I Should Be On Talk Radio

First, Bob Edwards is leaving "Morning Edition" and now Tony Kornheiser is leaving talk radio. This is a black day in my media world. I don't usually admire the work in the local fishwrap's LARGEST department: Sports. However, the writer—Mike Lee—offers a balanced appreciation of the Tony Kornheiser Show on ESPN Radio. If this is (fair & balanced) regret, so be it.

[x Amarillo Globe-News]
On the radio, Kornheiser was a cut above
By MIKE LEE

A colleague once philosophized: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can't teach end up on talk radio."

Sports talk radio, in particular, can dumb down the American public. Callers spend hours hurling verbal insults at each other, and hosts spend hours interviewing self-serving professional athletes who care only about promoting themselves and dancing around legitimate questions.

Amid the airways of mindless chatter, "The Tony Kornheiser Show" on ESPN radio rose above the rest. Kornheiser's show - at least in its present form - is signing off for good today. Locally, that means no more of the balding East Coast snob from 9 to 11 a.m. on KPUR 1440-AM.

Amid the good ol' boy gibberish of most shows, Kornheiser's stood out as the thinking person's sports talk show. He rarely took calls. He didn't interview athletes.

Instead, Kornheiser interviewed those who covered the teams and athletes - sportswriters and TV beat writers. They told listeners what really was going on with the Yankees, Cowboys or Lakers.

National journalists such as Jim O'Connell on college basketball, David Dupree and David Aldridge on the NBA, or Len Pasquarelli on the NFL shared unique insight. Kornheiser listeners were treated to the veteran savvy of the Chicago Tribune's Sam Smith, the unbridled passion of the Boston Globe's Bob Ryan and the folksy delivery of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Randy Galloway.

There were off-the-wall regulars headed by John Riggins, the former NFL bad boy whose now-mellowed insights offer a matured perspective.

Kornheiser's best guest was during the Major League Baseball season, when Joe Morgan was a Friday regular. Morgan is a rare gem - a former athlete who offers his honest opinions on tough issues without worrying about what players might think.

Kornheiser often ventured outside the sports arena, including weekly chats with Washington Post movie critic Stephen Hunter. Kornheiser's opening segment often focused on the story of the day - sports-related or not.

He has a knack for capturing the historical relevance of an event. When an important person died - like Bob Hope, for example - Kornheiser could educate his younger listeners on why this person was important to the world they live in today.

Listeners felt they knew Kornheiser personally from his stories about walking his dog at 5:30 every morning, moving his daughter to college or attending one of his son's prep golf tournaments.

Unlike some talk show hosts who pretend to be an expert on every subject, Kornheiser admitted he didn't know much about the NHL or a particular sports event that ran past his strict 9:30 bedtime. When Kornheiser planned a segment on the NHL playoffs, his guest would be a hockey expert. When he needed insight on that late game, he woke up a journalist who covered it.

Because he's sharply opinionated, Kornheiser was either loved or hated by listeners. Neutrality wasn't an option with Mr. Tony, Kornheiser's name for himself when he told stories of the privileges of being a Washington Post sports columnist and ESPN personality.

He refers to ESPN SportsCenter anchors and news types as "Heads," a derogatory term for those he didn't feel were real journalists. But while serving on the panel for "Dream Job," a reality TV show in which ESPN is selecting its next SportsCenter anchor from more than 10,000 candidates, Kornheiser admitted he couldn't do what the "Heads" do.

Kornheiser doesn't care much for women's sports - unless the UConn basketball team is going for its 69th straight NCAA championship. Such opinions may alienate some of his potential audience, but that's Tony.

For all his strong opinions, though, Kornheiser doesn't take himself too seriously. He poked fun at himself, keeping alive ESPN viewers of him as being fat, bald and having an orange skin tone. When he was having a bad show, he readily admitted it on the air. The show's e-mail address was thisshowstinks@espnradio.com.

Kornheiser turned off some listeners from the South, Midwest and West because he's a classic East Coast snob. But that's part of his appeal, his charm. When he makes a comment suggesting that nothing important happened west of the Hudson River, listeners could either get mad or laugh. Those who allowed themselves to laugh were better entertained for it.

