In The News

October 19,2006

Glenn: A legend leaves a legacy at CBS News

The genius of the late Christopher Glenn, to his boss at CBS News, was clarity.

Whether he was explaining complex issues to 8-year-olds on the Saturday morning TV short “In the News” or breaking down the space program for grownups on the CBS “World News Roundup,” Glenn distilled information so his audience understood.

It’s the goal of all journalists and the achievement of some.

“Chris was a legend, though he never perceived himself to be,” said Harvey Nagler, vice president of CBS News/Radio, where Glenn worked until his  retirement in February. “He was a meticulous writer.”

Glenn, who died Tuesday at Norwalk (Conn.) Hospital of liver cancer at 68, also had a distinctive soothing baritone that became a signature voice of modern radio and TV news.

His colleagues in a subdued newsroom yesterday remembered his skills as a reporter and anchor, going back to WICC in Bridgeport, Conn., and then Metromedia and WNEW radio in the ’60s.

He joined CBS in March 1971 and, six months later, launched “In the News,” which ran between Saturday morning cartoons on CBS-TV and explained issues like President Richard Nixon’s resignation to a preteen audience.

“I’m one of the tens of millions of American thirty- and fortysomethings whose first memories of news and current events are of Christopher Glenn,” said Paul Farry, who grew up to produce Glenn on “World News Roundup” the last four years.

In the grownup world, Glenn was on the air Jan. 28, 1986, when Challenger blew up.

“This flight, which was to have been such a bright chapter in the history of manned flight, turning in the flash of an instant into a terrible, terrible tragedy,” he said.

“He was proud of his coverage of the space program,” said Nagler. “But he didn’t show it. He was quiet. Other reporters were honored just to be in his presence.”

Among many awards, Glenn and Farry won the Radio and Television News Directors’ Edward R. Murrow Award the last two years. Glenn will also be inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame on Nov. 4.

“He always seemed shocked when I told him he’d won another award,” said Nagler. “I don’t think he knew the influence he had on all of us.”


Heading For The Last Roundup

New York Daily News  January 21,2006
One of the most recognizable voices on news radio will be leaving the air next month. Christopher Glenn, anchor of “CBS World News Roundup” since 1999, is retiring after the Feb. 24 broadcast. Before that, he had anchored, among other things, CBS’ “The World Tonight” and “CBS News Nightwatch.” From 1971-1984, he anchored more than 5,000 episodes of “In the News,” a TV program on current events for young viewers. He started his career with Armed Forces Broadcasting in Korea and New York in 1960, and his local work also included six years as a reporter, editor and documentary producer at WNEW-AM, 1964-1970.

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