Seen and Unseen
Another fragment, from decades ago and of many decades since
OK, I had two more in the pipeline for the end of January, but then this happened last night. So now, another essay on the 1960s, how the experience then stayed with me, and how it sent me on a different course for decades. And how an acquaintance became a good friend and more of an influence than he or I ever could have imagined.
Dennis Sager, and some of how he changed my life - and my career at CBS News
Taking note of the passing of Dennis Sager last night, a good friend of more than six decades, seen here with his wife Jeanni to my left at our 2019 (and last) holiday party; more of that later. (And that’s Irene Solet and Catherine Brown behind them, and Judy Kang at the left edge of the pic.) Dennis and I and our families always went to each other’s family parties, which meant we always saw each other at least 3-4 times a year, before Covid ended both families’ family parties.
Dennis and I met in the fall of 1964 when he volunteered at the MIT radio station (I was news director; he quickly became assistant news director. An MIT Course XVI guy (Aero and Astro), he decided he would drive down to the Kennedy Space Center with a remote kit to co-anchor live coverage of manned Gemini spacecraft launches from the KSC press site in 1965 and 1966. Our MIT KSC press site was a pair of screws at the (outdoor) Launch Complex 19 observation desk: clip on and you have air, but first you have to find them, and of course Dennis always did. (While Dennis was in Florida, I had the easier job, co-anchoring from MIT with experts in Cambridge and taped packages).
Our MIT motto was “NBC +30,” just as NBC’s motto was “CBS +30” - go on air a half-hour earlier and stay on a half-hour later than anyone else, so we had hours and hours to fill covering people and material from Course XVI (of which I never too a class) for one of he most demanding radio audiences possible (and did they ever call to point out any mistakes).
After graduation, Dennis went to NASA for the Apollo moon landings, in the RTACF (Real Time Auxiliary Computer Facility), where he was a valued source, especially as they rescued the Apollo XIII crew (I was at CBS). He really wanted to be an astronaut, but the US lost interest in the moon, so he was laid off and left Houston. Returning to his home state of Virginia, he went to medical school and became an MD in Reston, where he had a family practice right up until, I believe, last year.
But back to MIT: What neither of us could have imagined was that two years after we met, Richard Salant, President of CBS News, would walk up to me when I was a summer intern, and ask, “Aren’t you the kid who goes to MIT?” “Yes, Mr. Salant.” “You must know about the space program.” “I’m not an aero and astro major, but I know some.” “Good enough. Catch the next flight to Florida, Cronkite needs another writer.”
Which is how a 19-year-old intern became a terrified writer for the most prominent space journalist of the era. When I arrived at the launch complex, Cronkite tested the new kid Salant sent (a teenager??) and asked me to write for copy (stories) on different spacecraft systems. I was ready. Remember, NBC+30. (And I guess I passed the audition; I worked with Cronkite on space coverage and later political coverage and elections until his last CBS election night, 1980, but more of that later.)
Looking back now, it’s obvious that we produced much more live coverage and special reports at MIT than we ever would have without Dennis’ enthusiasm and initiative. And that, in turn, drilled me on everything from launch vehicles to spacecraft to subsystems to - well, everything Cronkite wanted when we met in 1966 at Launch Complex 39, which changed my life and my career. Thank you, Dennis!! And RIP, my good friend.