Time on the roundup - seven forty five
I promised myself that this blog would be all figure skating today, but I heard something on the radio this morning that deserved comment.
I'll often listen to the 7:00 am CBS radio news on KNX as I drive in to work. (Sorry, KOER staffers, but I have to listen to real news at least once in a while.) Christopher Glenn was doing his news thing, talking about port deals and other stuff, when all of a sudden Charles Osgood's voice was heard. I figured it was some type of commercial, but it turns out that Osgood was announcing that Christopher Glenn was retiring.
Osgood then talked about Glenn's career, including the show which first brought him to my attention years ago. Those of you who are really old may remember "In the News," which popped up among the Saturday morning cartoons. This was part of CBS News' mandate to serve The Public (in this case, The Citizens of Tomorrow) by providing simple, straightforward, yet meaty news for those of us who weren't reading Foreign Affairs every day. Glenn's distinctive voice (he was never seen, and to this day I have no idea what he looks like - he may be a four hundred pound Afro-wearing Korean-American for all I know) set the tone for this and his other projects, including his current newsreading on CBS Radio.
Osgood also talked about Glenn's catchphrase "Time on the roundup," and even played an audio bit in which David Letterman uttered the phrase on his show. (As an aside, it's interesting to note that Letterman is very cognizant of CBS history (including Jack Benny's move from NBC to CBS, a move that was compared to Letterman's own), and probably uttered the phrase in tribute to the CBS News organization, yet 99% of his listeners probably thought he was just uttering some funny cowboy phrase. Thank you for reading this parenthetical statement on "The Multiple Levels of Understanding on Letterman's Late Show.")
After Osgood was finished, Glenn was almost speechless. After thanking Osgood, he gave a "Time on the Roundup" time check. And KNX went back to local programming.
Here's how Billboard Radio Monitor reported Christopher Glenn's retirement:
CBS Network Radio News anchor Christopher Glenn, the voice of radio’s “CBS World News Roundup,” and the anchor for the network’s hourly newscasts, officially shuts off his mic next Thursday, Feb. 23, after 35 years at CBS and more than 45 years in radio.
Glenn graduated college in 1959 and moved quickly into radio, first with Armed Forces Broadcasting in Korea and New York City from 1960-61....
[After] joining CBS News in 1971, [h]e became a correspondent at CBS Radio News in 1976 and also has covered numerous important stories for CBS Television over the years.
Glenn joined the “CBS World News Roundup” in 1999, after 11 years working on the network’s “The World Tonight.” He has also produced, written and narrated the network’s daily “What’s in the News” for the last 11 years.
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