Slipping away

Another piece of my childhood is gone. Christopher Glenn, the voice behind CBS's "In the News" has died. If you are my age and spent your childhood watching cartoons on CBS on Saturday mornings, then you would recognize his distinctive voice. He told stories about the wide world in an attempt to broaden our collective horizons.

We only watched CBS because it got the best reception. This is back in the olden days — you remember, the days that preceded remote controls and cable. We didn't always even have color TV. Remember how you'd have to turn on the set and wait for it to warm up before the picture appeared? Remember how your dad (well, mine anyway) said getting a new picture tube would be too expensive? We had — yes, kids, hold onto your seats — get up out of our chairs to change the channel or the volume. And we grumbled when the picture was flipping.

NBC was only OK, and ABC was on UHF. (Do my kids even know what that is?) So we watched CBS on Saturday mornings. And Christopher Glenn did news updates throughout the morning — which ended with the CBS International Children's Film Festival, hosted by Kukla, Fran and Ollie.

I know we all get older and have to watch idols from the past die, fade away. Maybe I didn't think it would happen so soon.

Here's to you, Christopher Glenn. Thanks for all you did — from my entire generation.