[NJARC] Fwd: ARLX010 Walter Cronkite, KB2GSD (SK)

[TrainBee at aol.com]

>From Joe Devonshire - KC2FIQ
 
 
 
In a message dated 7/20/2009 6:37:10 PM Eastern Daylight Time,  
memberlist at www.arrl.org writes:
SB SPCL @ ARL $ARLX010
ARLX010 WALTER  CRONKITE, KB2GSD (SK)

ZCZC AX10
QST de W1AW  
Special Bulletin  10  ARLX010
>From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  July 20,  2009
To all radio amateurs 

SB SPCL ARL ARLX010
ARLX010 WALTER  CRONKITE, KB2GSD (SK)

Legendary CBS newsman Walter Cronkite, KB2GSD, who  held the title of
''Most Trusted Man in America,'' passed away Friday, July  17 after a
long illness. He was 92. The avuncular Cronkite anchored the  CBS
Evening News for 19 years until 1981 when he retired. During  that
time, he reported on such subjects as the Kennedy assassinations,
the  Civil Rights movement, the Apollo XI lunar landing, Vietnam and
the  Vietnam-era protests, the Arab-Israeli Six Day War, Watergate
and the  Begin-Sadat peace accords.

Cronkite, an ARRL member, narrated the 6  minute video ''Amateur Radio
Today'' (http://www.arrl.org/ARToday/). Produced  by the ARRL in 2003,
the video tells Amateur Radio's public service story to  non-hams,
focusing on ham radio's part in helping various agencies respond  to
wildfires in the Western US during 2002, ham radio in space and  the
role Amateur Radio plays in emergency communications. ''Dozens  of
radio amateurs helped the police and fire departments and  other
emergency services maintain communications in New York,  Pennsylvania
and Washington, DC,'' narrator Cronkite intoned in reference to  ham
radio's response on September 11, 2001. ''Their country asked,  and
they responded without reservation.''

Walter Leland Cronkite was  born in St Joseph, Missouri on November
4, 1916, the only child of a dentist  father and homemaker mother.
When he was still young, his family moved to  Texas. ''One day, he
read an article in ''Boys Life'' about the adventures of  reporters
working around the world -- and young Cronkite was hooked,''  said
his obituary on the CBS Web site. ''He began working on his  high
school newspaper and yearbook and in 1933, he entered the  University
of Texas at Austin to study political science, economics  and
journalism. He never graduated. He took a part time job at the
Houston  Post and left college to do what he loved:  report.''
(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/17/eveningnews/main5170556.shtml)

In  1963, it was Cronkite who broke into the soap opera ''As the World
Turns'' to  announce that the president had been shot -- and later to
declare that he had  been killed.'' CBS called it a ''defining moment
for Cronkite, and for the  country. His presence -- in shirtsleeves,
slowly removing his glasses to  check the time and blink back tears
-- captured both the sense of shock, and  the struggle for composure,
that would consume America and the world over the  next four days.''

One of Cronkite's enthusiasms was the space race. In  1969, when
America sent a man to the moon, he couldn't contain himself.  ''Go
baby, go.'' he said as Apollo XI took off. He ended up  performing
what critics described as ''Walter to Walter'' coverage of the  mission
-- staying on the air for 27 of the 30 hours that astronauts  Buzz
Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were on the moon. In 2006, NASA  honored
Cronkite by giving him their Ambassador of Exploration Award.  ''His
marathon, live coverage of the first moon landing brought  the
excitement and impact of the historic event into the homes of
millions  of Americans and observers around the world,'' NASA said in
a news release  announcing the award. Cronkite was the first
non-astronaut and only NASA  outsider to receive the  award.
(http://www.arrl.org/?artid=6130.)

Steve Mendelsohn, W2ML, was  Cronkite's radio engineer at CBS for
many years. ''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 code test, he balked, saying it was too hard  for
him; however, he told me he had purchased a receiver and listened  to
the Novice bands every night for a few minutes. At the CBS  Radio
Network, Walter would arrive 10 minutes before we went on the air  to
read his script aloud, make corrections for his style of grammar  and
just 'get in the mood' to do the show. In those days Rich  Moseson,
W2VU, was the producer of a show called ''In the News,'' a 3  minute
television show for children voiced by CBS Correspondent  Christopher
Glenn. On this day, Rich was at the Broadcast Center to  record
Chris' voice for his show and had dropped by my 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
the behest of our director, Dick  Muller, WA2DOS,'' Mendelsohn
recalled. ''In setting up the tape recorders, I  had to send tone to
them and make sure they were all at proper level. Having  some time,
I grabbed ''The New York Times'' 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 over and was copying it. We
went to air, as we  did every day, at 4:50 PM and after 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 had just
passed the code test. He laughed and asked when the  formal test was,
but I reminded him that it took two general class licensees  to
validate the test and he had just passed the code. Several weeks
later  he passed the written test and the FCC issued him KB2GSD.''

Mendelsohn  helped Cronkite make his first Amateur Radio contact:
''Having passed the  licensing test, Walter was now ready to get on
the air. His first QSO was on  10 meters about 28.390 MHz. He was
nervous and I called him on the phone to  talk him through his first
experience. As we talked on the air, a ham from  the Midwest come on
and called me. Acknowledging him, I asked the usual  questions about
where he was from, wanting to give Walter a bit of flavor of  what
the hobby was about. I turned it over to Walter, and following  his
introduction, the gentleman in the Midwest said, 'That's the  worst
Walter Cronkite imitation I've ever heard.' 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't be here on 10 meters.'
Walter  and I laughed for weeks at that one.''

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

Cronkite is the  recipient of a Peabody Award, the William White
Award for Journalistic Merit,  an Emmy Award from the Academy of
Television Arts and Sciences, the George  Polk Journalism Award and a
Gold Medal from the International Radio and  Television Society. In
1981, during his final three months on the CBS Evening  News,
Cronkite received 11 major awards, including the Presidential  Medal
of Freedom. In 1985, he became the second newsman, after Edward  R.
Murrow, to be selected for the Television Hall of Fame.

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

As  Cronkite said on March 6, 1981, concluding his final broadcast as
anchorman:  ''Old anchormen, you see, don't fade away, they just keep
coming back for  more. And that's the way it is.''
NNNN
/EX
 
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