March 17, 2006 - In 2004, Bob Edwards, the anchor of National Public Radio's "Morning Edition," was unexpectedly shown the door. After the acrimonious ouster, he took his signature voice—all molasses and mint julep—to fledgling XM Satellite Radio. Now, 17 months later, excerpts of his hourlong weekday interview show have begun airing on (drumroll, please) public radio. Launched with Public Radio International, "Bob Edwards Weekend" can be heard on nearly 30 stations nationwide, the first time satellite-radio programming has appeared on broadcast channels.
Longtime public-radio listeners may not recognize their host at first: his interviews are longer and looser; he gets out from behind the desk to do multipart documentaries. Edwards recently spoke with NEWSWEEK's Brian Braiker about his medium's new frontier and why he's still a public-radio booster despite lingering bitterness towards NPR. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: Do you see parallels between satellite radio and the early days of public radio? Bob Edwards: Yeah, I'm pioneering for the second time. It's very exciting when that happens, because when you're a startup you can be bold and experimental and try things.
What are you doing that you weren't able to before? I can do whatever I want to! I'm completely independent. NPR over the years began taking itself enormously seriously—as it should. In the end I was so micromanaged that they were telling me how to pronounce syllables of words.
Now that you're back on some NPR affiliates, do you feel a sense of vindication or payback? [Laughs.] I guess in a way. The listeners never had a problem with me. That's why the program is being picked up by an increasing number of stations each week. They know the public-radio audience liked me, so they had this opportunity to bring me back and say, "Look we brought him back. It was NPR that took him off 'Morning Edition'."
Do you still listen to your old show? Every morning.
How are those whippersnappers doing? They're doing fine. Whenever I see one of them I say, "How does it feel to do half my job?" [Laughs.] Half my job for probably all of my pay.
