Bob Edwards
Encyclopedia
Robert Alan Edwards is a Peabody Award-winning member of the National Radio Hall of Fame. He was the first broadcaster with a large national following to join the field of satellite radio. Edwards is the host of The Bob Edwards Show
The Bob Edwards Show
The Bob Edwards Show is an American radio program presented by Sirius XM Satellite Radio every weekday morning at 8 a.m. Eastern, with repeats at 8 a.m. Central, 7 a.m. Pacific, 6 p.m. Mountain, and the next morning at 7 a.m. Eastern...

on Sirius XM Radio and Bob Edwards Weekend distributed by Public Radio International
Public Radio International
Public Radio International is a Minneapolis-based American public radio organization, with locations in Boston, New York, London and Beijing. PRI's tagline is "Hear a different voice." PRI is a major public media content creator and also distributes programs from many sources...

 to more than 150 public radio stations. He gained fame as the first host of National Public Radio's flagship program, Morning Edition
Morning Edition
Morning Edition is an American radio news program produced and distributed by National Public Radio . It airs weekday mornings and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 05:00 to 09:00 ET, with feeds and updates as required until noon...

.

Personal life and early career

Edwards has two daughters, Eleanor and Susannah, and a stepson, Brean Campbell. He is a graduate of St. Xavier High School (Louisville) and the University of Louisville
University of Louisville
The University of Louisville is a public university in Louisville, Kentucky. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of the first universities chartered west of the Allegheny Mountains. The university is mandated by the Kentucky General...

 and began his radio career in 1968 at a small radio station in New Albany, Indiana
New Albany, Indiana
New Albany is a city in Floyd County, Indiana, United States, situated along the Ohio River opposite Louisville, Kentucky. In 1900, 20,628 people lived in New Albany; in 1910, 20,629; in 1920, 22,992; and in 1940, 25,414. The population was 36,372 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of...

. Afterwards, Edwards served in the U.S. Army, producing and anchoring TV and radio news programs for the American Forces Korea Network from Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

. Following his army service, he went on to anchor news for WTOP
WTOP-FM
WTOP is an all-news formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Washington, D.C., serving Metropolitan Washington, DC area. WTOP is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting.WTOP is one of two all-news stations in the Washington, D.C...

-AM, a CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 affiliate, in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 He also earned an M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 in Communication from American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...

 in Washington D.C. In 1972, at age 25, Edwards anchored national newscasts for the Mutual Broadcasting System
Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System was an American radio network, in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. radio drama, MBS was best known as the original network home of The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Superman and as the long-time radio residence of The Shadow...

. Edwards joined NPR in 1974. Before hosting Morning Edition, Edwards was co-host of All Things Considered
All Things Considered
All Things Considered is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio. It was the first news program on NPR, and is broadcast live worldwide through several outlets...

. Edwards is currently engaged to WRTI
WRTI
WRTI is a public radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is a service of Temple University.WRTI began in 1948 as an AM carrier current station. It was founded by John Roberts, professor emeritus of communications at Temple and long-time anchorman at WFIL-TV . He'd helped found the School...

 Philadelphia news anchor Windsor Johnston.

Host of Morning Edition

Edwards hosted NPR's flagship program, Morning Edition, from the show's inception in 1979 until 2004. After 24-plus years with Edwards as host, Arbitron
Arbitron
Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s...

 ratings showed that, with 13 million listeners, it was the second highest-rated radio broadcast in the country, behind only Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...

's AM show. Prior to his departure, he was incredibly popular among both listeners and critics.

When Morning Edition and its host won a George Foster Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...

 in 1999, the Peabody committee lauded Edwards as
Edwards' skills as an interviewer have been widely praised. NPR's ombudsman Jeffery Dvorkin said, "If I were his producer, I would think of Edwards as NPR's version of Charlie Rose
Charlie Rose
Charles Peete "Charlie" Rose, Jr. is an American television talk show host and journalist. Since 1991 he has hosted Charlie Rose, an interview show distributed nationally by PBS since 1993...

." The New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....

 called him "an institution among Morning Edition listeners for his interviewing skills and his calm, articulate style." It is estimated that Edwards conducted over 20,000 interviews for NPR. His subjects ranged from major politicians to authors and celebrities. His weekly call-in chats with retired sportscaster
Sportscaster
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...

