WNAC-TV Walter Cronkite Tribute -- March 6, 1981

[deltafortress]

4:26 what kind of woman was that?

[AlienBeliever897]

R.I.P. Walter Cronkite 1916-2009

The last TRUE news journalist that told the news as it was.

[ms1oconnell]

Bill O'Connell is alive and well living in Ft. Myers, FL and still enjoys following the Red Sox

[morgan8757]

Is bill o'connell still alive

[sed1228]

Yesterday, John Henning passed away at age 73 after a battle with leukemia. Prior to his tenure at WNAC-7 (now WHDH), he was on WGBH-2 and WCVB-5. After leaving WNAC, he joined WBZ-4 in '82 and remained there until just before his death. His passing caught me by surprise because he seemed fine to me during a appearance last year. God bless you John and rest in peace.

[wmbrown6]

@sed1228 - A circa 1964 sign-off of WGBH-2 from Mr. Henning is in the audio section of Jeff Kadet's 'DXPhotos' site, among other sign-offs recorded between 1963 and '65.

[eci4r]

I remember bill o'connell

[pooka5472]

In my honest opinion, what I would have liked to see is WNAC still being affiliated with ABC and still being owned by RKO General, with John Henning at the anchor desk. That way, Mr. Henning could also have done a tribute to Peter Jennings.

[ASKconard]

Mike Taibbi worked there.  Now at NBC.

I think Lyn Vaughn went to CNN.

[UNFUGAGA]

Congratulations for the tribute to Cronkite!

[AaronApolloCamp]

Walter Cronkite died today, folks.

[cjmill13]

Hey this is Great I would love to see the Candlepins for Cash Opening or Candlepin Pros

[tkaye2]

Also, it's interesting to see that "Newsroom 7" was still using the old station logo even after the rest of the station imaging had changed to the 1980 logo. I guess even buying a few new mic flags and adding a new logo to the Vidifont was too much for the bean counters at RKO.

That sequence at the end is a great retrospective of Cronkite's career. I assume this was put together by CBS and distributed as part of the daily affiliate feed.

[wmbrown6]

Are you sure that this "block" sans serif typeface was from Vidifont? (And would you know by what name this font was known as?) I do know that the CBS O&O's (and some affiliates, such as WNAC) used this particular typeface. Also, WCBS in New York seemed the only one not to use the CBS eye logo in that CG system (I presume there were some others?).

[VintageTelevision]

In its later years, WNAC-TV used a Chyron II alongside its Vidifont. I think the text seen in the credits came from the Chyron.

[wmbrown6]

As to that Cronkite montage: I do think it was prepared by CBS; snippets of this montage were used by WJKW-TV (Channel 8, the once and future WJW-TV) in Cleveland, Ohio, just before the last Cronkite-anchored edition of the "CBS Evening News." The teletype sound heard over the end credits appears to be 375 OPM in speed.

[VaultMasterDBT]

The 1977-era Times-Serif "7" remained as a part of the Newsroom 7 identity until later in 1981, when the logo and graphics were upgraded to include the strip-layered "7" that had been used elsewhere on the station since 1980.

[tkaye2]

What a cheap-looking set... the way the studio lights reflect off the skyline backdrop suggets that it was basically some poster-sized prints that were hung from the wall. RKO General was spending too much on bribes to politicians and then hiring lawyers to defend their FCC licenses to be able to afford much else, I guess!

After the switch to WNEV in May 1982, was this set still in use during the summer while the NEWSE7EN set was being built?

[VaultMasterDBT]

Money was indeed running out on the cosmetics and presentation at WNAC in the final years, and their on-air fortunes were about to get worse when John Henning left WNAC three months after this broadcast. Brad Holbrook (who had been co-anchoring with Henning since '80) then became the last leading newsman at the original Channel 7, in the year leading up to the NETV relaunch.

[newscenter5]

more great stuff...

any NEWS7 ... brad holbrook, susan brady, mike taibbi???

[wmbrown6]

I noticed on the electronic end credit roll, that the reporters were mentioned. This must've been a hallmark of RKO General stations, since reporters were also mentioned within the end credit rolls of "News at Noon" on WOR-TV in New York during this same period.

Would anyone know if WNAC used the "Comments on our editorial opinions are welcome..." wording at the end of editorials, as WOR-TV and Los Angeles' KHJ-TV did?