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 ratings showed that, with 13 million listeners, it was the second highest-rated radio broadcast in the country, behind only Rush Limbaugh'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 in 1999, the Peabody committee lauded Edwards 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. | ” |
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." The New York Daily News 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 Red Barber 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 home, or other non-sport subjects. Barber would call Edwards "Colonel Bob," referring to Edwards' Kentucky Colonel 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.
Read more about this topic: Bob Edwards
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