Alistair Cooke – America got to know him as Mr. Omnibus and The Face of Masterpiece Theatre – but if you had a shortwave radio . . .

Alistair Cooke – If you grew up in America in the 1950s, he was the face of the CBS Television series Omnibus – he was your guide to all things possible and a world of discoveries, all in your living room. Later, when PBS came into being, there was a series of mostly imported series from the BBC, aptly named Masterpiece Theatre.

His was the calming, erudite presence that gave Walter Cronkite a run for his money in the “Man America Trusts Most” department.

But where Alistair Cooke was at his best, where he really shined, was from a series done for the BBC World Service going back to the 1940s. Letters From America was a weekly program which aired from the late 1930s all the way up until his death in 2004.

It was a program about America which was sadly, hardly heard in America unless you were one of the lucky few who had a Shortwave Radio in your living room.

Letters From America was a collection of observations of American life and those people who were responsible for a wide range of pursuits on a day-to-day basis. It was the keen observation and the gift of description that made Alistair Cooke one of the truly gifted commentators in radio.

This episode, broadcast on March 29, 1997 was typical of Letters From America. Putting events in a historic context while unearthing the people and events behind those observations that made for compelling listening. When Alistair Cooke retired, just prior to this death in March of 2004, he had broadcast some 2,869 of these Letters From America.

If you’ve never heard any – it’s 15 minutes well spent.