergarten.  

 

[CurlyNight]

The Iranian revolution of 79. Watching the Shah leave, mullahs arrive, riots, blackouts, peeps getting shot, teens on the street with guns enforcing the curfew, leaving the country without my dad not knowing if he'll get out later..... you know, ordinary stuff a 15 year old goes through..

 

[WampusCat43]

JFK assassination.  I was two months shy of my 5th birthday.

Same here.  I was 6.  Either that or one of the Russian satellite launches.  I remember my parents being afraid.

 

[ShaqAttaq]

Born 1971. I remember lots of bicentennial stuff in 1976. As far as news goes, the 1979-1980 iran hostages, olympic boycott stuff is probably it. Sports: Reggie Jackson’s 3HR in the world series

 

[Angry Beavers]

Watergate.

Didnt understand much but everyone was talking about it.

 

[coachoneill]

I was born in 1989 so I remember my nanny watching the OJ Simpson coverage on CNN every day.  

 

[rick6668]

Carter wins in 1976 (maybe).  Star Wars came out in 1977 (definitely).

First newsy item that I actually paid attention to over a period of time was the Iran Hostages.

Born in 1970.

This.  And Jim Jones.

 

[General Malaise]

Yakima: The Madras of Washington (might just be a Central Oregon joke).

Actually, actually true: I went to college with a girl from Lind.  Her best friend was her horse back home.

Yakima is leagues better than Madras.  At least Yakima has hops.

Madras is a living hell hole, but also home of Jacoby Ellsbury and River Phoenix which is astonishing considering how horrendous that town is. 

 

[facook]

Yakima is leagues better than Madras.  At least Yakima has hops.

Madras is a living hell hole, but also home of Jacoby Ellsbury and River Phoenix which is astonishing considering how horrendous that town is. 

You're right, but Yakima still reminds me of Madras mostly due to the whites/Indians/Mexicans dynamic that exists in both places.  I have acquaintances who work in the Madras schools.  They are just trying to survive till they can transfer elsewhere.  Jacoby's brother still lives in Madras.  Hard to fathom why.

 

[nirad3]

Watergate hearings.  They preempted all my favorite kiddie shows.

I was home sick for the Challenger disaster.  Instead of Price is Right and fun TV there was nothing but Challenger coverage (naturally).  

 

[BobbyLayne]

Race riots.

The week of the Detroit 12th Street riot, nine other cities in Michigan had a race riot. There were race riots in over 100 cities in the summer of 1967 and 159 for the year. I specifically remembered Newark, and then a week later Detroit - all of Michigan - exploded.

I was very young and it was confusing to me. My mother sat her four children down and told us why this was happening.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

Reagan being shot and the Challenger explosion I remember vividly.  

Also, the whole New Coke debacle.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

Jesus Christ, I was in graduate school and saw the verdict come down when I was out to lunch with my grad school buddies.  Are you like 20 or something?

Edit: Oh my god.  I am apparently really old relative to the population of this board.  I am going to have to fire up my best of Van Halen playlist to get this all out of my system.

I remember have a Van Halen 45 when I was young.

(Yes, we are the old guys now.)

 

[neal cassady]

I remember the Apollo landing (I would have been almost 4).  

 

[Spock]

Sylmar (So Cal) earthquake in ‘71. I was 5 and it scared the crap out of me.

 

[General Malaise]

You're right, but Yakima still reminds me of Madras mostly due to the whites/Indians/Mexicans dynamic that exists in both places.  I have acquaintances who work in the Madras schools.  They are just trying to survive till they can transfer elsewhere.  Jacoby's brother still lives in Madras.  Hard to fathom why.

Pretty good meth there, I'm sure.

 

[Workhorse]

The blizzard of '78.

 

[BassNBrew]

Watergate scandal.  I would have been about 5 or 6 and it was constant to the point where I (clearly) can remember not wanting to watch TV because this story was on.  I didn't understand why it was on, I didn't understand why it was so important, etc.  I get it now but as a 5 or 6 year old, it drove me and my brother to go play outside!

Ditto.  I was 5 and it pre-empted everything on 3 of the 4 TV stations.

 

[Buckychudd]

I vaguely remember the Iran Hostage crisis and I definitely remember the lead up to the 1980 presidential election.

Born in 72 so I would have been 7-8.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

I have earlier memories, but the big news item I remember was the Detroit riots of '67.  I had just turned 4 and lived in the Detroit suburbs.  We saw National Guard troops in big trucks heading to the city to keep the peace.

Major military presence rolling up and down Woodward, aka M-1.

 

[mr. furley]

I was home sick for the Challenger disaster.  Instead of Price is Right and fun TV there was nothing but Challenger coverage (naturally).  

zomg, me too

laying on the couch at my grandparents house with one eye open, watching the coverage.

 

[ShamrockPride]

Umm....maybe Columbine?

Yep, same here. Vaguely. If it's not Columbine, then it's 9/11.

 

[ShamrockPride]

The blizzard of '78.

Hah. Mi mama made it thru that in her younger years. She has an official "certificate of survivorship" she keeps around from it. Heard countless stories from her.

 

[ffldrew]

John Glenn's Mercury flight - I remember sitting in front of TV(CBS) the entire time of the flight as a 4 year old. It only lasted a couple of hours.

 

[Mile High]

JFK assassination.  I was two months shy of my 5th birthday.

This one for me as well.

 

[Workhorse]

Hah. Mi mama made it thru that in her younger years. She has an official "certificate of survivorship" she keeps around from it. Heard countless stories from her.

I distinctly remember the snow drifts piling  up so high against our house that it seemed like I could have ridden a sled out of our second floor windows.

 

[Don't Noonan]

I saw this trending on Twitter and thought it might make for an interesting (shtick and non-shtick) topic.

The earliest one that I can remember was the Challenger explosion.  I remember coming back into class after lunch/recess and my teacher telling my class about it, because she was watching in the faculty break room.  Some teachers at my school (as many all over did) had applied for the spot that went to McAuliffe.

I was 6 at the time.  That seems a bit old for first news memory, but I can't think of anything earlier.

My first thought was the Challenger explosion and the eruption of Mt. St. Helens.  The latter had ashes covering the sky and streets in Eugene.

 

[Andrew74]

For me it was Regan’s assassination attempt.  I was 7.

 

[rockaction]

The Gas Crisis of '76? I remember waiting in lines for miles. 

 

[steeler6]

Watergate scandal.  I would have been about 5 or 6 and it was constant to the point where I (clearly) can remember not wanting to watch TV because this story was on.  I didn't understand why it was on, I didn't understand why it was so important, etc.  I get it now but as a 5 or 6 year old, it drove me and my brother to go play outside!

I was home for 2 weeks with the flu and we only had 3 channels on the tv. And this was on all 3. Pure hell. 

 

[RandyDB]

JFK assassination is earliest vivid memory,  but I seem to remember a big earthquake in South America sometime earlier.

 

[Ned Ryerson]

Law school. One of the local TV stations came and interviewed some students when the verdict was given.

This was me too, college for chase, law school for verdict.

They broadcast the verdict on a large TV for a room holding about 100 of my fellow future lawyers, and I remember watching everybody's reactions based primarily on race, and thinking to myself "Two different Americas..."

 

[falguy]

I was 7 when Canada played an 8 game series vs the USSR in ice hockey. To say this was a huge deal would be an understatement. I remember watching the games that took place in Russia in the school gymnasium. Canadian team got booed out of the country when they went there for games 5-8. 

Also fell in love with the instumental version of the their national anthem.