Project link: http://www.DesMoinesRegister.com/buddyholly
Project editors: Kyle Munson, Michael Corey, Travis Graven, Craig Johnson
Design: Kelli Morris, Mark Marturello
Photography: Rodney White, Doug Wells
Reporting: Mike Kilen, John Naughton, Joe Lawler
“The Day the Music Died” played out 50 years ago in a frozen Iowa field. The Register faced the challenge of tackling the historical moment without making it unfold like a high school history lesson, completely irrelevant to our younger audience. It wasn’t enough to commemorate the event: the Register had to explain why it has become one of the most famous dates in the history of rock music.
From the start the project was built around a strong collaboration among our online, multimedia, photo, graphics and features departments. We made several major trips to Clear Lake, Ia., and the Surf Ballroom to gather video, photos and stories. We contacted musicians, Holly authorities and other sources around the globe.
The result is the Web’s most comprehensive hub for understanding “the Day the Music Died.” Highlights include:
- A video mini-documentary, presented within the Flash player skin of a vintage TV set, weaving together the entire project and serving as a gateway to the site.
- An eye-popping splash page that allows navigation to major sections of the site and includes a spinning 45rpm record that plays a Buddy Holly cover song.
- An hour-by-hour Flash diagram of the night of the crash, which traces the flightpath, includes precise details on the plane and more.
- A 360-degree, interactive panorama of the famous “signature room” backstage at the Surf, where hundreds of musicians have left their mark in the last couple of decades.
- Extensive coverage of the 50th anniversary weekend at the Surf, produced in conjunction with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, including video (both live replays and edited segments with key figures such as Graham Nash), stories, photos and more.
- A forum in which visitors to the site shared their own memories, tributes and thoughts.
For those wanting to go deeper, there was more:
- A wealth of source documents used in reporting for the project, including death certificates, coroner’s reports and a book excerpt.
- An interactive quiz that separates Day the Music Died fact from myth.
- Two Buddy cover songs solicited from an Iowa band (Poison Control Center) that claims significant Buddy influence. The cover of “Well All Right” brands the project with the spinning record on the splash page.
- Widgets to help spread the the project across the Web
- @buddyholly Twitter account used for project presence on social media and for live news updates the weekend of the 50th anniversary.
Michael Corey is the digital innovations editor at the