It was exactly 58 years ago, Nov. 9, 1965 when the lights dimmed, then went out completely just before 5:30 PM EST. If you were around that day you probably remember it - although very dimly. It was the afternoon of the great North American blackout that plunged some of the Eastern seaboard into the dark.

My memory of the day is still strong, despite the fact I was just a little kid. I remember that CFTO was showing a Laurel & Hardy film just after 5 PM (yes they showed movies early back then) when the lights in our kitchen dimmed for a second, came on again and then went out. For the next 14 hours or so, we lived without electricity - no TV, no stove, no fridge, nothing. Except, of course, the battery-operated radio, tuned to CFRB. 

Back then, they actually had a great newsroom and fed information to their listeners all night long.

But the most famous radio moment from that day has to be the great Dan Ingram on WABC, trying to figure out why all his records, jingles and spots were running in slow motion. His unflappability is a tribute to just how great he was and why many still call him the disc jockey's Disc Jockey. 



Here's the look back TV Guide published not long after the fact, a night of primetime television very few in the East ever got to see.