Thanks for posting this. I was in the CBS newsroom on election night 1980 watching the same monitor as Cronkite (over his shoulder) as Jimmy Carter conceded the election (crassly prior to closing of the polls in western states thus killing down ballot Dem candidates).
My buddy's dad (RIP) was the sound-man for CBS News for decades and I was invited to be on the set on election night at the last minute.
Once Carter conceded I was ready to hang around to try to see Jerry Ford on the set being interviewed by Cronkite, but I had to rush home as I realized that I had left home so quickly I had left my dinner on the stove! Fortunately I only destroyed a pan and did not burn the house down.
Great story! My favorite memory of the Carter years was getting up at 6 a.m. to get to work at a morning job. Around 2 p.m., I'd leave for classes, then left the university just in time to report to another job at 6 p.m. until midnight. The only thing which kept me sane was Ronald Reagan's radio program which came on the radio during my drive to the night shift.
By election night 1980, the 5.5 hours of sleep per night had caught up with me and I called off sick for the night job. By 7:15 p.m. (central time), I was feeling a LOT better.