My grandparents had an old black and white Zenith back in the 60’s and 70’s. One of the first to have a remote control, which was top of the line back then. The remote, affectionately called “the clicker”, had 3 buttons; one for on and off, one for channel up, and the last for channel down. We got 3 stations on bad days, and 4 on good ones. They were ABC (channel 4), NBC (channel 6), and CBS (channel 10). Oh, and PBS, which was 32 or 34 if you had the UHF antenna pointed in the right direction and the sun was shining.
There were just a few rules that were sacrosanct when it came to the old black & white Zenith: Sunday morning before church we watched the televangelists, and if church got out early Sunday night we could catch most of Disney! Saturday evening was wrestling, and the weekday evening news was ALWAYS CBS with Walter Cronkite. No ifs-ands-or-buts about it. If our chores were done early we could watch Flippo, which was usually great. Or the Banana Splits. But the news was Walter Cronkite, as no one else would suffice.
This carried over to my parents. I believe they tended to watch Walter as well. He made us feel … comfortable, I guess…when his face was on the screen, giving us the good as well as the bad. He didn’t use big words, or act like he had to talk down to the general public. He didn’t “purtify” or make flowery speech. He gave it to us straight, whether it was man landing on the moon, or the assassination of a president. He reacted to the news as well, showing us that he was human, a man of the people, so to say.
I don’t think he ever made a misstep in his job or his life. He was the first reporter to be called an “anchor”, and in that he was aptly named. He anchored entire families to the television to hang on his every word. Nowadays entire families are split up: one is the in living room, actually watching the television, while another is in the bedroom getting their news online. Maybe a child is at the library, skimming over the MSN headlines, or in their own bedroom, watching their own television, away from the rest of the family…wherever they might be.
He popped up once in a while after his retirement, and every time I heard his name or saw his picture, I’d flash back to those times spent on my grandparent’s farm. Grandpa worked for the Electric company for his full time job, then came home to his modest 15 acre farm and took care of a couple of cows, a pony or two, the chickens, and a few other odds and ends critters he had running around in the pasture. Maybe some weeding or tilling the vegetable patch. Then in to wash up and relax in the living room with Walter while the women (grandma and mom) got supper ready. Me being a tomboy, I usually found something better to do, or else I’d sneak into the living room with grandpa and we’d watch the news together.
Walter was so a part of my childhood that it almost feels like I’ve lost a family member. Maybe a kindly uncle, or someone along that line. I, for one, will miss him. And that’s the way it was.
There were just a few rules that were sacrosanct when it came to the old black & white Zenith: Sunday morning before church we watched the televangelists, and if church got out early Sunday night we could catch most of Disney! Saturday evening was wrestling, and the weekday evening news was ALWAYS CBS with Walter Cronkite. No ifs-ands-or-buts about it. If our chores were done early we could watch Flippo, which was usually great. Or the Banana Splits. But the news was Walter Cronkite, as no one else would suffice.
This carried over to my parents. I believe they tended to watch Walter as well. He made us feel … comfortable, I guess…when his face was on the screen, giving us the good as well as the bad. He didn’t use big words, or act like he had to talk down to the general public. He didn’t “purtify” or make flowery speech. He gave it to us straight, whether it was man landing on the moon, or the assassination of a president. He reacted to the news as well, showing us that he was human, a man of the people, so to say.
I don’t think he ever made a misstep in his job or his life. He was the first reporter to be called an “anchor”, and in that he was aptly named. He anchored entire families to the television to hang on his every word. Nowadays entire families are split up: one is the in living room, actually watching the television, while another is in the bedroom getting their news online. Maybe a child is at the library, skimming over the MSN headlines, or in their own bedroom, watching their own television, away from the rest of the family…wherever they might be.
He popped up once in a while after his retirement, and every time I heard his name or saw his picture, I’d flash back to those times spent on my grandparent’s farm. Grandpa worked for the Electric company for his full time job, then came home to his modest 15 acre farm and took care of a couple of cows, a pony or two, the chickens, and a few other odds and ends critters he had running around in the pasture. Maybe some weeding or tilling the vegetable patch. Then in to wash up and relax in the living room with Walter while the women (grandma and mom) got supper ready. Me being a tomboy, I usually found something better to do, or else I’d sneak into the living room with grandpa and we’d watch the news together.
Walter was so a part of my childhood that it almost feels like I’ve lost a family member. Maybe a kindly uncle, or someone along that line. I, for one, will miss him. And that’s the way it was.
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ReplyDeleteHey, your peeve is also one of mine! I loved knowing I was not the only person griping about the nasty loud music on some of the blogs! It can make you jump right out of the chair! *lol*
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