Christine Chubbuck (August 24, 1944 – July 15, 1974) was an American television news reporter who worked for stations WTOG and WXLT-TV in Sarasota, Florida. She is best known for being the first person to die by suicide on a live television broadcast.
Chubbuck shot herself in the head on July 15, 1974, during WXLT-TV's Suncoast Digest, after claiming that the network was about to present "an exclusive coverage of an attempted suicide"; it was confirmed after her death that she had added the quote in her script for the broadcast, making the action likely premeditated.
Early life and education
left|thumb|Chubbuck's family in 1974. From left to right: Stephen (Christine's grandmother), Tim, Greg, Margretha, George
Christine Chubbuck was born on August 24, 1944, in East Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of George Fairbank Chubbuck and Margretha Augusta "Peg" (née Davis). She had two brothers, Greg and Tim. Chubbuck attended the Laurel School for Girls in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland. During her years at Laurel, she jokingly formed a "Dateless Wonder Club" with other "rejected" girls who did not have dates on Saturday nights.
Chubbuck attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, for one year, majoring in theater arts, then attended Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts, before earning a degree in broadcasting at Boston University in 1965. According to her brother Greg, Chubbuck dated a man in his 30s at age 21 but their father disapproved. She never entered another romantic relationship before her death.
Television career
Early work
Chubbuck worked for WVIZ in Cleveland between 1966 and 1967 working with station publications, and attended a summer workshop in radio and television at New York University in 1967. That same year, she worked in Canton, Ohio, and, for three months, at WQED-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as an assistant producer for two local shows, Women's World and Keys to the City. In 1968, Chubbuck left WQED to spend four years as a hospital computer operator and two years with a cable television firm in Sarasota, Florida. Immediately before joining ABC affiliate WXLT-TV (now WWSB), she worked in the traffic department of WTOG in St. Petersburg.
Several years before her death, Chubbuck had moved into her family's summer cottage on Siesta Key. Sally Quinn of The Washington Post later reported that she had painted the bedroom and canopied bed to look like that of a young teenager. After Chubbuck's parents were divorced, her mother Peg and younger brother Greg came to live in the Florida home. When Greg left, her elder brother Tim moved in. Chubbuck had a close relationship with her family, describing her mother and Greg as her closest friends.
Chubbuck took her position seriously, inviting local officials from Sarasota and Bradenton to discuss matters of interest to the growing beach community. After her death, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported that she had been nominated for a Forestry and Conservation Recognition Award by the Bradenton district office of the Florida Division of Forestry. Chubbuck was considered a "strong contender" by district forester Mike Keel. He had been scheduled to appear as a guest on Chubbuck's show the morning of her suicide, but canceled because of the birth of his son. On occasion, Chubbuck incorporated homemade puppets she had used to entertain children with intellectual disabilities during her volunteer work at Sarasota Memorial Hospital.
Death
Depression
Chubbuck spoke to her family at length about her struggles with depression and suicidal tendencies, though she did not inform them of her intent to die by suicide on live television. She had attempted to overdose on drugs in 1970 and frequently made reference to that event. Chubbuck had been seeing a psychiatrist up until several weeks before her death. Her mother chose not to tell WXLT management about her daughter's suicidal tendencies because she feared Chubbuck would be fired.
thumb|left|Chubbuck in 1974
Chubbuck's focus on her lack of intimate relationships is generally considered to be the driving force for her depression. Her mother later summarized that "her suicide was simply because her personal life was not enough." She lamented to co-workers that her 30th birthday was approaching, and she was still a virgin who had never been on more than two dates with a man. Her brother Greg later recalled a man that she had gone out with several times before moving to Sarasota, but agreed that his sister had trouble connecting socially in the beach resort town. He believed her constant self-deprecation for being "dateless" contributed to her ongoing depression.
According to Quinn, Chubbuck had an unrequited crush on co-worker George Peter Ryan. She baked him a cake for his birthday and sought his romantic attention, only to find out he was already involved with sports reporter Andrea Kirby. Kirby had been the co-worker closest to Chubbuck, but she was offered a new job in Baltimore, which had further depressed Chubbuck. Chubbuck had her right ovary removed in an operation the year before her suicide, and had been told that if she did not become pregnant within two to three years, it was unlikely she would ever be able to conceive.
Suicide
alt=An unloaded revolver on a desk with several bullet casings next to it.|thumb|The revolver used by Chubbuck
On the morning of July 15, 1974, Chubbuck confused co-workers by claiming she had to read a newscast to open Suncoast Digest, something she had never done before. That morning's guest waited across the studio while Chubbuck sat at the news anchor's desk.
The film reel of the restaurant shooting had jammed and would not run, so Chubbuck shrugged it off and said on-camera: She drew a revolver and shot herself behind her right ear.