Legendary CBS newsman Walter Cronkite, KB2GSD, who held the title of"Most Trusted Man in America," passed away Friday, July 17 after a longillness. He was 92. The avuncular Cronkite anchored the CBS Evening Newsfor 19 years until 1981 when he retired. During that time, he reportedon such subjects as the Kennedy assassinations, the Civil Rightsmovement, the Apollo 11 lunar landing, Vietnam and the Vietnam-eraprotests, the Arab-Israeli Six Day War, Watergate and the Begin-Sadatpeace accords.

Cronkite, an ARRL member, narrated the 6 minute video "Amateur RadioToday" http://www.arrl.org/ARToday/. Produced by the ARRL in 2003, thevideo tells Amateur Radio's public service story to non-hams, focusingon ham radio's part in helping various agencies respond to wildfires inthe Western US during 2002, ham radio in space and the role AmateurRadio plays in emergency communications. "Dozens of radio amateurshelped the police and fire departments and other emergency servicesmaintain communications in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC,"narrator Cronkite intoned in reference to ham radio's response onSeptember 11, 2001. "Their country asked, and they responded withoutreservation."

In 1963, it was Cronkite who broke into the soap opera "As the WorldTurns" to announce that the president had been shot -- and later todeclare that he had been killed. CBS called it a "defining moment forCronkite, and for the country. His presence -- in shirtsleeves, slowlyremoving his glasses to check the time and blink back tears -- capturedboth the sense of shock, and the struggle for composure, that wouldconsume America and the world over the next four days."

Steve Mendelsohn, W2ML, was Cronkite's radio engineer at CBS for manyyears. "I had many chances to discuss my favorite hobby, ham radio, with'the world's most trusted anchor man,'" he told the ARRL. "Gradually,his interest increased, but on finding that he had to pass a Morse codetest, he balked, saying it was too hard for him; however, he told me hehad purchased a receiver and listened to the Novice bands every nightfor a few minutes. At the CBS Radio Network, Walter would arrive 10minutes before we went on the air to read his script aloud, makecorrections for his style of grammar and just 'get in the mood' to dothe show. In those days Rich Moseson, W2VU, was the producer of a showcalled "In the News," a 3 minute television show for children voiced byCBS Correspondent Christopher Glenn. On this day, Rich was at theBroadcast Center to record Chris' voice for his show and had dropped bymy control room to discuss some upcoming ARRL issues." At the time,Mendelsohn was the ARRL Hudson Division Director.

"When Walter walked into the studio, I started to set the show up at thebehest of our director, Dick Muller, WA2DOS," Mendelsohn recalled. "Insetting up the tape recorders, I had to send tone to them and make surethey were all at proper level. Having some time, I grabbed "The New YorkTimes" and started sending code with the tone key on the audio console.For 10 minutes I sent code and noticed Walter had turned his script overand was copying it. We went to air, as we did every day, at 4:50 PM andafter we were off, Walter brought his script into the control room.Neatly printed on the back was the text I had sent with the tone key.Rich and I looked at the copy, he nodded, and I told Walter that he hadjust passed the code test. He laughed and asked when the formal testwas, but I reminded him that it took two General class licensees tovalidate the test and he had just passed the code. Several weeks laterhe passed the written test and the FCC issued him KB2GSD."

Mendelsohn helped Cronkite make his first Amateur Radio contact: "Havingpassed the licensing test, Walter was now ready to get on the air. Hisfirst QSO was on 10 meters about 28.390 MHz. He was nervous and I calledhim on the phone to talk him through his first experience. As we talkedon the air, a ham from the Midwest come on and called me. Acknowledginghim, I asked the usual questions about where he was from, wanting togive Walter a bit of flavor of what the hobby was about. I turned itover to Walter, and following his introduction, the gentleman in theMidwest said, 'That's the worst Walter Cronkite imitation I've everheard!' I suggested that maybe it was Walter and the man replied,'Walter Cronkite is not even a ham, and if he was, he certainly wouldn'tbe here on 10 meters.' Walter and I laughed for weeks at that one."

In 2007, ARRL Hudson Division Director Frank Fallon, N2FF, presentedCronkite with the ARRL President's Award. This award, created in 2003 bythe ARRL Board of Directors, recognizes an ARRL member or members who"have shown long-term dedication to the goals and objectives of ARRL andAmateur Radio" and who have gone the extra mile to support individualLeague programs and goals. Cronkite was selected to receive the award inApril 2005 in recognition of his outstanding support of the ARRL andAmateur Radio by narrating the videos "Amateur Radio Today" and "TheARRL Goes to Washington" http://www.arrl.org/pio/VTS-video.wmv. "Itwas quite a thrill to make this presentation to Cronkite," Fallon said."He has long been recognized as the 'most trusted man in America,' solining our causes to his face, name and voice has been a great help."

A private memorial service was held July 23 in New York City. Cronkitewill be cremated and his remains buried in Missouri next to his wifeBetsy, who passed away in 2005. A public memorial service will be heldwithin the next month at Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Center for thePerforming Arts. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donationsto the Walter and Betsy Cronkite Foundation through the Austin CommunityFoundation http://www.austincommunityfoundation.org/, which willdistribute contributions to various charities the couple supported.

Source:

The ARRL LetterVol. 28, No. 29July 24, 2009