Editing Dan Rather (section)

=== "Kenneth, what is the frequency?" ===
{{Redirect|Kenneth, what is the frequency?|the song by R.E.M.|What's the Frequency, Kenneth?||Kenneth, what is the frequency? (disambiguation)}}
On October 4, 1986, while walking along [[Park Avenue]] to his New York apartment, Rather was attacked and punched from behind by a man who demanded to know "Kenneth, what is the frequency?" while a second assailant chased and beat him. As the assailant pummeled and kicked Rather, he kept repeating the question. In describing the incident, Rather said "I got mugged. Who understands these things? I didn't and I don't now. I didn't make a lot of it at the time and I don't now. I wish I knew who did it and why, but I have no idea."<ref name="Frequency">{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |title=Park Ave. Assault on Rather Leaves Mystery as to Motive |author=McFadden, Robert D. |date=October 6, 1986 |access-date=April 21, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/06/nyregion/park-ave-assault-on-rather-leaves-mystery-as-to-motive.html}}</ref> Until the crime was solved years later, Rather's description of the bizarre crime led some to doubt the veracity of his account,<ref name="Bruni">{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times| title=Belatedly, the Riddle of an Attack on Rather Is Solved |date=January 30, 1997 |author=Bruni, Frank |access-date=April 21, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/30/nyregion/belatedly-the-riddle-of-an-attack-on-rather-is-solved.html}}</ref> although the doorman and building supervisor who came to Rather's aid fully confirmed his version of events.<ref name="Frequency" />

The assault remained unsolved for some time, and the phrase "What's the frequency, Kenneth?" became a popular culture reference over the years, such as in a scene in the graphic novel ''[[Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron]]'' by [[Daniel Clowes]]. The opening track of the 1987 album ''[[Lolita Nation]]'' by California [[power pop]] group [[Game Theory (band)|Game Theory]] is titled "Kenneth, What's the Frequency?" In 1994, the band [[R.E.M.]] released the song "[[What's the Frequency, Kenneth?]]" on their album ''[[Monster (R.E.M. album)|Monster]]''. Rather later sang with R.E.M. during a sound check prior to a gig at New York's [[Madison Square Garden]], which was shown the following night on the ''[[Late Show with David Letterman]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=REM & Dan Rather – What's The Frequency Kenneth? – 1995 | date=May 25, 2008 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Huyn9itzIw | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/2Huyn9itzIw| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|publisher=YouTube |access-date=August 11, 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In 1997, a TV critic writing in the [[Daily News (New York)|New York ''Daily News'']] solved the mystery, publishing a photo of the alleged assailant, William Tager, who received a 12.5-to-25-year prison sentence for killing NBC stagehand Campbell Montgomery outside ''[[Today (NBC program)|The Today Show]]'' studio in 1994.<ref name="Bruni" /> Rather confirmed the story: "There's no doubt in my mind that this is the person."<ref name="Bruni" /> New York District Attorney [[Robert M. Morgenthau]] said "William Tager's identity as the man who attacked Mr. Rather was established in the course of an investigation by my office."<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/05/opinion/l05rather.html "No Doubt in Rather Case"], ''The New York Times'', November 5, 2004.</ref> Tager claimed he thought television networks were beaming signals into his brain.<ref>[http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=12877 "Strange story behind R.E.M.'s song 'What's the Frequency, Kenneth{{'"}}]</ref> When he murdered the stagehand, Tager was trying to force his way into an NBC studio with a weapon, to find out the frequency the networks were using to attack him, so that he could block it. Tager was paroled in October 2010.<ref>{{cite web |title=Full text of William Tager parole documents; |url=https://archive.org/stream/239143-william-tager-parole-documents/239143-william-tager-parole-documents_djvu.txt |access-date=August 17, 2019 |date=August 28, 2011}}</ref>