Walter Cronkite Dies

[vchimpanzee]

NBC did. Go to their website to watch the PST Nightly News.

Can you provide me a link to the video please? And what about ABC?

I haven't read the whole thread, but just in case, I was watching "Surviving Suburbia" and they did it sort of like closed captioning.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Then you missed the best TV journalism since Murrow.

Murrow looked uncomfortable on TV. At least in the clips I've seen. No question he was a great radio journalist.

 

[vchimpanzee]

It's sad, but not necessarily surprising news, given recent statements about Cronkite's health.
He genuinely stayed active in his retirement. I recall watching coverage of the 1994 Northridge earthquake in California, and hearing about how he was caught in the middle of it. What does Uncle Walter do? He shows up at one of the local stations asking if they need a hand with anything. 8)

Before Michael Jackson died, the man on the radio station I was listening to was reporting the death of Ed McMahon and he said Mr. Cronkite might be next, from what he had heard. So I wasn't all that surprised.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Here's what tonight's evening newscasts had about Walter Cronkite:

On CBS, Katie Couric hosted a special edition of the Saturday CBS Evening News, devoted nearly entirely to remembering Walter Cronkite.

NBC Also devoted a good block of time to remembering Walter Cronkite. They featured the CBS Special Report announcing his death in nearly its entirety. The fill-in anchor, Savannah Guthrie interviewed Brian Williams, who was presumably vacationing in Yarmouth, ME, on his thoughts of Cronkite.

I didn't see what ABC did however.

I knew I just had to watch CBS, even if it was Katie Couric. :

I should have thought to tape ABC and NBC to see how they did it.

I moved into a new house at age 8. The kids who lived there before had left behind Highlights and Jack and Jill magazines. Also Ranger Rick, but that didn't appeal to me. One of the features in Jack and Jill was stories by kids about what their father did for a living. There may have been stories about mothers too, but back then not that many mothers worked. One of the stories was by Chip Cronkite, called "My Father is Walter Cronkite".

 

[vchimpanzee]

Did anybody catch the CBS tribute to him on Sunday at 7 PM EDT?

I did. I was too young to remember a lot of what went on.

Hard to believe I'm older now than he was when Kennedy died (in fact, I'm older than Kennedy was ). He looked so mature even during World War II.

I liked the way they switched to Sinatra after the Beatles story. Now THAT's music!

It distresses me that Uncle Walter actually liked The Grateful Dead.

 

[bg02445]

I just watched a History Channel special with a replay of the 1969 moon landing coverage, and at the end, the put a little slide up that said "Walter Cronkite 1916-2009"

 

[mleach]

I liked the way they switched to Sinatra after the Beatles story. Now THAT's music!

It distresses me that Uncle Walter actually liked The Grateful Dead.

Cronkite was actually a fan of the then current crop of pop music such as the Beatles, Rolling Stones and even Spanky & Our Gang. Until recently there was a clip of an interview with lead singer Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane from Spanky & Our Gang on You Tube where she made the comment that among her biggest fans back in their heyday was...Walter Cronkite !!!!

Cronkite really enjoyed their 1968 hit "Like To Get To Know You".

 

[bpatrick]

On a sports talk radio show this week, Tim Brando
provided what might be the ultimate commentary
on television today. Noting that CBS aired the
Cronkite tribute in "60 Minutes"'s usual time slot,
and that "60 Minutes" is a well-done program, CBS
then aired an episode of "Big Brother" after the
Cronkite special.

But as Steve Beverly says (and I can attest, since
we both teach students in the 18-22-year-old range),
young people have little or no interest in anything
historical. Most of them don't have a clue as to who
Cronkite was, unless they've heard their parents mention
him...and perhaps that's the reason for the saturation
coverage of Michael Jackson's passing,

And to the person who said Murrow looked uncomfortable
on camera: it's said that his legs would be shaking almost
uncontrollably, and that he kept a bottle of something alcoholic
discreetly off-camera, where he could get to it when the camera
was on something else (it being against FCC rules to drink on-camera).
Radio was indeed his medium; I cannot imagine him anchoring the
CBS Evening News.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Cronkite really enjoyed their 1968 hit "Like To Get To Know You".

I did too.

But that other so-called music ... I just find it disturbing that a man like Walter Cronkite would be willing to have anything to do with it.

 

[stdjsb25]

But as Steve Beverly says (and I can attest, since
we both teach students in the 18-22-year-old range),
young people have little or no interest in anything
historical. Most of them don't have a clue as to who
Cronkite was, unless they've heard their parents mention
him...and perhaps that's the reason for the saturation
coverage of Michael Jackson's passing,

Having studied journalism in college, I always enjoyed reading about Walter Cronkite's career.

His death marks the near end of quality journalism....an end that began with the passing of Edward R. Murrow himself.....you look at all the greats who have come and gone over the years.....Murrow, Chet Huntley, Frank Reynolds, Eric Severeid, Harry Reasoner, John Chancellor, David Brinkley, Peter Jennings, Tim Russert, and now Walter Cronkite.

 

[bpatrick]

Those who are interested might want to check out
CNN's website, where the text of a Bob Greene piece
titled "The Man Who Wasn't Cronkite," which apparently
aired Sunday, can be found. The man in question is
Douglas Edwards, and it portrays him as one of the
classiest people in the news business; he showed no
outward rancor towards Cronkite when the anchor slot
changed hands, and on his last daytime newscast in
1988 he had nice things to say about the people at
CBS News as well as his viewers.

I'm always reminded of the day back in the '70s when
Don Hewitt was having lunch with the producer of
John Cameron Swayze's "Camel News Caravan" (Edwards'
NBC competition from 1949-56). Swayze's producer said,
"At least your man had the class to stay in the news business.
I mean, he didn't go out and become a ******* watch
salesman" (referring to Swayze's Timex commercials).

I've said it before on this board and I'll say it again: Douglas
Edwards may be the most underrated newscaster in the history
of television. But when Cronkite is your successor, you're forced
to live in a loooong shadow.

And I can just about guarantee that Dan Rather won't get
a fond farewell from CBS, considering how his career there
ended in quasi-scandal.