[TIPSdiscussion] Fw: ARLX010 Walter Cronkite, KB2GSD (SK)

From: "Anne, K1STM" <k1stm@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tipsdiscussion@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:08:03 -0400
This doesn't need an explanation.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "ARRL Web site" <memberlist@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <k1stm@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <Subscribed ARRL Members:>
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2009 6:07 PM
Subject: ARLX010 Walter Cronkite, KB2GSD (SK)


> 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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[TIPSdiscussion] Fw: ARLX010 Walter Cronkite, KB2GSD (SK)

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