(dave e)

bye, bob

because the first car i drove to high school had no tape deck and because memphis radio was not what you might think, given its alleged status as the birthplace of rock and roll, i developed my npr habit in the tenth grade. that's why i'm still drinking the national public radio kool-aid.

well, that's one of the reasons. much of where the network has gone in recent years has driven me to c-span, but i still have the npr junkie's affection for scott simon's saturday morning essays, the network's regular and reliable newscasts, anne garrels' broadcasts from baghdad at the war's beginning, dan schorr's commentary, talk of the nation's reasonable call-in format, ira flatow's nerd-irrific science friday, and robert seigel's masterful interview style. i confess, i have tired of this american life, of diane rehm, of car talk, of weekend edition sunday's puzzles, of garrison keillor, of the endless series of loosely-themed programs (see, for instance, studio 360 and soundprint). i no longer care whether or not wamu fills its sunday afternoon with bluegrass or prairie home companion, or another rebroadcast of hypereducated boston mechanics having fits over their own jokes.

yet the one point on which i will give no ground -- and i am not alone in my fervor -- is bob edwards. if you are among those who haven't heard (fewer and fewer, i imagine), edwards, who has hosted morning edition for almost a quarter-century will no longer do so but will become a "senior correspondent," a la noah adams, linda wertheimer, and susan stamberg.

i've gone on too long already. there are plenty of apt encomia at npr's tribute page (if you go there, do listen to the archived stories, too. edwards' interview with johnny cash is as good as you'd imagine). the sort of gloopy nostalgia that leads us to call edwards our friend goes to far, for sure, but his voice and the things he asked and said with that voice sure were reliably right.

i like scott simon's praise, which makes sense, because i like scott simon's weekend edition almost as much as bob edwards' morning edition. this is good:

A whole generation of Americans have grown up hearing Bob tell them who won or lost (elections, wars, and the World Series), what happened while they slept, who's been born, who's died, and who's having a birthday. He has been the very voice of history, and losing his morning companionship will be as hard as losing the kind of old friend you could always rely on to tell you some news, give you a laugh, and steady you through rough times.

again, he isn't my friend, but as someone very likely to open sentences, "i heard this thing on npr this morning," i can say that my mornings will have changed come monday.

Posted by dave at April 30, 2004 5:45 PM | TrackBack