I lived in St. Pete during those years. Believe it or not, we watched and HEARD the Apollo launches from nearly 180 miles away. IIRC it took over a minute for the light from the engines to pop up over the horizon, much longer for the SOUND to reach us there on the west coast.
Decades later I was in Daytona and watched a night launch of the space shuttle from the beach.
Thinking about making a road trip down to Musk Land soon to watch a launch.
The Shuttle really scoots off the launch pad compared to that big Saturn, or so it looks on TV.