Monday, July 20, 2009

Where does the term anchorman come from?


I hadn't really thought about it until I saw this interesting tidbit on the CBS news. In my generation, the anchorman or anchor woman has been the word that you use to refer to a newscaster. I guess it was originally coined to describe Walter Cronkite at a political convention. The news team wanted a word to describe a person who held things together. I can only imagine what it would be like to be so good at your job that they have to make new terms for you.

Also of note in Sweden a news anchor is referred to as a cronkiter.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I wanted to know myself, but there was no answer in cyber land. So I thought about it, and as I remember being on the High School Track Team, Anchor Man is the last runner in a relay. So the newscaster Anchor Man is the last person in the relay of news before it is broadcast. The broadcast is the finale of all the newscasting work done up to that point, which is always a race to deadline. Anchor Man was also considered the most important runner. Your best man on the relay team was almost always in the Anchor Position.