home

Program #5 - Interview with radio broadcaster Bob Edwards. Listen to program

For years and years and years, I knew Bob Edwards very well, as the voice I had coffee with in the morning. I was one of his 13 million faithful fans on Morning Edition. Bob has interviewed everyone from Studs Terkel to Dolly Parton, and I tuned in to hear no matter whom he was talking with. Bob is also an author, and explores the art of the newscast and the interview in Fridays With Red Barber, about his weekly call in chats with the off-the-cuff sportscaster, and Edward R Murrow And The Birth of Broadcast Journalism, a biography of the groundbreaking reporter who inspired Edwards from childhood.

I first met the man behind the voice a few years ago, when I was lucky enough to be interviewed by him about my second album. I was so nervous to be talking to that voice I had listened to so many times. But Bob put me at ease - and I soon felt like I was talking to an old friend. I guess that is how this interview happened actually. When I visited Bob's studio recently to talk about my new record, I worked up the nerve to ask Bob to be on my program. I was shocked when he was kind enough to agree! How in the world would a singer songwriter pretending to be a radio journalist pull off an interview with the Man Who Embodies Excellence in Radio? But of course Bob made it easy with his eloquence. He is an artist of the interview.

Thanks to Bob, and thanks also to his producer Chad Campbell who helped make this interview possible and lent me some studio time. Thanks to you for tuning in. Don't forget to listen to the Bob Edwards show too, on XM, on your local NPR affiliate, or at www.bobedwardsradio.com .

about the spark  •  listen to marfa public radio  •  archive  •  tift merritt