Month: March 2004

Bob Edwards will be leaving his position as host of NPR’s Morning Edition at the end of April — involuntarily, it appears. It’s something of a shock to imagine Morning Edition without him. He’s literally been the voice of the show since its inception in 1979. Morning Edition and Bob Edwards are some of the earliest memories I have of news media; the theme song and his voice emanating from my family’s ancient Grundig radio (wish I had that radio now) were the soundtrack of our morning routines as we prepared for school and work.

NPR seems to be systematically cleaning house in terms of on-air talent. Sending the old nags out to pasture might be more along the lines of how management thinks of it. Younger voices on All Things Considered and other shows are apparently bringing “unique freshness and spontaneity to their NPR hosting.” Whatever. I don’t want more freshness and spontaneity with my mornings. Bob Edwards has been doing just fine by me.

If you’ve got feelings one way or the other on this change, send a note to NPR at nprcomm@npr.org.

Walter Cronkite continues to offer superb essays on NPR. Today’s focused on a network news program with the courage to confront an out-of-control politician.

Happened in the past, of course.

All of Cronkite’s essays are available online.