Charles Osgood - Radio and Television

Radio and Television

In August 1967, Osgood anchored the first morning drive shift for WCBS after its conversion to an all-news format. The twist was that the first day of all-news programming actually aired on WCBS-FM after an airplane crashed into the AM station's antenna tower on New York's High Island, keeping WCBS off air until a temporary tower could be erected.

Osgood is host of Westwood One's The Osgood File, heard four times each weekday morning drive time on radio stations nationwide. Each three minute Osgood File focuses on a single story ranging from a breaking development of national importance to a whimsical human-interest vignette. Some of these he does in rhyme, which is why he is known as CBS's "Poet in Residence."

On television, Osgood has been hosting CBS News Sunday Morning since 1994, having succeeded former host Charles Kuralt. Osgood's tenure as host has now exceeded that of Kuralt. He has also anchored the CBS Afternoon News and the CBS Morning News.

Among his personal trademarks are his bow-tie, his weekly TV signoff "Until then, I'll see you on the radio," and his propensity for delivering his commentaries in whimsical verse. Example: When the Census Bureau invented a designation for cohabitant(s) as "Person(s) of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters", or "POSSLQ", Osgood turned it into a pronounceable three-syllable word, and composed a prospective love poem, which included these lines which became the title of one of his books:

There's nothing that I wouldn't do

If you would be my POSSLQ

Osgood also made a habit of pronouncing the years 2001, 2002, etc., as "twenty oh one, twenty oh two..." as opposed to the more commonly pronounced "two thousand one, two thousand two", etc., no doubt choosing consistency over trend, as the 1990s were pronounced "nineteen ninety" instead of the more cumbersome "one thousand nine hundred ninety", etc.