NEW YORK — Bob Edwards, who anchored Nationwide Public Radio’s “Morning Version” for slightly below 25 years and was the baritone voice who informed many People what had occurred whereas they slept, has died.
Edwards, who died Saturday, was 76 years outdated. NPR had no additional particulars.
He turned co-host of “All Issues Thought of” with Susan Stamberg in 1974 shortly after becoming a member of NPR, and was the founding anchor of “Morning Version” in 1979. He left NPR after being changed on the present in 2004 — a programming transfer that led to protests by 1000’s of listeners — and he joined SiriusXM satellite tv for pc radio.
Edwards’ deep, commanding voice gave many listeners the impression that he was older than he was. “His was the voice we woke as much as,” Stamberg mentioned.
For 12 years, he had common conversations with veteran sportscaster Pink Barber, which led to Edwards’ ebook, “Friday with Pink: A Radio Friendship.”
Edwards would inform listeners about well-known individuals who had been celebrating birthdays. He later came upon that his announcement of First Girl Rosalynn Carter’s birthday shocked and saved her husband, President Jimmy Carter, who heard Edwards whereas out jogging; he had forgotten the birthday.
“I like sitting on the mic and being on the radio,” Edwards mentioned shortly earlier than leaving NPR. “That’s nonetheless a kick.”
He wrote a memoir, “A Voice within the Field: My Life in Radio,” and a historic ebook concerning the medium, “Edward R. Murrow and the Delivery of Broadcast Journalism.”
John Lansing, NPR’s CEO, mentioned Edwards’ former colleagues and listeners will bear in mind him with gratitude.
“Bob Edwards understood the intimate and immediately private reference to audiences that distinguishes audio journalism from different mediums, and for many years he was a trusted voice within the lives of tens of millions of public radio listeners,” Lansing mentioned.
