Walter Cronkite began as anchor of "The CBS Evening News" on April 16,
1962. On September 2, 1963, the CBS Evening News became network
television’s first half-hour weeknight news broadcast which was extended
from its original 15 minutes, and telecast at 6:30 P.M. ET. Walter Cronkite
retired from “The CBS Evening News” on March 6, 1981.
A Labor Day weekend interview in 1963 with President John F. Kennedy
and Walter Cronkite at Hyannis Port was to inaugurate the first half hour
CBS News, network national nightly news broadcast.