Forty-two years ago tonight I was a cadet at the Air Force Academy in Colorado, still numb from the sudden death of my brother six weeks earlier. I was watching Monday Night Football in the 33rd Squadron TV room when Howard Cosell announced that John Lennon had just been murdered in New York City. Having grown up a Beatles fan, their music, and John's music in particular, has inspired me and provided a huge part of my life's soundtrack.
Shocked and saddened, I went to my dorm room and turned on the radio to KILO 94.3 FM in Colorado Springs. They were playing John Lennon music uninterrupted all night long. I couldn't stop listening. I stayed awake long into the night, crying.
I reached for this cassette and recorded the broadcast.
I'm playing it again today.
It feels like Monday December 8, 1980 again.
Imagine.