by Devi Zinzuvadia
NARR:
Morning Edition is the mainstay of NPR, with 13 million listeners tuning in each morning from 5 to 8 am. And Bob Edwards, whose smoky baritone keeps them company as they ready for their day, has been moved out of his host position, leaving behind more listeners than anyone has in either public or commercial radio, except for Rush Limbaugh. NPR says it will restructure the broadcast with a two-host format. Vice president Ken Stern has said the move came about because NPR member stations demand more "depth and context" from their early morning news. Listeners need immediacy, Stern told the Washington Post, adding, "it's not about Bob." But the network has fielded tens of thousands of angry letters and emails in the wake of the announcement. And today listeners were able to hear from Edwards himself for the last time.
TAPE: Edwards
I have been a host at NPR for 30 years...
NARR:
Today Edwards interviewed CBS's Charles Osgood, providing some symmetry, he said, to his Morning Edition tenure.
TAPE: Edwards and Osgood
... You are the alpha and the omega.
NARR:
NPR cites a changing news landscape in the wake of 9/11 as one of the reasons they need to make the format change, which will allow one of the two hosts to go out in to the field after stories. But what will the post Edwards era sound like? Listeners have written in to NPR to say how much they will miss Edwards in the years and months to come. Posted on the NPR website is an excerpt from New Jersey listener Peter Bye, who says, What do I admire and respect in Bob? Just about everything. Clarity, humor, perspective, knowledge, articulation, balance, probity, and yes -- his wonderful warm baritone voice. Bye goes on to say, Will I continue to listen to Morning Edition? Yes. NPR is banking on the hope that the core Morning Edition audience will take to the new format, but change is never easy. And today, we all heard Edwards final sign off.
TAPE: Edwards
BE Goodbye...
NARR: with ME music running under
The end of an era. For Columbia Radio News, I'm Devi Zinzuvadia.