50 Years Ago: Tornadoes Storm Through Twin Cities
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- "Just where in Columbia Heights are you?" Dick Chapman asked a caller the night of May 6, 1965.
"We are on 46th and Johnson," she replied.
That night, Chapman and Charlie Boone spent six straight hours taking calls from people and, using a map and a pen, tracked the storm as it tore across the Twin Cities.
"Literally it was a pen and a highway map, and they tracked the storm using the information from WCCO Radio listeners," Jim du Bois, from the Minnesota Broadcaster's Association, said.
The station was credited with saving many lives that night.
WEB EXTRA: WCCO Radio Archives Of 1965 Tornadoes
Du Bois also said it was unheard of at that time to put listeners on the air. They would do it for contests, but it took a lot of work for engineers to figure out how to do it, and they weren't too happy about it.
At the end of the night, du Bois said they got one last call.
"It was from a gentlemen who said, 'You saved our lives. We listened to you guys and we took shelter. The tornado destroyed our home, but we are alright,'" he said.
Du Bois transcribed all of the calls from that night, and on Wednesday night the National Weather Service will tweet out the messages live.
He said they hope to hear from more people about what they remember about that night, and will use it to create a digital map of the storm that killed 13 and injured hundreds.