A Voice in the Box: My Life in Radio

Rather than trashing his longtime employer, Edwards stayed positive as he promoted his new book, "Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism," on a nationwide tour. Here, while he stays away from wholesale criticism of NPR, he does take a few punches at colleagues whom he believes misrepresented the nature of his removal.

Then-NPR-president Kevin Klose, for instance, claimed that Edwards was offered the opportunity to co-host but turned it down. Edwards says this is “absolutely not true.” The company’s botched dismissal and the ensuing chaos brings to mind a flurry of similar incidents, such as the network head’s firing of its most prominent African American broadcaster Juan Williams.

Edwards’ fall from grace with NPR marked the culmination of frustration, over many years, with the station’s increasingly corporate management style. Edwards was a union man and a free-spirited journalist who preferred a penetrating out-of-the-box feature to the day-to-day news cycle.

However, when he got the call from then nascent XM Satellite radio, Edwards embraced the emerging media market, relaunching his career with fresh gusto. The Bob Edwards Show and its weekend editions are syndicated by Public Radio International and now appear, in an ironic twist, on various NPR member stations.

In addition to Edwards’s usual line-up of chats with smart analysts, like weekly conversations with Washington Post’s late David Broder, Edwards inaugurated his first XM program interviewing Walter Cronkite on broadcasting’s history. Since then, Edwards’ satellite crew has undertaken ambitious reporting projects like coverage of illegal immigration along the border.

“I don’t have an act – but I have a style. One important element of my style is minimalism. I say what I have to say in as few words as possible. I believe the news is more important than I am. My best interview questions are brief retorts such as ‘Really?’ ‘No kidding’ ‘Well?’ and ‘No!’ ”

Admirably modest despite his plaudits, Edwards writes that he continues to grow as an interviewer, insisting his “best programs are yet to come.” Thrilled with his current production, he says it’s the “happiest period of my professional life.”

“What you do is dream new dreams," he writes, "and I’m working to make my dreams come true.” For memoir readers and most definitely for media junkies, Edwards’ story makes a most worthy page-turner.

Alexander Heffner, a freelance journalist, was host and managing editor of The Political Arena on WHRB and WPAA in Cambridge and Andover, Mass., respectively.

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