We often hear someone say they just want to leave the world a better place than they found it. That’s a great goal, but rarely is it the case.

Unless you were Charles Kuralt.

For those of us who grew up during his time on the CBS News segment, On The Road, we had a frequent reminder that all news wasn’t bad. For a country boy in Arkansas, it was a pretty good feeling to see Kuralt do a segment on an antique toy display in my state.

There were plenty of other kids of all ages who got to see stories from their states. Stories that were about something good. Done by someone who was good.

Instead of the negativity of what news organizations typically cover – plane crashes, wars, political corruption – in 1967, Charles Kuralt convinced the management of CBS to allow him to cover something else. Us.

And cover us, he did.

There was the 80-year-old lady pilot, who had more flying accolades than Amelia Earhart. The man who fixed and loaned bicycles to children, because every child in his small town should be able to ride a bike. And the family who started out poor, but all nine children got a college degree and came home every Thanksgiving.

And Kuralt included all 50 states in his coverage. He did that during the Bicentennial in 1976. He filed one story from each state for 50 weeks that year. And his writing was what carried each piece.

One of his most noted and replayed episodes was his report from Independence Hall in Philadelphia that year. He reported the birth of our country’s independence as if he’d been present. It’s a mesmerizing piece that’s worth seeing.

According to Kuralt, and his cameraman Isadore Bleckman, they came across much of what they reported on their way to cover something else. They really were out covering America.

In 1979, I sat in my Arkansas living room and watched the birth of CBS Sunday Morning, which Charles began hosting. For a while, Kuralt kept up the On The Road segments while also hosting the Sunday show. But the former gave way to the latter. Unable to do both, On The Road was parked.

But there was still a demand for the show.

As Kuralt wrote and delivered in his introduction of the repackaged On The Road episodes that aired in the 80s and 90s on The Travel Channel, “We’re off again to meet a few people on the back roads of America. These are people you know. Not from the front pages. They’ve never been on the front pages. They’re people you know from next door and down the block. Their stories are some of my favorites. From 25 years on the road.”

We didn’t want the road to end. Charles spoke with us, not at us. He was our friend.

Just as The Beatles were credited with bringing America out of a depression over the loss of President John Kennedy, I believe that the success of the 1967 debut of On The Road can be directly correlated to the frustration with, and the coverage of, the Vietnam War.

Kuralt also had covered Vietnam. But the way he covered it in 1965 wasn’t typical. He made it about the men who were serving there. The piece still stands out for its writing and sincerity.

Charles had a way of making you see the story, even if there wasn’t supporting film footage for it. He painted with words.

At age 60, Charles surprised us all by retiring. We didn’t want him to go, but he was ready. The cruel hand of fate, however, had other plans. His health failed and he died a couple of years later.

Not so long ago, Charles Kuralt had one foot in obscurity. When something brought him back.

YouTube.

Kuralt’s episodes of On The Road have found their way online, and onto the iPhones, iPads, and televisions of viewers who otherwise might have never known the goodness that Charles brought to us beginning two generations ago.

And a few years ago in 2011, CBS revived On The Road with Steve Hartman. He does an excellent job. I believe Kuralt would be proud.

I know I’m proud. Proud to have been witness to all that Charles Kuralt begat. On The Road, CBS Sunday Morning (arguably the best show on television), and a revival of On The Road. That doesn’t include the books Kuralt wrote, and all of the other reports he filed for CBS over the years.

Just as with drawing, painting, or playing a musical instrument, many people are born with the ability to spin a yarn. But to do it in a way that makes people miss you decades after your passing? That’s truly something else.

 

©2024 John Moore

John’s books, Puns for Groan People and Write of Passage: A Southerner’s View of Then and Now Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, are available on his website TheCountryWriter.com, where you can also send him a message.