Bob Edwards

Bob Edwards (born May 15, 1947 in Louisville, Kentucky) is an American radio broadcaster. As the original host of National Public Radio's long-running Morning Edition show (a role for which he won a 1999 Peabody Award), Edwards was lauded as "a man who embodies the essence of excellence in radio. His reassuring and authoritative voice is often the first many Americans hear each day. His is a rare radio voice: informed but never smug; intimate but never intrusive; opinionated but never dismissive. Mr. Edwards does not merely talk, he listens."

Related Topics:
May 15 - 1947 - Louisville, Kentucky - American - Radio - Broadcaster - National Public Radio - Morning Edition - 1999 - Peabody Award

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Edwards hosted Morning Edition from the show's inception in 1979 until April of 2004, when the network replaced him as host and demoted him to senior correspondent for NPR News. This decision, made shortly before his 25th anniversary with the show, was met with much criticism by listeners. His final broadcast as the host was on April 30, 2004; his last interview on that broadcast was with CBS newsman Charles Osgood, who was also Edwards' first Morning Edition interview subject almost 25 years earlier. Coincidentally, the show also included a segment about the last Oldsmobile, which rolled off an assembly line the day before.

Related Topics:
1979 - 2004 - Correspondent - April 30 - Charles Osgood - Oldsmobile

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But Edwards' career as a radio show host wouldn't suffer the same fate as the Olds. Three months later, XM Satellite Radio announced that Edwards had signed on to host a new program, The Bob Edwards Show, for its new XM Public Radio channel. The announcement came after Edwards dropped hints that he might move on from NPR while doing interviews to promote his book on Edward R. Murrow. The show's first broadcast was on October 4, 2004; a Washington Post article said Edwards was going to work with former NPR producer Mark Schramm. Among Edwards' first guests was former CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite.

Related Topics:
XM Satellite Radio - Edward R. Murrow - October 4 - 2004 - Washington Post - Mark Schramm - CBS News - Walter Cronkite

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"They want to give me a program, so I can continue to host and be heard every day instead of occasionally, as I would have been at NPR," Edwards told the Post. He said the format would be "loose": "It'll be long interviews, short interviews, and then maybe departments... You've got to have the news... it's not going to be all features, yet it's not going to be the Financial Times, either."

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Edwards attended University of Louisville and began his radio career at a small radio station in New Albany, Indiana. Edwards joined NPR in 1974. Before hosting Morning Edition, Edwards was a co-host of All Things Considered.

Related Topics:
University of Louisville - New Albany, Indiana - 1974 - All Things Considered

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A feature on his program that is fondly remembered is his weekly call-in chat with retired sportscaster Red Barber, that would supposedly be about sports, but would often digress into what kind of flowers were blooming at Barber's Tallahassee, Florida home, or other topics not related to sports. Barber would call Edwards "Colonel Bob", referring to Edwards' Kentucky Colonel award from his native state. Barber passed away in 1992. In 1993, Edwards' book Fridays with Red: A Radio Friendship (ISBN 0671870130) was published, based on his Morning Edition segments with Red Barber.

Related Topics:
Sportscaster - Red Barber - Tallahassee, Florida - Kentucky Colonel - 1992 - 1993

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He also wrote Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism (ISBN 0471477532), published in 2004.

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Edwards is married to Sharon Edwards and has two daughters, Eleanor and Susannah, who are educated at home.

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