Suzanne petie baird kuralt photo

WHO was Charles Kuralt?

Was he the folksy, down-home chronicler of small-town Americana who seemed like just the nicest guy?

Or was he a faithless, two-timing cad?

One thing is certain, now that we know the reason why he went on the road for all those years, we’ll never look upon clips of his old “On the Road” segments in quite the same way again.

That was never more true than Wednesday night on “Larry King Live,” which featured several old “On the Road” clips – Charles brandishing a hunk of watermelon at a county fair in one scene, and drolly observing a greased-pig contest in another – juxtaposed incongruously with segments of King’s interview with the “other woman” in Kuralt’s life, Pat Shannon, in her first-ever interview since we all learned four years ago about their 30-year affair.