CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite - WBBM Channel 2 (Complete Broadcast, 3/24/1978) 📺

Here's a look at "the way it is" on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite as aired over WBBM Channel 2.
Includes:
A&P "Action Prices" with Price & Pride (with voiceover by Jerry Harper)
With Walter nearby, Mort Crim previews upcoming 6pm edition of Channel 2 News, followed by ending credits (accompanied by Dick Marx' theme) (Mort mentions Bill Kurtis' story on Agent Orange which can be seen here: • WBBM Channel 2 - Agent... )
CBS Evening News open (voiceover by Bob Hite)
Leading off with:
- Several large unions vote to ratify contract ending coal strike as reported by Barry Serafin, with quotes from United Mine Workers president Arnold Miller; followed by reports from Martha Teichner (in Chesapeake, WV, reporting on Local 1759 vote with president Dave Forms presiding over ballot count) and Bruce Hall (in Norton, VA, where state troopers stood guard for that vote); but mine construction workers still have no contract
Commercials for:
Lite Beer (with The VanArsdale Twins, Tom and Dick, "Former Basketball Stars")
First Alert (with William Conrad, reading a letter from Mr. and Mrs. Edward Helene)
- Tom Fenton reports on Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin returning home to find increasing disapproval of his more hardline policies, following unsuccessful meeting in Washington; also featured: Defense Minister Ezer Weizman and opposition leader Shimon Peres)
- Marvin Kalb reports on Secretary of State Cyrus Vance denying a report that claims the Carter administration wants Begin removed from office
- Syrians stopped from shipping weapons to Palestinians for use in Lebanon
Commercials for:
Geritol
Borden Lite-Line Pasteurized Process Cheese Product
- Shootout in area south of Paris during attempt to drop off ransom for kidnapped Belgian industrialist Édouard-Jean Empain (he would be released two days later)
- Former mayor of Turin, Italy, shot by members of Red Brigades (which kidnapped, and later killed, former Prime Minister Aldo Moro); his condition not serious
- Due to flu, Pope Paul VI unable to attend Good Friday Way of the Cross Procession; filling in was Vicar General Ugo Poletti; commemoration of Christ's crucifixion held in Jerusalem
- Per Ike Pappas, Pentagon drastically cutting Navy plan to build more ships over next five years
Commercials for:
Wheaties (with Bruce Jenner) - "Breakfast of Champions"
Mr. Coffee - The Great $5.00 Rebate - with Joe DiMaggio
- Details on Carter's national urban policy are leaked to press in anticipation of Monday rollout, leading to report from David Culhane in South Bronx, NY; interviews with Meagan Charlop and Ramon Rueda of Peoples Development Corp.
- In South Bronx, 26 block stretch of sewers hit with mass explosions; dozen or more injured, 60 families evacuated from homes
- FEC finds Ford's 1976 campaign spent $23.5 million, mostly federal funds
- HEW admits to hiring less handicapped persons than other federal agencies
- Buffalo Bills trade O.J. Simpson to San Francisco 49ers for five draft choices over next three years
Commercials for:
1978 Ford LTD II
Orange Juice - with Peggy Fleming, Arthur Fiedler - and Linda Harris (voiceover by Peter Thomas)
- Supertanker Amoco Cadiz torn in two by heavy seas off coast of Brittany, France, on top of oil spill (more than 220,000 tons at this point) that commenced March 16th and devastated wildlife in area
- "On the Road" report from Charles Kuralt from Indian Shores in Florida, where Ralph Heath nurses sick birds back to health from his Sun Coast Sea Beach Sanctuary; various birds and how they got that way are shown
With that, Walter signals the end of another newscast
Commercials for:
Boise Cascade Corporation
Amana Touchmatic II Radarange - with Barbara Hale
CBS Evening News closing titles (voiceover by Bob Hite, who previews upcoming Sunday edition of Face the Nation) and ending credits (starting off with list of stations contributing reports for week)
Promo for The Incredible Hulk (voiceover by Bob Hite)
Commercials for:
Celozzi-Ettleson Chevrolet-Elmhurst
On-Cor lasagna
Realty World
'Star Wars' station ID (voiceover by Jerry Harper)
This aired on local Chicago TV on Friday, March 24th 1978 during the 5:28pm to 6:00pm timeframe. And that's the way it was.
About The Museum of Classic Chicago Television:
The MCCTv (FuzzyMemoriesTV) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose primary mission is the preservation and display of off-air, early home videotape recordings (70s to early 80s, mostly) recorded off of TV (in Chicago or other cities now too); things which would likely be lost if not sought out and preserved digitally. For information on how to help in our mission, to donate or lend tapes to be converted to digital, please e-mail [e-mail] Thank you for your help!

