Honoring "The Master"

By: Steve Hartman
Topics: On The Road

(CBS)

Steve Hartman is a correspondent for CBS News based in New York.

Either I'm getting old or journalism schools aren't doing their job. Or maybe both. Regardless, there are young TV reporters out there who have never heard of Charles Kuralt. I first met one of these deprived 20-somethings at a TV station in Los Angeles. Then I met another in Minnesota. How can you teach someone the art of TV story telling without at least mentioning the master?! And if young TV reporters don't know the name, imagine the blank stares I would get from the rest of their generation.

That was my main reason for wanting to do this series of updates on Kuralt classics we're calling, "On the Road … Again." But it was also an excuse for me to immerse myself in the stories I grew up with. My family idolized Kuralt. He did such a remarkable job capturing the quirks and characters of America. To select the stories we're updating this month, we went through almost all his old stories. Many I'd seen. Some I missed. We pulled a few favorites and my assistant, Emily Rand, started calling to see what, if anything, was new. As you might expect, many of the people Kuralt interviewed are no longer with us. But a few are still around. And some of those had surprisingly great, new stories to tell.

If you remember Kuralt, you can watch and enjoy him again.

If you don't remember Kuralt, I suggest you Wikipedia him first … then watch and enjoy him for the first time.

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by tallone49 August 8, 2009 9:47 PM EDT: Sat. Aug. 8, 2009
Hello-
A suggestion for doing an "On The Road...again"; a follow up story on the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, find out what happened to the baby/babies born during the festival.
Ann; Reply to this comment


by geraldled-2009 November 13, 2008 8:49 AM EST: Correction:

In descending order, in 1996 the National Association of Broadcasters award belongs to Charles Kuralt.; Reply to this comment


by geraldled-2009 November 13, 2008 8:43 AM EST: Charles Kuralt a Veteran Journalist.

Charles Kuralt a veteran news journalist is highly acclaimed for great achievements with the major television and radio network CBS.

Charles Kuralt was born on September 10, 1934, achieved his bachelors degree from the University of North Carolina in 1955, and world renown for his many awards in journalism.

In descending order, in 1966 the National Association of Broadcasters award belongs to Charles Kuralt. Kuralt won eleven Emmy awards, too. In 1980, 1976, and 1969 Kuralt won the George Peabody Foster Award. Kuralt started out winning the Ernie Pyle Memorial award in 1956.

Kuralt spent most of his career at CBS. At entry level, Kuralt re-wrote fresh international wire news for radio broadcasts. From 1956 to 1958 Kuralt wrote news copy for the CBS Evening News (a 15-minute news broadcast anchored by Douglass Edwards). In 1958, Kuralt wrote just in, hard lead, breaking news at the CBS assignment desk. By 1959, Kuralt was the youngest correspondent that covered general assignment reporting. Kuralt was chief of global CBS bureaus.; Reply to this comment


by geraldled-2009 November 13, 2008 8:42 AM EST: During the Vietnam War, Walter Cronkite accelerated to stardom with his embedded journalism covering the war for those unfortunate to be there.
Under the shadow of Walter Cronkite, Kuralt created and pitched On the Road to the network executives and won a three-month trial to produce it and air it on television.

In October 1967, On the Road where Charles Kuralt wrote, corresponded, and managed lasted 500 segments in the span of 13 years until 1980.

Charles Kuralt died on July 4, 1996 and survived by his wife Suzanna Folsom Baird and children Lisa Bowers White and Susan Guthrie.

I%u2019m an aspiring journalist.; Reply to this comment


by redflyer2006 November 12, 2008 10:46 PM EST: Charles Kuralt''s "On the Road" provided viewers with human interest stories told with the kind of charm, wit, and humor seldom seen today. The most interesting one, of course, for me, was the one he did on my great uncle, Federico Sisneros, who at the time was the oldest living activly employed civil service employee in the nation.

Thanks for revisiting "On the Road" with Charles Kuralt; Reply to this comment


by warnworld November 12, 2008 9:46 PM EST: I grew up loving On the Road and still remember the first day of Sunday Morning. I never missed it during his years there and I still watch most Sundays, hoping to recapture the way he made my Sunday seem just right.
I miss the voice of my TV friend.; Reply to this comment

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