You left out a big piece of this puzzle: Walter Cronkite.
Cronkite immediately repeated what he thought he heard Armstrong say. And he said it as it has been remembered since, which is a nonsensical statement. No one could hear anything other than what Cronkite heard and there was no “a” before “man” as far as anyone could tell. What they SHOULD have done was give Cronkite a written copy of what Armstrong intended to say when he stepped off the LEM, but that apparently didn’t happen; and Armstrong could have helped his own cause by saying, “that’s a small step for one man - and a giant leap for mankind”. But, alas, he probably blew it, and people have been trying to blame it on the radio signal ever since.
But if Armstrong did get it right, then Cronkite got it wrong. One or both of them gets to be remembered for muffing one of the greatest speaking opportunities in modern history.
Just in case this wasn’t bad enough, the network also blew the timing of the comment. They patched the audio to a replay of the video at the moment when Armstrong had atually jumped, not stepped, onto the landing pad, not the moon’s surface. His “small step” comment was made - and only would have made sense (if it had been spoken correctly, of course) when he made the subsequent small step onto the MOON.
A couple of things to get you off on the right foot. First, a link to the Straight Dope column that you’re commenting on is appreciated. Providing one can be as simple as pasting the URL into your post, making sure to leave a blank space on either side of it. Like so: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_362.html
Second, please note that it’s against our rules to quote large blocks of copyrighted material. I have accordingly shortened your quotation from the Houston Chronicle article. Links to copyrighted material are okay. Those interested can read the rest on the Chronicle website here: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4225856.html