[@danielc5807]

Just the facts, no commentary, no opinions. Thems were the days.

[@michaelfrankel8082]

When sandwiches had peanut butter ~and~ jelly.

[@brianarbenz7206]

Back when a dollar was still worth 4 quarters!

[@silentotto5099]

Yet, Republicans at the time claimed that Cronkite was a bleeding heart liberal and CBS news was slanted against them.

[@tomloft2000]

they did have commentary, as did the other networks. CBS long time editorialist Eric Sevareid had left a few months earlier.

[@brianarbenz7206]

@@tomloft2000 I will agree to a certain extent with Daniel C in that the commentaries by Sevareid and John Chancellor were nuanced, better thought out. Today's get to the hot button in two or three seconds.

[@rogercook8277]

I love going back in time. I was a senior in high school when this news broadcast was aired. I always looked forward to Mr. Cronkite when he sign off. "And that's the way it is." R.I.P. Mr. Cronkite. You are missed. 2/2/2023

[@asorrentino38]

I agree with you, totally. I , by the way , was also a senior in HS at this time. I loved the time spent watching Walter Cronkite as my parents and I sat at the dinner table. We would begin our dinnertime with ( in NYC) Jim Jensen and Roland Smith presenting the local news at 6pm. Then came Walter with the national news at 7pm.

[@misterwhipple2870]

@@asorrentino38 I graduated the year before. The ones I missed were Shana Alexander on 60 Minutes (I NEVER missed it!!!!!) and Jessica Savitch. I was in love . . .

[@cindypruitt9534]

Thanks for this, It is hard to believe there was a time when the national news gave a damn about unions and working people. Walter Cronkite was the most trusted man in America.

[@BigSCTVfan]

It’s also interesting seeing a beer commercial during a national news broadcast. I haven’t seen one ever before.

[@wmbrown6]

@@BigSCTVfan - Until 1971, cigarette advertising was also on network news.

[@WPPCProductions]

@@BigSCTVfan Love the Budweiser Clydesdale horse commercials.

[@WPPCProductions]

@@wmbrown6 Yes you are right. Later on they had to pull the sports sponsorships like the Winston Cup..

[@brianarbenz7206]

Before the networks became owned by GE, Westinghouse and other corporations, news about labor was covered. When corporations took over, fair reporting disappeared.

[@porkbeans4792]

Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix for 63 cents just gave me the chills!!! Go to the supermarket now is a nightmare on the wallet!!!!!

[@boataxe4605]

And she’s gone. I haven’t bought anything from that company since.

[@tomservo56954]

​@@boataxe4605The only black woman you don't hate? (because she knew her place was filling your belly)

[@jonrmartin]

Yeah but that 63 cents was a sale price before tax and 63 cents in 1978 would be about $3 today

[@EmitOcean20]

​@@tomservo56954what

[@RickinBaltimore]

15:38 - This was the inspiration for the famous "Little Chocolate Donuts" sketch on SNL

[@stevis8264]

I wish they still did the news in this manner. I was 13 when this was broadcast.

[@JohnBolender]

No jokes, no slang, no pulling faces. I agree.

[@jonrmartin]

Network news (CBS, ABC, NBC) still present their nightly news programs pretty much the same way. You're thinking of cable news.

[@JonathanSerapio2ndOfficial]

R.I.P. Walter Cronkite (1916-2009) @ 92:

[@melissabryant8638]

93yrs

[@reginabinion11]

It’s 92 he died in July. His birthday was in November!

[@miketocci]

I was a year old during this broadcast so it's interesting for me to see how much more class and integrity the news had at the time. These days it's all just slanted and biased nonsense delivered by one-sided puppets and decorated with flashing lights and goofy graphics on the screen. It was about information then, not propaganda as it is now.

