Walter Cronkite is the anchorman for CBS's daylong bicentennial coverage "our most extensive of any single day since man landed on the moon in 1969," he says.
Broadcast from 7:30am to 11:00pm (15 & 1/2 hours)
including live remotes from more than 40 locales across the US, the program interweaves special features..."Anniversary Reflections" on life in America are offered by (among others) Hank Aaron, historian Daniel Boorstin, theologian Martin Marty, Margaret Mead, Isaac Stern, and Beverly Sills; "Anniversary Almanac" has Hughes Rudd and Sylvia Chase exchanging questions and answers and some trivia...on American history; Charles Kuralt's "On The Road" pieces for the "CBS Evening News" are repeated, with stops including Alabama, Arkansas.
Bicentennial observances covered on CBS TV include:
THE PRESIDENTIAL ITINERARY:
Shortly after 9am President Gerald Ford will participate in ceremonies at Valley Forge where five Conestoga wagon trains are encamped. Between 10and 11 A.M. President Ford will deliver a speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia and sometime after 1:30 P.M., review Operation Sail in New York.
RELIGIOUS SERVICES:
From 8 to 9 A.M. there will be coverage of services throughout the Nation...included are live telecasts of interfaith ceremonies in New York City, Miami and Philadelphia, and taped coverage of a sunrise service at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.
NAVAL SHOWS:
Operation Sail will be covered beginning at 11 A.M. when hundreds of U.S. and foreign vessels from the 33 foot sloop White Dolphin to the 1039 foot carrier USS Forrestal - will make their way up New York's Hudson River.
San Francisco Bay is the scene for the Silver Eagle Regatta, featuring some 1500 sailing craft. The event is covered intermittently thought out the day.
PARADES:
Atlanta's 16th annual "Salute to America" parade will have a Brazilian samba group, bagpipers, Irish dancers and Big Bird from "Sesame Street."
Philadelphia's parade is big on bancs-a total of 50, one from each state. There will also be a 110 -foot float depicting scenes from early American history.
MUSIC:
A day filled with music from country to classical, including a New Orleans jazz concert saluting Louis Armstrong, who would have been 76 this day, and a country-music concert from Nashville's Opryland. In the evening, Morton Gould will conduct the American Symphony Orchestra in his "American ballads"; and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir will sing patriotic songs from the mall in Washington, D.C.
Between 9 and 10 P.M. Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Esplanade Orchestra will perform Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture"; and the St. Louis Symphony will offer music by John Philip Sousa and Stephen Foster.
FIREWORKS:
Between 7 and 8 P.M., Alistair Cooke will be the host for a BBC show featuring a fireworks exhibition over the Thames River. Live coverage also from New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Washington D.C.
VIKING LANDING:
At approximately 10 P.M., Viking 1 is scheduled to touch down on Mars and begin sending pictures back to Earth. Reports on the mission.
OTHER EVENTS:
From St. Louis daylong series of music and dance programs, and air and water shows. Coverage will be interspersed throughout the day. Other celebrations covered intermittently will include the Festival of American Folklife in Washington D.C. ; and festivals in New York City and Miami.
There will also be an reenactment of the Battle of Gettysburg scheduled between 2 and 3 P.M. Also, celebrations, Western style...a rodeo in Greeley Colorado.
NOTE: This entire broadcast will be transferred from the original 1/4" master reel to reel tapes (15 & 1/2 hours) to 12 CD discs or to 3 DVD (sound track only) discs allowing for greater continuous listening continuity.
