SHORT TAKES : Cronkite to Take Up the Baton

Former CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite plans to trade in his typewriter for a baton, at least temporarily.

Cronkite will conduct the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra in a Pops by the Sea Concert Sunday on the village green in Hyannis in Cape Cod.

Conductor Harry Ellis Dickson will assist Cronkite at the concert entitled “That’s the Way It Was--That’s The Way It Is,” referring to the phrase he used to sign off his nightly broadcast.

“Take it from an old band man, I know I can beat time even better than (Arthur) Fiedler, who was a great orchestra leader. But don’t worry, the orchestra won’t be following me. That could be disastrous. It will just be a lot of fun,” he said in an interview.