[@epaddon]

I think people need to understand that the problem of bias in the media existed then and was if anything just as much a problem then as it is now. The bias was camouflaged underneath a far more professional veneer than exists today but it was still a problem because even then, 90% of the media leaned left, and Cronkite was no exception.

[@thomasbrown3356]

@@epaddon That's a cop out. So, we just give up on expecting real Journalism? I don't care which way ya lean, facts still matter. I can weed out opinions.

[@intradibles]

That because we are in the Fourth Turning. People of class from years ago are all gone, and as a consequence, we no longer take to heart their lessons, and "another set of unfortunate events" begin.

[@jorgejohnson451]

Did you see the story on the pelican man?

[@fdenton0310]

Fuzzy memory for sure. Walter was he most respected and absolutely trusted by the American public. A true US icon. We should be so lucky now.

[@WPPCProductions]

Thanks Fuzzy for this gem..The most trusted man on American TV.. Walter Cronkite. A piece of TV history here....I remember watching these then at the dinner table..Sometimes a home work assignment came out of these broadcasts for Civics.Economics History class the next day.Probably the only one in class that remember all the journalists from the big 3 networks and the local channels too..

[@gtfoh2448]

Loved the Bruce Jenner Wheaties commercial!👍

[@AarHan3]

28:44 - And that's the way it was: Friday, March 24, 1978.

[@Own.lee.who.men.516]

WOW! Actual news...Just News! 😲. I really miss this kind of reporting. ❤

[@itsallinthehead]

When adults were adults.

[@reneauvray3440]

R I.P. Walter Cronkite.

[@user-be2dt8eg2x]

Amazing. Just interesting news, served straight. You could make up your mind with someone telling you what to think.

[@ScoopNemeth]

0:16 - Emery King and Mort Crim at WBBM. Crim and King would work together again at NBC4 WDIV Detroit.

[@wmbrown6]

And I.I.N.M., Mr. Crim once worked with Jessica Savitch at KYW Channel 3 in Philadelphia. Crim and Ron Hunter were two "name" anchors who never made it to, never mind in, New York.

[@booberry349]

Mort Crim from WDIV Local 4

[@jchow5966]

I love going back in time. Thnx!!!! ☮️💟

[@booberry349]

Loved the A&P commercial at the beginning of this commercial

[@thecannonball1000]

Mort Crim (and Emery King!) were coworkers prior to WDIV (Channel 4 in Detroit) and I was unaware of that until watching this! Cronkite has a gravitas that isn't found on TV nowadays.

[@higgy04]

I heard Emery King's name and all I thought about was 'Hey how do I know Connie!' not knowing he was LIVE during the Today Show

[@1thetvzone]

I had no idea Mort Crim was in Chicago. This was post Philly and a year before Detroit.

[@BanterMaestro2-y9z]

Took a ferry to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, one weekend back in the 80s. Toured the island in our car, driving along the shore road (the ferry could hold fifty-something cars). As darkness was approaching, we decided to turn around and so we pulled into someone's driveway. Turned out it was Walter Kronkite's. We didn't see Walter, but we did see Burt Reynolds' yacht at the dock beyond the house. Hard to miss as it was huge. Must be nice to travel that way!

[@joeshmoe4671]

A man that you could believe, unlike the professional liars who spew lies for Big Brother.

[@jasminebaum9343]

Guilliani saved NYC, and now they all hate him!😂

[@brianarbenz1329]

Not everyone hates Guilliani. The racists love him. The fascists running their false confession machine love him.

[@dodgerrog70]

Awesome to William Conrad in a commercial spot

[@alipilto1244]

i love walter cronkite

[@tvtimetravel]

CBS announcer Bob Hite had the same name as the singer from the band Canned Heat (AKA "The Bear).

[@blackhorse11thACR]

Uncle Walter was the most trusted man on the news. He was a great commentary journalist. I can remember it all. JFK, Vietnam, Moon Landings. Fairness Doctrine needs to be brought back and applied to Cable Networks.

