News 9 Donates Hundreds Of Tapes Of OKC Bombing Coverage To Memorial Museum

As News 9 prepares to move into its new station in the heart of downtown OKC, the station donated tapes of the Murrah Building Bombing to the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum.

Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum executive director Kari Watkins said they will be preserved at the museum. More than 1,000 tapes will now be preserved in cool storage.  

"We are standing in one of the best repositories of one single event,” Watkins said. “It is an incredible archive."

News 9’s Robin Marsh and others were downtown covering that tragic day 27 years ago. She stressed the importance of telling this story for future generations.

"I think that is what is so important about the archive is that this moment in time can never be forgotten, and it has to be told in the way of truth,” Marsh said. “I think that is what the documentation of News 9 giving all of these footage to the archives.”   

Marsh still recalls the busy hours and days ahead after the bombing.

"When we got on the air, just right after 9:02 (a.m.), we were on extended coverage that Wednesday right after it happened up until Sunday night when ‘60 Minutes’ did a big special,” Marsh said.

Marsh said she sees the value of sharing the truth with others.

"For me, this story is as important today as it was almost 28 years ago," said Marsh.

"Sometimes, you will hear kids ask, ‘Why didn't you text a survivor,” and well, we didn't have text,” Watkins said. “And so explaining how technology changes and the importance of technology -- that (is) all part of the story.”

Now, with this documentation properly preserved, the light found in the rubble of Oklahoma's darkest day will never be dimmed.

"That really is what the Oklahoma Standard is about: The people of Oklahoma are a people of faith, and that is what carried us through, but that resilient spirit of doing whatever is needed," Marsh said.

Next, curators at the museum will review the tapes. The media team will digitize the tapes and begin to create files.

This process will take several years to complete.