Today is the 40th anniversary of the tragic death of John Lennon, who was assassinated by Beatles fan Mark David Chapman in 1980. Lennon’s tragic death was mourned by a shocked world then, and now that several decades have gone by, it’s still an important date for those who remember what they were doing on that fateful day when they learned of his passing.
Sports and political commentator and journalist Keith Olbermann shared one such memory today, noting that he happened to be visiting his old college radio station, WVBR-FM at Cornell, and ended up breaking the news while DJ-ing live. Definitely not the kind of carefree content a former student is expecting to provide while visiting their alma mater.
“40 years,” Olbermann wrote on Twitter. “By absolute accident I was back visiting my college radio station, WVBR-FM at Cornell, and of all people I was the disc jockey as the news came in of John Lennon’s shooting, and then death. Here’s part of the aircheck (and the sad news came in as we played “In My Life”).” He shares a recorded snippet of the show that night, which includes them playing several Beatles and Lennon tracks in homage as the news changed from learning Lennon was shot to hearing he had died from the wounds.
Listen to the clip below.
40 years. By absolute accident I was back visiting my college radio station, WVBR-FM at Cornell, and of all people I was the disc jockey as the news came in of John Lennon’s shooting, and then death. Here’s part of the aircheck (and the sad news came in as we played “In My Life”) pic.twitter.com/FRdGVOAWl4
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) December 8, 2020