[@shanana5822]

I miss the A and P

[@jorgejohnson451]

0:55 He says to Walter Jacobsen. 😂 Then Walter adds, “Happy Easter” and turns away. 😂

[@burnsie581]

All business, a perfunctory good night and they got the hell out of there. No silly joking and carrying on. Also love the wastebasket visible behind Mort Crim and the plain steel desks. Not like the overly slick, glossy news sets we see today.and smiling.

[@courtneymagnuson3756]

I’m watching this and saddened by seeing Bruce Jenner on the Wheaties commercial! I’m glad he’s happy now…but is he really?! Idk about now?! 😂😮I was only 5 1/2 years old in 1976 when he won 🏅 so it was exciting and I had a crush on him….😂😊Boy! Has time changed!!😮😊😅😂❤

[@BrisLS1]

Same age here! Grew up eating Wheaties, too. He was quite a hero, and already did all the hetero stuff, wife, kids, world sports dominance. If he wants to achieve womanhood now, I say go for it. Just watch where you're driving, Kylie!

[@michaelthespikel5685]

Amazing little trip into a world that no longer exists.

[@boataxe4605]

You mean a world where Jews and Muslims were fighting?

[@timotundy]

It seems like those days were far tougher than today. Sorry, but there was terrible unemployment; threat of terror; sewers exploding; oil spills. Plus, we had a chance to improve society. They talked about solar panels, electric vehicles and living in a more eco friendly environment. What happened in the last 47 years? Why didn’t that generation and further generations try to work toward this type of world?

[@GP40Milepost72]

I live and grew up in the WV market where these Union votes were held. The CBS affiliate WCHS TV 8 in Charleston, WV carried the live network feed at 6:30PM Eastern time following Channel 8 Eyewitness News at 6:00PM. Now WCHS is ABC since switching networks with WOWK 13 Huntington, VW in the same market back in 1985.

[@BenjaminBowling777]

This was days before I was born. I was ready to come out into the world by this time. Now 44 going on 45!

[@oscarcacnio8418]

Welp. I guess I just found the possible source footage of that one alternate history video. Also, a lot of people reminiscing in the comments about the good old days of news broadcasts, while I'm here looking through old footage to get a sense of how well done a similarly-styled fake broadcast was done.

[@serenityb5816]

Back when news was news.

[@bethdibartolomeo2042]

That's a little unsettling that they showed the bird more than likely sinking to its death from the oil spill.

[@troylowe814]

Wheaties - Now packed with estrogen!

[@melissadavis225]

Miss Walter good news remember him as a kid ..

[@SigHawk04]

As good as Cronkite was, he couldn't do OJ stories quite like Norm Macdonald.

[@Leonard_Wilson]

OJ used to be as popular as Derek Jeter. He threw it all away because he couldn’t handle rejection.

[@brianarbenz7206]

O.J. Simpson going back to his native California -- where he will be in the news again several years later.

[@fenian123]

Oh yeah? What happened??

[@brianarbenz7206]

@@fenian123 It had something to do with a grocery delivery, I think.

[@jorgejohnson451]

16:00 Wow! I didn’t realize Joe DiMaggio could sound so enthusiastic.

[@NJGuy1973]

Pay someone enough, they'll sound enthusiastic.

[@mesocorny4366]

Oj & Montana were teammates for just ‘79 - that’s like Peyton manning & Marshall Faulk (Indy) being teammates for just ‘98

[@stevefrake8922]

I wonder if Walter Cronkite ever mentioned my favorite team, the San Francisco 49ers, during any other of his broadcasts...

[@mesocorny4366]

49ers became great after he left the anchor chair interestingly, how much recognition u get depends on how much success u have

[@reneauvray3440]

Yes, he did. He mentioned O.J. going from the Bill's to the 49ers in 1978.

[@reneauvray3440]

Yes he did in 1978!

[@S0nyToprano]

I miss Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben branding. They were good mascots.

[@hormelinc]

So does the South Bronx look the same. They probably didn’t imagine million dollar condos back then!

[@johnbroadway4196]

I was only 12 when Aired. Now I'm 58. So what's really changed ?! Time has only allowed us to believe nothing has.

[@briangeraghty1555]

Couldn’t we just live perpetually in the 70’s

[@SammyReed-cd4cu]

22:52 - I THINK that's Janice Baker from "Card Sharks"!

[@TexasMan77]

And that’s the way it is….

