I once did a talk show on a slow day with the question, "What was the greatest news story in history?"

Some said the victory in WWII, others had a more religious bent. But the overwhelming consensus was man landing on the moon. One person noted that for centuries, human beings had looked at our closest celestial neighbour and wondered, "what's up there?"

Now we know - not much! 

But it was still likely the most phenomenal achievement in human history, especially when you consider they did it with equipment that was less sophisticated than a Commodore 64!

My parents let me stay up late to watch the thing unfold. I'll never forget the super they used on screen. "Live from the Moon," it read. It still sends a small chill up my spine whenever I think of it.

In an era of space shuttles and stations, and satellite broadcasting, it's easy to take it for granted. But it was a big, big deal back then. 

Just to correct things, July 20, 1969 was a Sunday. I remember watching the event with my sister and parents on our eight year old 23" Phillips b&w console tv. What sticks in my mind most about that day was that while Dad was bbqing chicken for dinner, I was inside tv dxing. It must have been quite a tropo opening that day because I had a viewable picture on all the open VHF channels that day. Syracuse on 3 and 5. Rochester on 8, 10 and 13. Erie on ch 12. When it actually became time to sit down and watch the event, we chose, I am sure like most people, "Uncle" Walter Cronkite on ch 4.

I thought I still had this somewhere but it took me awhile to find it. This is the TV Guide from July 19-25, 1969, the week of the moon landing.


 

mace wrote:

When it actually became time to sit down and watch the event, we chose, I am sure like most people, "Uncle" Walter Cronkite on ch 4.

Like you, our family also chose The Most Trusted Man In America for the big event. Although I have absolutely no memory of Bob Hope, Orson Welles, Buster Crabbe (!) or Keir Dullea being part of it.  



I'm not quite sure I understand the listing below. The record shows Armstrong stepped on the moon at 10:56 PM Eastern time, not the 2 AM timeline suggested below.  





 
Cronkite was so much the face of the moon landing that he was asked to write an article for that week’s guide.  



 
Cronkite himself would later confess that he was overwhelmed by the achievement and regretted for years that his first real on-air reaction after the module touched down was “Whew! Boy! ” You can hear it at the 1:56 mark in the video below.

Oh so that explains it. It's actually a good thing - as a kid, I doubt my parents would have let me stay up until 2:15 AM, even to see history. Come to think of it, I'm not sure they would have stayed up that late, either. The time - 10:56 PM - was just about perfect.
 
I notice in those listings above that ABC, who nobody watched in those days, had Rod Serling as a guest host, talking to sci fi writers, including Isaac Asimov.

Interesting idea.

I mean if you're going to the real Twilight Zone, you might as well have the guy on who got there first!  

 

THE TWO MINUTE TWILIGHT ZONE

Alas.  Sitting alone in  my apartment in St. James Town, watching it alone.  It was however exciting.  I recently enjoyed Apollo !!.  The footage was absolutely pristine.

grilled.cheese wrote:

Fake news.