IN MEMORIAM: CHRISTOPHER GLENN, CBS NEWS

Christopher Glenn, CBS Radio

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Special Message from Michael Manning (Written Wednesday Morning): This morning I sat in a restaurant coffee shop not far from my hotel and as I often do, I had three different newspapers on my breakfast table. I was following stories of interest to me: former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay's posthumous verdict, along with CEO Jeffrey Skilling's sentencing set for Monday, the divorces of two fine singers I enjoy: Sara Evans and Whitney Houston and CNBC's "Inside American Airlines: a week in the life" (to be broadcast tonight). Ironically, just last week I was asked by a local colleague of mine in Cincinnati broadcasting to opine about whom I considered the "Best" in both television and radio news. And while I left News Radio for good in 2004 after 16 years to pursue new horizons, this question was a first for me. My answer was instantaneous. "Christopher Glenn of CBS News New York was always the leader and always will be".

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I'm very sad to report that Christopher Glenn died Tuesday (yesterday) of liver cancer at Norwalk Hospital in Connecticut. He was 68. Chris died just three weeks before he was to have been inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in Chicago. He will be inducted November 4th.

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For those of you who live outside the United States age 30-40+, many of us here in the U.S. remember watching the Emmy-Award winning children's program, "In the News" and "World News Roundup". "In the News" debuted in September 1971 and ran for 5,000 episodes over 13 seasons. The 2-1/2-minute feature on one topic was broadcast every half-hour during Saturday children's programming on CBS. Perhaps it was my long stint as a general assignment reporter and news anchor with CBS News Media in the Southwest and Mid-West that led me to write this BLOG about a fellow brother and colleague in the industry. For this broadcaster, Christopher will always be the ultimate professional who has no equal. Chris also worked on "30 Minutes," a weekly TV news magazine series patterned on "60 Minutes" and aimed at children that ran from 1978 to 1982.

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Born March 23, 1938, in New York City, Joseph Christopher Glenn received his bachelor's degree in English at the University of Colorado. He worked for Armed Forces Broadcasting while serving in the Army in 1960. That same year he married Dianne West, who survives him, along with their two daughters, Rebecca and Lindsay, and a sister. After various radio jobs in New York, Connecticut and Washington, D.C., he joined CBS as a radio producer in 1971. In 1984, he returned to the airwaves and worked as a national reporter. Glenn said earlier this year that one of the most memorable stories he covered was the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986. "I had to get back on the air real fast to describe that, and had a very difficult time," he told CBSNews.com in February. "It was a very, very emotional moment…. It was tough to keep it under control while I was doing that broadcast." I felt it would be nice to share with you three memorials from people who actually knew and worked with Christopher Glenn.

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CBS News Correspondent Steve Kathan:

The first time I saw Christopher Glenn, I was in my pajamas. Lying on the floor of the family living room, chomping on cereal, watching "In the News." The last time I saw him, I was shaking his hand and wishing him a happy retirement. A lot happened in between. "In the News" was one of the most interesting things on television, back then. It probably whetted my appetite for news, storytelling and broadcasting more than anything else. Chris's way of telling things was simple, but with plenty of impact. It was a style that served him well in delivering the news to grown-ups, too. The fact that I got to work with him here at CBS News was icing on the cake. Chris was a huge force in the newsroom. As an editor, I found him to be demanding, inquisitive and fair. As a reporter, I found going live on his "World News Roundup" an incredible thrill----every time. His voice had unique power, and he could convey emotion with a just brief hesitation or a slight change in pitch. And it never sounded phony. A lot of people say Chris was one of the last of dying breed of journalists. He didn't think so. At his office retirement party, he spoke about how the current crop at CBS News and elsewhere, still adhere to the high standards of newsgathering and presentation. I'm lucky enough to anchor the World News Roundup every so often now. Every time I do, I think of Chris. Now that he's gone, I feel a more pressing need to try to carry on his legacy.

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Paul Farry, Producer, CBS World News Roundup:
I'm one of the tens of millions of American 30- and 40-somethings whose first memories of news and currents events are of Christopher Glenn. His Saturday morning "In the News" segments made Watergate, the Mideast oil crisis and the economy understandable. Kids more interested in the antics of Bugs Bunny, Batman or Mr. Magoo learned a few things about the world around them as a result. I happen to have been one of those who actually thought those little news reports were better than the cartoons they followed. From a very early age, Christopher Glenn taught me about so much. So it was such a thrill to come to work for CBS News in 1988 and actually work with the man behind the voice with which I had grown up. I didn't realize at the time how much I would continue to learn from Chris over the years. He taught me how to be a better writer, a better journalist. During the four years before he retired this past February, I worked closely with Chris every day, producing the "CBS World News Roundup," which he anchored. I would be amazed at his way with words. He'd constantly come up with clever ways to explain a story to make even the most complex topics relatable and understandable. I recall Charles Osgood saying upon Chris's retirement in February that in his broadcasts for children, Chris knew the best way to tell a story was to make it as clear, simple and straightforward as possible. As Charles pointed out, that's the best way to give the news, not just to kids, but to adults too. Of course, it wasn't just his writing. Chris had THE VOICE. It was instantly recognizable. His crisp, clear delivery made so many broadcasters envious. If only I could sound half as good. Chris was a first-rate broadcaster and teacher. Somewhere along the line, he also became a close and trusted friend. He will be greatly missed by so many. But so many of us are much richer for having known him and listened to him for so long.

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Katie Couric, Anchor of the CBS Evening News: When I first moved to New York, I toiled as a writer in CBS News Radio. In those days, the place was a forest of redwoods, with towering giants like Douglas Edwards, Reid Collins, Charles Osgood, and Christopher Glenn. A short time ago, we got word that one of those giants has fallen. Christopher Glenn passed away at the too-young age of 68. One of my earliest memories of news is the voice of Christopher Glenn, summarizing the week's events on the Saturday morning TV show In the News. He was the voice of space launches, and hourly news reports, and The World Tonight and The World News Roundup. He had a voice that mingled cognac and cigarette smoke -- he was an inveterate, ceaseless smoker -- and both Chris and that famous voice seemed ageless. More than that voice, he had a gift for words, and a way of weaving a story that made it real and immediate. He ventured into television a few times, but he always returned to radio. It was where he belonged, in the "theater of the mind." I was there when Douglas Edwards retired, and passed the baton to Chris Glenn, who took over The World Tonight from him in the late '80s. And I was there earlier this year when Chris himself retired. You had the sense then that an era was ending. It was. And it has. So many of the redwoods are gone.

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Michael: With your kind permission all, I'd like to change what I had originally scheduled for "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" and feature the film "Broadcast News" in Memory of Christopher Glenn. Speaking for myself, my thoughts and prayers are with Chris, his family and friends during this very sad and difficult time. He will be sorely missed.

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