[@lancechinnian4043]

Loving the funky theme music at 1m 10s. Anybody know what it is pls?

[@kurttoy5035]

I nowadays call the CBS newscast The CBS Evening News without Walter Cronkite.

[@skurlandaficionado]

Straightforward, fact-based, political agenda-less news reporting like this is sadly gone for good. In its place is what the film Network (1976) warned us might happen as a result of blurring the lines between news and entertainment.

[@brianarbenz1329]

But the Nixon administration constantly claimed CBS News was agenda driven and biased. So did the Reagan administration.

[@Marcus.Robinson]

and that's the way it is

[@d.g.990]

Megan Charlop, who is seen in the piece on the Bronx, was a saint. Look her up.

[@vintagetvandexciting]

Same Bob Hite from 6abcs Action News ?

[@jeffreyl.wiseman2597]

Ah. . the old days of network news. Distinguished, competent, trustworthy, and professional white males. We need that now more than ever.

[@vexxcon8125]

“Professional White Males” are you a member of the KKK by any chance?

[@laurabeane8862]

SNL tho: "Little Chocolate Donuts"🍩

[@jamesfrick4261]

They’ve been on my training table since I was a kid!

[@MrWolfTickets]

They're setting the bar at 7 feet!

[@douglaslowe5]

with a side of unfiltered smokes

[@timdailey2690]

Donuts and wheaties break down into the same macronutrient.

[@fletchkeilman2205]

Hey MOCT! My mom and I were just talking about you since you were interviewed on NPR last year. We are donating soon, I promise!!! Keep up the great work. You are seriously helping me retrieve footage I was familiar with growing up to use on my own projects as well, so I am forever grateful. I know I've asked, but any footage for Samurai Sunday? Or channel 66's "The Thrilla of Godzilla" that were weekend marathons of Japanese monster films? Or any ads for Spectreman or Ultraman? I know I sound like a broken record, but if anyone could help me find it, I think it would be you. One more thing, I SWEAR..... I was about 8 or 9 when I saw this. A Godzilla and Kong lookalike we're thrashing the city while "The Boys Are Back In Town" by Thin Lizzy plays. Long sees a billboard for Budweiser and grabs the giant bottle. He shares it with Godzilla. They stop fighting to continue drinking, leaving a trail of destruction behind them as Thin Lizzy fades as well. Does ANYONE remember this commercial? I SWEAR it exists. I know it sounds vaguely like the Godzilla/Dr. Pepper ads two or three years prior. But this was in color, and I THINK it may have been stop motion in regards to the action. I gotta find this. Anything you can do would help.

[@FuzzyMemoriesTV]

Thanks - I will try and find something Samurai Sunday related. :-)

[@daveminion6209]

15:25 - Bruce Jenner makes a surprise appearance, along with the Breakfast of Champions!

[@windbreaker2432]

TNO bros...

[@oscarcacnio8418]

We may be bearing witness to the slow flow of confusing HRE comments. Time will tell.

[@doriangray6735]

Aunt Jemima pancake mix on sale for .68 at A&P. Who is that Bruce guy @15:30?

[@ronflatter1235]

28:47 Looking down at the script before saying his name?

[@MatthewBaumgarten]

I was 10 years old then

[@wolverinethad]

Mort Crim!!!

[@MichaelHansenFUN]

22:20 oj simpson. its pretty weird watching this because i was 4 and dont remember kronkite but i remember some very strange eye makeup commercial that was animated that may have been a dream 23:13 Arthur Fiedler i remember so well rip

[@09rja]

@22:19....the Juice gets traded.

[@LordZolric]

It's pretty damn awesome to see what was going on when I was only 1 and half years old. I like to picture my little gargoyle looking ass sitting in my swing, or walker watching the news with Mom and Dad hehehehehe.

[@robertdwyer7996]

15:27 ??? lol

[@tom6069]

Is this the trans ameriican

[@gonavy1]

And to think when I was a kid I wanted to be just like Bruce Jenner. Glad that didn't work out for me.

[@tony84.]

28:44, And that's the way it is.

[@Launchpad05]

Nicole Brown Simpson's life mattered.

[@MichoelDobry]

To the Niners? He should have been a Bronco...

