And That’s The Way It Is

Yesterday, during the morning drive time, I was listening to Dean and Rog on the radio and was dismayed when they said the voice over announcement for CBS Evening News was being changed. They’d used a recording of Walter Cronkite’s voice for years, but they were changing to a voice over by Morgan Freeman for the future.

Don’t get me wrong. I think Mr. Freeman has a great voice, but, Walter Cronkite’s voice is the one I’ve listened to for years. You hear it when they show news footage from the past. It’s comforting.

The sonorous sound of his voice gave us the worst news of the day yet, somehow, the rich, fullness of his voice comforted us. It was like everyone’s beloved grandfather telling us that, yes, this is bad news, but we shall prevail. We’ll make it through just fine.

He wasn’t an actor. He was a journalist, a newsman back when that meant something. On television, he delivered the news. He gave it to us straight, with an intellectualism and a gravity that made us aware of how the day’s events were important. When he passed last year at the age of 92, we were left with only his voice to guide us through the murky reality of today.

Takeaway Truth

To Mr. Cronkite’s signoff, “And that’s the way it is,” I can only add, in the face of this corporate decision, a resigned, “It is what it is.”

Tags: cbs, morgan freeman, walter cronkite