Click on the link here for Audio Player – News from KSRO – August 15, 1969 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection
While the much-fabled Woodstock Festival was getting underway for its first day, the world was spinning wildly away as usual on this August 15th in 1969.
From Northern Ireland, Catholic and Protestant rioting was raging on. British troops were being reinforced and rioting was spreading rapidly. In Vietnam the story was pretty much status-quo – no lights, not even of freight trains, at the end of the tunnel. However, news of a Freight Train moving across the country carrying World War 1 vintage poison gas had people along the route concerned.
Since this edition of the news came from a local California station, KSRO in Santa Rosa, there was news of goings on locally. Governor Reagan was figuring in prominently with yet more mental health facilities facing closure. College students were faced with instant expulsion if they were suspected of disrupting classes. And the grisly investigation of the Sharon Tate murders was continuing.
No mention of Woodstock though – on this day in 1969 it wasn’t even news at the time. But the rest of the world went on as usual, this August 15, 1969.