"48 Hours" Special - Against All Odds: July 13, 1999
The CBS program "48 Hours" broadcast an updated story about Tom Whittaker on Tuesday, July 13, 1999. This program was based on the 1998 one hour special "Footprint On Everest," which won the 1998 Telly Award for best adventure documentary of the year. Restructured for “48 Hours”, viewers were given another chance to see this remarkable story of five people with severe disabilities struggle to reach Everest's base camp at 17,000 feet, and amputee Tom Whittaker’s perilous climb of the 29,028 foot icon.
Network Television Broadcasts and International Press Coverage
In all, coverage of Tom's climb of Everest in 1998, has aired in more than 150 countries world wide and has been seen by some 20 million households. CBS dedicated the entire prime time show, Public Eye with Bryant Gumble to a documentary covering the trek and climb. It was featured on the NBC Today, CBS Morning Show, FOX News, Extra, CNN International’s Q & A, The Discovery Travel Network, Fit TV, and Planet X.
Whittaker was a guest on Hollywood Salutes the Easter Seals and talk shows Howie Mandel and Donny & Marie. The story aired on Canadian television and as a one hour documentary on Australia’s prime time show SUNDAY. Whittaker’s achievement drew world press as a feature story in all major newspapers and in many magazines, including People, Time, Outside and WE.
Educational Initiative
Whittaker’s message of diversity went out in seven separate Scholastic News publications to about two million school children. An interactive curriculum 5th through 12th grades was subscribed to by 760 schools in the U. S. and Canada. Another million hits were logged on web sites that were maintained during the expedition.
