2017 Eclipse: Frank Reynolds Promised ABC’s Coverage Of 2017 Solar Event 38 Years Ago

Frank Reynolds was in the anchor’s chair in 1979, when ABC News provided coverage the last time the contiguous U.S. saw a total solar eclipse, and he made a promise that the network would cover the next one set to occur 38 years later. According to Good Morning America, Reynolds referenced the far away August 21, 2017, solar eclipse as he signed off from a special ABC News report about the Feb. 26, 1979 solar eclipse.

In 1979, the eclipse featured a path of totality that crossed the Pacific Northwest, and Reynolds gave viewers a front row look at the rare celestial event. At the end of his 1979 ABC News report, the World News Tonight anchor pledged that the network would cover the next total solar eclipse in 2017.

“So that’s it — the last solar eclipse to be seen on this continent in this century,” Reynolds told viewers in 1979.

“Not until August 21, 2017, will another eclipse be visible from North America. That’s 38 years from now. May the shadow of the moon fall on a world in peace. ABC News, of course, will bring you a complete report on that next eclipse 38 years from now.”

You can see Frank Reynolds’ 1979 solar eclipse special report in the video below.

The August 21, 2017, eclipse will be a total solar eclipse that will arc across the continental United States. It will be an especially rare occurrence because it’s the first time the path of totality that exclusively crosses the continental United States from coast to coast in nearly 100 years. NASA estimates more than 300 million people in the United States potentially could directly view the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21 as its path of totality sweeps across portions of 14 U.S. states, but a partial solar eclipse will be visible in every U.S. state on Aug. 21.

Sadly, Frank Reynolds died just four years after the 1979 eclipse broadcast. The longtime ABC News anchor passed away in 1983 at age 59. However, ABC is making good on his promise. According to Variety, ABC will air a two-hour solar eclipse special on Aug. 21, 2017. The network will break into regularly scheduled programming at 1 p.m. ET to present “The Great American Eclipse,” with World News Tonight anchor David Muir headlining the solar extravaganza 38 years after Frank Reynolds did.

In a bonus move that Frank Reynolds would have never been able to predict back in those pre-Internet days, the ABC special will also be presented via ABCNews.com, Facebook Live, YouTube, and across ABC News social media channels.

[Featured Image by Dave Pickoff/AP Images]