Walter
Cronkite
Gave
Voice
To
Marconi
Center
Film
Local
Folks
Recall
Meeting
Legendary
Newsman
by
Tim
Wood
July
23,
2009
CHATHAM
‐‐‐
On
a
cold
February
morning
in
2005,
a
group
of
local
residents
arrived
at
CBS
headquarters
in
New
York
City
and
rode
an
elevator
up
to
meet
a
legend.
Retired
CBS
News
anchorman
Walter
Cronkite
had
agreed
to
narrate
a
promotion
video
being
assembled
by
the
Chatham
Marconi
Maritime
Center.
Having
“the
most
trusted
man
in
America”
contribute
to
the
project,
which
the
group
planned
to
use
to
help
raise
funds
to
develop
an
education
center
and
museum
at
the
former
Marconi
wireless
station,
was
a
real
coup
for
the
volunteer
organization.
“It
was
a
little
surreal,”
said
filmmaker
Christopher
Seufert,
who
got
to
direct
the
session.
“He
retired
when
I
was
in
sixth
grade.
I
had
no
business
saying
anything
to
the
guy.”
Chatham
meets
Cronkite:
local
residents
pose
with
Walter
Cronkite
for
a
snapshot
after
the
legendary
newsman
recorded
narration
for
the
Chatham
Marconi
Maritime
Center’s
video
“The
Untold
Story”
in
2005.
From
left,
Christopher
Seufert,
Lewis
Masson,
Mr.
Cronkite,
Barbara
Cotnam,
and
Greg
Mentzer.
PHOTO
COURTESY
OF
CHRISTOPHER
SEUFERT
“He
was
just
charming,
everything
you
would
expect,”
added
Barbara
Cotnam,
who
wrote
the
script
and
produced
the
video.
“It
was
a
memorable
day
for
us.”
Mr.
Cronkite,
who
passed
away
last
Friday
at
92,
was
exactly
the
way
he
appeared
on
the
news
program
he
anchored
from
1962
to
1981,
said
Edward
Fouhy,
a
Chatham
resident
who
worked
at
CBS
news
for
many
years.
“What
you
saw
on
the
screen
was
his
real
persona,”
Fouhy
said
Monday.
“There
was
not
a
phony
bone
in
his
body.
He
was
the
same
off
the
air
as
on
the
air,
except
he
was
very
good
humored.”
When
the
Marconi
group
was
discussing
plans
for
the
video,
a
history
of
the
Chathamport
station
called
“Chatham
Radio,
WCC:
The
Untold
Story,”
Mr.
Cronkite’s
name
came
up.
Lewis
Masson
mentioned
that
he
believed
Mr.
Cronkite
was,
like
himself,
an
amateur
radio
buff.
A
letter
was
written
to
the
former
anchorman,
who
had
a
home
in
Martha’s
Vineyard,
and
the
connection,
as
well
as
the
project,
apparently
struck
a
chord.
“This
was
a
bond
we
had
in
common,”
said
Masson,
a
former
employee
of
WCC,
the
ship‐to‐
shore
radio
station
headquartered
at
the
Marconi
site
from
1914
to
the
late
1990s.
“Amateur
radio
is
a
society
where
everybody
bonds.”
Initially,
the
group
asked
Mr.
Cronkite
to
narrate
the
introduction
to
the
film,
which
Seufert
directed.
Because
of
his
interest
in
the
project,
however,
Mr.
Cronkite
agreed
to
narrate
the
entire
26‐
minute
video,
which
has
since
won
several
awards.
Mr.
Cronkite’s
staff
helped
hone
the
script,
Seufert
said,
and
donated
the
services
of
a
recording
engineer
and
studio.
Seufert,
Cotnam,
Masson
and
photographer
Greg
Mentzer
attended
the
recording
session.
They
had
one
hour
of
Mr.
Cronkite’s
time,
and
the
former
anchorman
“nailed
it”
in
about
40
minutes,
Seufert
said.
“He
hung
around
with
us
for
20
minutes
until
his
people
said
he
had
to
go,”
the
filmmaker
recalled.
Cotnam
remembers
going
into
Mr.
Cronkite’s
office,
where
he
showed
them
a
Morse
Code
key
that
had
been
given
to
him
as
a
gift.
The
group
presented
Mr.
Cronkite
with
a
photograph
of
the
Marconi
station.
He
also
spoke
about
his
experience
in
Scotland
during
World
War
II,
said
Masson,
a
native
of
that
country.
“It
was
a
wonderful
experience,
just
to
shake
hands
with
him,”
Masson
said.
“He
was
so
outgoing
and
down
to
earth.”
Mr.
Cronkite’s
narration
helped
give
the
video
a
higher
profile
than
it
might
have
had,
Cotnam
said.
“It
made
it
more
historic.
He
was
know
as
being
the
most
trusted
man
in
television,
so
for
him
to
say
how
important
WCC
was
means
a
lot.”
Mr.
Cronkite
was
also
interested
in
having
the
video
serve
as
an
education
tool
for
children,
she
said.
While
the
film
is
now
being
used
to
“grab
people’s
attention”
to
help
raise
the
$300,000‐plus
the
group
needs
to
restore
the
former
operations
building,
once
the
museum
and
education
center
opens
it
will
be
available
there,
on
display
and
probably
for
sale,
she
said.
A
short
clip
of
the
video
can
be
seen
at
the
Marconi
Center’s
website,
www.chathammarconi.org.
Mr.
Cronkite
loved
to
sail,
and
had
asked
—
tongue
in
cheek,
Seufert
said
—
about
getting
a
mooring
in
Chatham
in
exchange
for
his
narration
work.
Fouhy
said
sailing
his
yacht
in
Nantucket
Sound
was
one
of
Mr.
Cronkite’s
favorite
pastimes.
Fouhy
also
recalled
another
local
connection
Mr.
Cronkite
had.
“The
most
important
interview
he
ever
did,
on
Sept.
3,
1963,
was
in
Hyannisport”
with
President
John
F.
Kennedy.
The
interview
inaugurated
the
30‐minute
evening
news
program;
until
then,
the
evening
newscast
was
15
minutes
long
and
was
dominated
by
NBC.
With
Mr.
Cronkite
as
anchor,
the
CBS
Evening
News
came
to
dominate
the
time
slot.
“He
had
very,
very
strong
journalistic
core
values,”
said
Fouhy,
who
was
Saigon
bureau
chief
for
CBS
during
the
height
of
the
Vietnam
War,
as
well
as
senior
Washington
producer
for
the
CBS
Evening
News
and
news
vice
president
and
director
for
the
network.
“He
never
hyped
the
news,”
he
added,
despite
reporting
on
“big,
big
stories”
like
the
Civil
Rights
movement,
the
Vietnam
War
and
Watergate.
“He
was
always
objective,
always
pushing
to
be
accurate.”
TV
news
is
a
very
collaborative
medium,
Fouhy
said,
something
Mr.
Cronkite
always
kept
in
mind.
If
a
colleague
did
an
exceptionally
good
job,
Mr.
Cronkite
would
send
a
“herogram.”
“He
didn’t
hand
them
out
cheaply,
but
if
you
got
one,
you
kept
it,”
Fouhy
said.
“He
was
the
best.”