Bob Edwards, longtime NPR 'Morning Edition' host, dies at 76: 'A trusted voice'

Taijuan Moorman, USA TODAY
Updated ·3 min read
4
Bob Edwards, longtime host of NPR's "Morning Edition," has died at 76.
Bob Edwards, longtime host of NPR's "Morning Edition," has died at 76.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Bob Edwards, the longtime host of NPR's "Morning Edition," has died. He was 76.

The death of the longtime radio personality was announced Monday by NPR, where he spent 24 years as a morning show host and was the baritone voice who told many Americans what had happened while they slept.

"We are saddened to hear that Bob Edwards has passed away," NPR president and CEO John Lansing said in a statement. "In 1979, in what would become a career-defining moment, he helped NPR launch the morning newsmagazine 'Morning Edition.' He continued to be the voice that NPR listeners started their day with for another 24 and a half years as host of 'Morning Edition.'"

Edwards died Saturday, the public radio organization confirmed in an email to USA TODAY Monday. A cause of death was not given.

Bob Edwards, radio host for NPR and XM Radio, as seen in 2004. Edwards has died at age 76.
Bob Edwards, radio host for NPR and XM Radio, as seen in 2004. Edwards has died at age 76.

He became co-host of “All Things Considered” with Susan Stamberg in 1974 shortly after joining NPR, and was the founding anchor of “Morning Edition” in 1979. "His was the voice we woke up to," Stamberg said in a statement.

For 12 years, he had regular conversations with veteran sportscaster Red Barber, which led to Edwards’ book, “Friday with Red: A Radio Friendship.”

Edwards would tell listeners about well-known people who were celebrating birthdays. He later found out that his announcement of First Lady Rosalynn Carter’s birthday surprised and saved her husband, President Jimmy Carter, who heard Edwards while out jogging; he had forgotten the birthday.

“I like sitting at the mic and being on the radio,” Edwards said shortly before leaving NPR. “That’s still a kick.”

He wrote a memoir, “A Voice in the Box: My Life in Radio,” and a historical book about the medium, “Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism.”

Edwards ended his "Morning Edition" run on April 30, 2004. He began hosting his own interview show at Sirius XM Radio, "The Bob Edwards Show," later that year. He returned to public radio for the Sirius XM-produced show "Bob Edwards Weekend," distributed by Public Radio International.

"The Bob Edwards Show" ended in 2014. The radio host went on to host the AARP podcast "Take On Today," which ran from 2018 to 2022.

'Hope you are at peace': Jamie Lee Curtis, Melissa Etheridge, more stars mourn Sinead O'Connor

Edwards received a Peabody Award in 1999 and was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2004.

Edwards was married to NPR news anchor Windsor Johnston. He has two adult daughters from a previous marriage.

"Bob Edwards understood the intimate and distinctly personal connection with audiences that distinguishes audio journalism from other mediums, and for decades he was a trusted voice in the lives of millions of public radio listeners," Lansing said. "Staff at NPR and all across the Network, along with those millions of listeners, will remember Bob Edwards with gratitude."

Contributing: The Associated Press

Tony Bennett remembered by Barack Obama, Viola Davis, Elton John: 'The last of his kind'

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bob Edwards dead: NPR 'Morning Edition' host dies at 76