 Red Barber
Red Barber
Walter Lanier "Red" Barber was an American sportscaster.Barber, nicknamed "The Ol' Redhead", was primarily identified with radio broadcasts of Major League Baseball, calling play-by-play across four decades with the Cincinnati Reds , Brooklyn Dodgers , and New York Yankees...

 are fondly remembered. The chats were supposedly about sports, but often digressed into topics like the Gulf War, what kind of flowers were blooming at Barber's Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...

 home, or other non-sport subjects. Barber would call Edwards "Colonel Bob," referring to Edwards' Kentucky Colonel
Kentucky colonel
Kentucky colonel is the highest title of honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Commissions for Kentucky colonels are given by the Governor and the Secretary of State to individuals in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to a community, state or the nation...

 honor from his native state. Barber died in 1992, and the following year Edwards based his first book, Fridays with Red: A Radio Friendship (ISBN 0-671-87013-0), on the weekly interviews.

In 2003, Edwards was inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame.

Controversial departure from NPR


In April 2004, NPR executives decided to "freshen up" Morning Edition's sound. Edwards was removed as host, replaced with Steve Inskeep
Steve Inskeep
Steve Inskeep born , is one of the current hosts of Morning Edition on National Public Radio. He, along with co-host Renée Montagne, were assigned as interim hosts to succeed Bob Edwards after NPR reassigned Edwards to Senior Correspondent after April 30, 2004. Inskeep and Montagne were...

 and Renée Montagne, and reassigned as a senior correspondent for NPR News. The move took him by surprise. "I'd rather stay," he said, "but it's not my decision to make." At first, NPR executives and spokespersons did not fully explain the move, leaving many listeners confused. Eventually they did make some attempts to explain themselves. According to NPR spokeswoman Laura Gross, "It’s part of a natural evolution. A new host will bring new ideas and perspectives to the show. Bob's voice will still be heard; he’ll still be a tremendous influence on the show. We just felt it was time for a change." Executive Vice President Ken Stern
Ken Stern
Ken Stern is a former Chief Executive Officer of National Public Radio.A native of Washington, D.C., Stern grew up in South Korea and Germany. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Haverford College with a B.A. in political science. He also holds a J.D...

 also explained the move. "This change in Morning Edition is part of the ongoing evaluation of all NPR programming that has taken place over the last several years. We've looked at shows like All Things Considered and Talk of the Nation with an eye to how we can best serve listeners in the future." Stern later participated in an online chat with listeners at NPR's website, but only heightened their confusion and anger.

The decision to remove Edwards, made shortly before his 25th anniversary with the show, was met with much criticism by listeners. Jeffrey Dvorkin, NPR's ombudsman, reported that the network received over 50,000 letters and emails regarding Edwards' demotion, most of them angry. This is the largest reaction to one subject NPR has ever received, even more than its noted Middle Eastern coverage. Other journalists, including ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

's Cokie Roberts
Cokie Roberts
Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Roberts , best known as Cokie Roberts, is an American Emmy Award-winning journalist and bestselling author. She is a contributing senior news analyst for National Public Radio as well as a regular roundtable analyst for the current This Week with Christiane...

 and CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

' Charles Osgood
Charles Osgood
Charles Osgood is a radio and television commentator in the United States. His daily program, The Osgood File, has been broadcast on the CBS Radio Network since 1971. He is also known for being the voice of the narrator of Horton Hears a Who!, an animated film released in 2008, based on the book...

, expressed dissatisfaction with the move.

His final broadcast as the host was on April 30, 2004; his last Morning Edition interview was with Charles Osgood
Charles Osgood
Charles Osgood is a radio and television commentator in the United States. His daily program, The Osgood File, has been broadcast on the CBS Radio Network since 1971. He is also known for being the voice of the narrator of Horton Hears a Who!, an animated film released in 2008, based on the book...

, who had also been Edwards' first Morning Edition interview subject almost 25 years earlier. Coincidentally, the last show also included a segment about the last Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. It was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In its 107-year history, it produced 35.2 million cars, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory...

, which rolled off an assembly line the day before.

During his final months at NPR, Edwards wrote his second book, "Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism" (ISBN 0-471-47753-2), published in May 2004. The book, a short biography of Edward R. Murrow
Edward R. Murrow
Edward Roscoe Murrow, KBE was an American broadcast journalist. He first came to prominence with a series of radio news broadcasts during World War II, which were followed by millions of listeners in the United States and Canada.Fellow journalists Eric Sevareid, Ed Bliss, and Alexander Kendrick...

, brought some public attention to history's most noted broadcast journalist prior to the release of the 2005 movie "Good Night and Good Luck." NPR removed him from Morning Edition that spring, rather than waiting for his 25th anniversary with the show in the fall, using the book tour to make a "clean break," rather than bringing him back for a final three-month stint.

