RIP Walter Cronkite

[mrschultz]

Just heard that Walter Cronkite has died.:verysad:

He and the others of his era really gave you real news, unlike the "stuff" you get on the news now...

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

i was young and naive then (as opposed to middle-aged and naive now), but there was something about that man i always liked.

as i think about it, he seemed like a kindly, avuncular sort who knew how to treat sobering subjects just the way they deserved. as opposed to the next generation, who had a uniform robotic inflection even during their supposedly near-mournful moments talking about the latest tragedy or whatnot.

i still do an impression of his voice to myself sometimes and it always makes me feel good... dunno quite why.

 

[mrschultz]

i was young and naive then (as opposed to middle-aged and naive now), but there was something about that man i always liked.

as i think about it, he seemed like a kindly, avuncular sort who knew how to treat sobering subjects just the way they deserved. as opposed to the next generation, who had a uniform robotic inflection even during their supposedly near-mournful moments talking about the latest tragedy or whatnot.

i still do an impression of his voice to myself sometimes and it always makes me feel good... dunno quite why.

What's the line in that song "talk about the plane crash with the gleam in their eye", or something like that. I kept thinking of that line when ever I came across anyone talking about the death of Michael Jackson, every one looked like they were trying real hard to suppress a big smile. That's the kind of thing you could never even imagine Cronkite doing, that's why he was so trusted.

 

[sleepy]

Well, that was to be expected. He was sick for the last several months.
Walter Cronkite's greatest gift to the world was in presenting a show by the name of "The 21st Century" which ran from around 1959-60 to late 1960's. The original series which he hosted was "The 20th Century". The 20th Century was about history with much retrospection on WWII and it's aftermath, The Cold War.

The 21st Century was all about technology and advances and roadblocks in the development of items such as microchips and mainframe computers such as IBM, and I dare say that, along with a lesser-known mid-1950's program entitled "You Asked For It!" which often covered then-current advances in technology such as The Transistor and The Univac, that if it hadn't been for these programs and Mr. Cronkite's reports about the setbacks in the development of The Microchip and other technologies, that we would not have these devices or video games or the personal computer or musical synthesizers or digital audio and video recording today.
With respect to these devices, Jack Smith of You Asked For It! and Walter Cronkite were more than reporters. They were teachers.

R.I.P.

 

[bob]

I loved Walter Cronkite, he was such a nice man, people like him and Walt Disney (another of my favorites) are rare today.

YouTube - Walter Cronkite And The Lunar Landing (CBS News)

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

i could listen to his voice forever, but watching these youtube clips i'm noticing how much emotion he conveyed through just his eyes. in the clip above you can see a merry gleam, or in the JFK and MLK clips you can see bewilderment and pain.

EDIT: this one is cracking me up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6_RHxArgp8

 

[LeeVanCleef]

It's ironic hearing Cronkite talk about pioneers in that Apollo clip, since he was such a trailblazer himself. Along with Edward R. Murrow, Cronkite is responsible for the personality-driven newscast, whether it's Olberman or Hannity. The difference with Uncle Walter was that he showed what could be done when that power was wielded with an indefinable mix of objectivity and empathy. There will never be another like him.