Archival footage from the NBC 5/KXAS Television News Archive was recently featured prominently in several television productions. These uses of archival news footage highlight the diverse and creative uses for footage, as well as the significance of preserving historical footage for future use. In November 2017, Sundance TV aired a two-part documentary series on the… Read more »
Today we share a two part news story that provides a snapshot of how Dallas perceived the threat of AIDS in November 1985. The logbook title given to this story is “AIDS/Lifestyle,” which references the belief that the gay community, one of the first populations hit by the AIDS epidemic, caused the disease with their… Read more »
Producers for the ESPN “30 for 30” series contacted UNT Special Collections this year for help in locating footage of the 1988 Dallas Carter Cowboys football team. Archivists working with the collection provided extensive archival footage which was eventually incorporated into the film, “What Carter Lost,” which aired on ESPN on August 24. The story… Read more »
The “Year in Review” compilation is a tradition of many news organizations, created as a way to look back on the top stories of the previous year. The earliest “Year in Review” in the WBAP/KXAS archives was compiled from 16mm footage recorded throughout the year 1952. The “Year in Review” compilations present some challenges to… Read more »
It’s France’s la Fête nationale (“national holiday,” otherwise known as “Bastille Day” to English speakers) and in celebration of our nation’s longtime ally, we’re sharing two scripts that document when Dallas and the eastern-central French city of Dijon became sister cities in October 1957. Notice the news anchor’s pronunciation notes handwritten in pencil on the script…. Read more »
Today, as Senate Republicans unveil the latest draft of their proposed health care legislation, we are taking a look back at stories about health care. Two news stories reported by Doug Adams in 1979 echo many of the nation’s current debates and concerns over access to health care. A news story from April 23, 1979 describes… Read more »
We hope you are having a wonderful Independence Day! Today we go back to July 4, 1983, when reporter Cindy Kuykendall shared a story on the 10 PM news that featured interviews with locals about their opinions on politicians that prove today’s political tensions are nothing new. The Cotton Bowl festivities and a rocking outdoor concert… Read more »
On April 7, 1985 children at an Easter egg hunt at the Mandalay Hotel in Irving, Texas were surprised to see the Easter bunny arriving by helicopter! The bunny caught a ride with the KXAS-TV crew on “Chopper 5” to surprise the many children in attendance. This short segment, featuring reporter Janet Wallheim, aired during the… Read more »
On this day in 1917 the United States Congress approved a declaration of war against Germany, thereby officially entering World War I. There are no longer any living veterans of WWI, however, in 1957 reporters with WBAP attended a VFW convention in Dallas where they met L.J. Smith, a 66 year old WWI veteran who was… Read more »
Thank you to Special Collections student employee Greg Pierce for finding these scripts! Sixty years ago, On April 2, 1957, an F3 tornado laid waste to 60 blocks of west Dallas, in what was then called the “worst storm in Dallas history.” Ten people died, and over 600 people were injured. The tornado created a 21 mile… Read more »
