The Patron Saint of NARN

I wasn't even aware of this guy's story - but in an era where anchors are blow-dried products of endless market research-driven selection, the 1967 tale is almost refreshing:

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists was threatening a strike, but the networks evidently didn’t take the union’s threat seriously. Then, the strike was called. The news broadcasters — including Walter Cronkite and his CBS News substitutes — walked out.

Who did CBS have waiting in the wings?

No one.

Whom did they tell to sit in Mr. Cronkite’s chair?

Arnold Zenker.

I wonder if a name like Arnold Zenker would even get on the credits today...

Mr. Zenker was a network programming middle manager who had come up through business affairs. He was a pleasant-enough looking fellow of 28, with an earnest suit of clothing and thick-framed glasses.

The bosses at CBS looked around their offices at what was available to them, which apparently wasn’t much, and, with deadline approaching, they asked Mr. Zenker if he would mind delivering the news to the nation.

Mr. Zenker said that if they wanted him to, he would. (Before that day, he had never in his life appeared on television.) And for 13 evenings, as the union remained on strike, Arnold Zenker was Walter Cronkite.

Zenker's story is funny - until the network has to follow up, which is where it turns into a particularly graceless story of institutional boobery.

Not Cronkite, however:

[Cronkite] looked toward the camera and, in that familiar, perfectly modulated cadence, said to America:

“Good evening. This is Walter Cronkite, sitting in for Arnold Zenker.”

Posted by Mitch at September 5, 2006 06:34 AM | TrackBack