Bob Edwards, radio host who built NPR’s ‘Morning Edition,’ dies at 76

NPR faced a huge outcry after its decision in 2004 to drop Mr. Edwards after nearly 25 years leading ‘Morning Edition’

By Brian Murphy
February 12, 2024 at 11:07 a.m. EST



Bob Edwards in the “Morning Edition” studio at NPR in Washington in 2004. (Lucian Perkins/The Washington Post)

Hours before dawn on Nov. 5, 1979, an NPR team gathered in a studio at the headquarters in Washington. A new show was about to air. ... The program already had gone through serious growing pains. Some NPR member stations had complained that earlier test runs had sounded too chatty, too commercial. Emergency overhauls were made, including picking new hosts. One of them was a rising star at NPR with the flagship “All Things Considered” show, who was known for his unflappable demeanor and a basso profundo voice made huskier by a pack-a-day smoking habit.

He had a 30-day trial at the new show. The red “on-air” light blinked on. “Morning Edition” had begun. ... “Good morning,” he began. “Today is Guy Fawkes Day. Guy’s plot to blow up Parliament was discovered on this day in 1605. Today is the beginning of National Split Pea Soup Week, and it’s the debut of this program. I’m Bob Edwards.”

Mr. Edwards, who died Feb. 10 at 76, stayed at “Morning Edition” for nearly a quarter century and became as much a part of the begin-the-day rhythms for NPR listeners as coffee, commutes and getting the kids off to school. Then in 2004, a decision by NPR to pull Mr. Edwards from the show touched off an avalanche of complaints from his fans that even included statements on the Senate floor.



Mr. Edwards, right, talks with Red Barber in1992. (Associated Press)

Both his long NPR run and the uproar over his departure reflected Mr. Edwards’s deep influence on public radio as it moved from the margins of the national conversation to become a mainstay. His “Morning Edition” interviews — more than 20,000 from 1979 to 2004 — served as an audio scrapbook for a generation and helped establish NPR as a forum for guests to make news or raise their profile.

{snip}

Mr. Edwards decided to close out his “Morning Edition” tenure the same way it began. His interview subject was CBS News correspondent Charles Osgood, who was also his first one-on-one interview in 1979. ... “You’re the alpha and the omega,” Mr. Edwards told Osgood.

By Brian Murphy
Brian Murphy joined The Washington Post after more than 20 years as a foreign correspondent and bureau chief for the Associated Press in Europe and the Middle East. Murphy has reported from more than 50 countries and has written four books. Twitter https://twitter.com/BrianFMurphy