[@Launchpad05]

@@MichoelDobry No, to humanity.

[@aaquibbaloch6510]

11:26

[@richardlucas9272]

Concern for the poor. Concern for unions. Concern for the ghetto. No opinions. No lies. This is when we had journalists not the lickspittles of oligarchs and octogenarians holding onto power.

[@misterwhipple2870]

"Concern" IS an OPINION!

[@hsdentertainment]

Brother OJ Simpson when I got traded from the Bills

[@stevengallant6363]

15:47 it's Caitlin

[@jasminebaum9343]

Hated commercials then and hate them even more now!

[@MrJacMac1968]

This is the channel that some people say the Max Headroom pirate stole.He was saying “I still see the X” not “I stole CBS”

[@karenhargis9824]

Red Tape but the new read tapes of red tapes in 2023. God Bless Grandpa …. We are in the midst of nothing with in less reunions bc they are bought out with legislation

[@sherryhannah9262]

I hope y’all will reply to this Walter Cronkite was from Houston Texas

[@mesocorny4366]

Misleading, yes he spent his teenage/young adult yrs in tx but spent childhood in Missouri till age 10 and his accent certainly reflects that

[@disoriented1]

@@mesocorny4366 From St Joseph MO, 50 miles north of KCMO in the northwestern part of the state, unlike parts of southern MO, the 'midland' dialect is prevalent there.

[@krisscanlon4051]

" I'm mad as hell and I can't take it anymore!" Chayefsky and Finch were so on its scary...we all know that crap is king. Thanks Walter you were classy not like Burgundy but close!

[@howard4405]

Praise Jesus

[@andyrose5616]

I wonder what video WTCG in Atlanta would have supplied to CBS. That was Ted Turner's independent station (later to become WTBS). The CBS affiliate in the Atlanta market was WAGA.

[@orsonzedd]

I get a thumbnail with o.j. Simpson in it and it's about him being traded and I'm like fuck me I don't care

[@thomasbrown3356]

Then why did you watch it? I don't get it. You could have just kept it moving.

[@orsonzedd]

@@thomasbrown3356 because I actually do like this channel? Why did you post a reply? Why do you care

[@chooch1995]

The top story was the coal miner’s contract offer & its implications on our nation were understood. Today our power grid is still about 50% coal powered & not a care is given to the coal miners & their livelihoods. Coal is now pedaled as nothing but pure evil instead of the cheap home grown energy source that it is. As much as I like green energy, I’m also a fan of consistency which solar & wind cannot promise. Coal & nuclear are time proven abundant sources that can keep the lights on until alternative sources have been perfected.

[@stevenburns8817]

Uh, no. Coal is 19.5%, not 50%, of US energy as of 2022. www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3

[@tomservo56954]

You own stock in coal companies (like Manchin) or just waiting for Trump to get you a job in one?

[@heatwave]

Coal and Religion. Two things far less popular now, than they were back in 1978.

[@brianarbenz1329]

One burns and gives you heat in winter. The other threatens to burn you forever.

[@tonypanzarella9387]

Never mind the coal strike and the trade of [murderer] O.J. Simpson. Gimme the pelican segment every time.

[@happycube]

Did some googling and it sounds like the guy really lost his way in the 2000's/10's and the sanctuary closed, but a new organization took over the site - it's the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary now.

[@janelliot5643]

15:30 Bruce before getting moobs

[@rickwhite3181]

15.25 Bruce Jenner all my friends looked up to him . Now he's a she Kaitlyn Jenner wtf has happened to this world

[@brianarbenz1329]

Jenner supported Trump, you realize. Just pointin out.

[@purple8798]

The reunification of the holy russian empire..

[@MrDuds1984]

Pope Paul VI during that summer

[@Tristinfate]

Ha! Shroud of Turin was fake. Everyone loved to run with that story though.

[@karenhargis9824]

Such a bs.

[@karenhargis9824]

Vietnam to this bs.

[@ttacking_you]

Tsk tsk who edited the bird piece?

[@ttacking_you]

Orange juice does not go good with pizza!

[@NicholleChristineEdwards]

I smell an extra ripe Kim in this.

[@d.g.990]

cellozi-ettleson...elmhurst.

[@aaquibbaloch6510]

11:26