Edwards decided not to remain at NPR as a senior correspondent, filing only one story in that role (an interview with Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...

 about the Washington, DC World War II memorial). Three months after his departure from Morning Edition, XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio is one of two satellite radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Radio. It provides pay-for-service radio, analogous to cable television. Its service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional...

 announced that he had signed on to host a new program, The Bob Edwards Show
The Bob Edwards Show
The Bob Edwards Show is an American radio program presented by Sirius XM Satellite Radio every weekday morning at 8 a.m. Eastern, with repeats at 8 a.m. Central, 7 a.m. Pacific, 6 p.m. Mountain, and the next morning at 7 a.m. Eastern...

, for its new XM Public Radio channel.

His memoir, A Voice in the Box, was published in September, 2011.

XM Satellite Radio career

"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 Washington 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
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....

, either." The show's first broadcast was on October 4, 2004. Washington Post columnist David Broder and former CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...

 anchor Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...

 were Edwards' first guests.

While continuing his daily show on XM, Edwards returned to public radio stations in January 2006 with his show Bob Edwards Weekend, produced by XM Satellite Radio and distributed by Public Radio International
Public Radio International
Public Radio International is a Minneapolis-based American public radio organization, with locations in Boston, New York, London and Beijing. PRI's tagline is "Hear a different voice." PRI is a major public media content creator and also distributes programs from many sources...

 to affiliate stations around the country. A September 22, 2005 press release from PRI states, "Bob Edwards Weekend will provide PRI listeners with an opportunity to sample some of the astute commentary and intriguing interviews offered to XM subscribers each weekday on The Bob Edwards Show." This was the first time that a satellite radio company provided programming to over-the-air terrestrial radio. Bob Edwards Weekend episodes are also available via podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...

 at BobEdwardsRadio.com.

In 2006, The Bob Edwards Show received The Deems Taylor Award from ASCAP.

In 2006, Bob's program received a Gabriel Award from the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals.

In 2007, the show received the National Press Club's Robert L. Kozic Award for Environmental Reporting for the documentary, "Exploding Heritage," about mountaintop-removal coal mining. That program was also honored with a Gabriel Award, a 2006 New York Festivals Gold World Medal, and an award from the Society of Environmental Journalists.

In 2008, The Bob Edwards Show received an Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio-Television News Directors Association and a New York Festivals/United Nations Gold Award for the documentary, "The Invisible--Children Without Homes." "The Invisible" also was honored by the Journalism Center for Children and Families and by the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals.

In 2009, the show received a Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for the documentary, "Stories from Third Med: Surviving a Jungle ER." The documentary also received a Gabriel Award
Gabriel Award
The Gabriel Awards were originated by the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals in 1965. They were designed to honor works of broadcast excellence that have a positive and creative treatment of concerns to mankind....

.

Subscriptions to and individual episodes of The Bob Edwards Show are available for a fee at Audible.com.

Professional life

In November 2004, Edwards was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. He continues to offer verbal support for National Public Radio and helps local public radio stations with their fundraisers.

Edwards is the national first vice president of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is a performers' union that represents a wide variety of talent, including actors in radio and television, as well as radio and television announcers and newspersons, singers and recording artists , promo and voice-over announcers and other...

 (AFTRA), and a board member of the Albert Shanker Institute
Albert Shanker Institute
The Albert Shanker Institute is a nonprofit foundation dedicated to advancing democratic ideals, improving the quality of public education, and conducting research into the labor movement and the sociology of work...

.

He holds honorary degrees from the University of Louisville
University of Louisville
The University of Louisville is a public university in Louisville, Kentucky. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of the first universities chartered west of the Allegheny Mountains. The university is mandated by the Kentucky General...

, Spalding University
Spalding University
Spalding University is a private, co-educational university affiliated with the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and located in Louisville, Kentucky.-History:...

, Bellarmine University
Bellarmine University
Bellarmine University is an independent, private, Catholic university in Louisville, Kentucky. The liberal arts institution opened on October 3, 1950, as Bellarmine College, established by Archbishop John A. Floersh of the Archdiocese of Louisville and named after the Cardinal Saint Robert...

, Willamette University
Willamette University
Willamette University is an American private institution of higher learning located in Salem, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest university in the Western United States. Willamette is a member of the Annapolis Group of colleges, and is made up of an undergraduate College of Liberal Arts and...

, Grinnell College
Grinnell College
Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, U.S. known for its strong tradition of social activism. It was founded in 1846, when a group of pioneer New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College....

, DePaul University
DePaul University
DePaul University is a private institution of higher education and research in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul...

, the University of St. Francis and Albertson College (now the College of Idaho).

External links



Departure from NPR
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