It was a similar situation with Kornheiser's constant interruptions of Dan "The Duke" Davis during SportsCenter news breaks every 20 minutes. You can either let yourself be entertained by Kornheiser's insightful or humorous interruptions or allow yourself to become irritated.

Kornheiser still will co-host "Pardon the Interruption" on ESPN television with Michael Wilbon and write a sports column for the Washington Post. But in Amarillo, his unique approach to sports talk radio will be missed.

Mike Lee, assistant sports editor of the Globe-News, can be reached at (806) 345-3313 or at michael.lee@amarillo.com.

© The Amarillo Globe-News Online

Say It Isn't So, NPR

I will miss the mellow tones of Bob Edwards' voice on weekday mornings. Since NPR went on air in Amarillo a few years ago, mornings were better because of Bob Edwards. The suits at NPR are making a big mistake. If this is (fair & balanced) umbrage, so be it.

[x NYTimes]
NPR News Is Replacing Morning Host
By LYNETTE CLEMETSON

WASHINGTON, March 23 — Morning radio will soon lose one of its most familiar news anchors. Bob Edwards, who for nearly 25 years has greeted millions of weekday listeners with the distinctive and richly toned opener "This is `Morning Edition' from NPR News," is being replaced as host of that flagship morning program.

The decision was made by NPR management as part of an effort to update its programming.

"This is part of the natural evolution of NPR, and finding the critical mix of new voices and familiar voices," said Ken Stern, executive vice president for the radio network, which broadcasts to more than 22 million listeners on 770 public radio stations. "This is not about individuals but about goals for the show itself. Bob is not leaving. He's going to be on the air for years to come, and that is the context that this needs to be understood in."

Mr. Edwards, 56, has accepted a new position as a senior correspondent for NPR, though he said contract negotiations were not yet complete. "I would prefer to remain the host of `Morning Edition,' certainly through its 25th anniversary in November," he said. "But apparently it's not my decision. It's my baby. I was there from the get-go. I never had any plans to do anything else."

"Morning Edition," which is broadcast live from 5 to 7 a.m. and is rebroadcast throughout the morning, is the most listened to morning radio program in the country, with 13 million listeners weekly, NPR says, citing figures from Arbitron, which measures radio audiences. The show's audience has grown 41 percent in the last five years, NPR says.

Mr. Edwards said he found out early this month that he was being reassigned. "I was called into an office, and they said, `We're making a change,' " he said. "You get a line like that, and I guess you should come back with some snappy rejoinder. But of course I did not. I was very surprised."

The public radio network issued a news release on Tuesday morning announcing Mr. Edwards's reassignment after he had told his staff.

Mr. Stern said that no decisions had been made on a new host or hosts for the program. But two correspondents, Steve Inskeep and Renée Montagne, will be interim hosts beginning May 1, when Mr. Edwards begins a previously scheduled leave to promote his new book, "Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism" (John Wiley & Sons, $19.95).

"People will hear from us about new hosting arrangements in coming weeks," Mr. Stern said. Mr. Edwards made no announcement on the air on Tuesday, and he said he had not decided when or how to tell his audience. "I would prefer not to say anything on air, because I would have difficulty explaining it," he said. "And it's not goodbye. It's just another role. I'm still going to be speaking to the same audience."

Colleagues, some of whom had heard rumblings about the reassignment over the past couple of weeks, heaped praise on Mr. Edwards. "He's been that strong steady voice, that glorious baritone, that has been just what people need to hear first thing in the morning," said Diane Rehm, who began as host of her own NPR program, "The Diane Rehm Show," two months before Mr. Edwards started "Morning Edition."

Nina Totenberg, who covers the Supreme Court for NPR said: "I will miss him on the air, as listeners will, but I also expect that I will like what I hear next. Nothing stays the same forever, and he deserves a break."

To prepare for the broadcast each day Mr. Edwards has, for two and a half decades, gotten up at 1 a.m. and arrived at the office by 2 to sift through newspaper and news service copy, interview overseas guests and crank through preproduction chores. For years he joked that his children, now adults, regularly tucked him into bed. "They used to read me stories," he said. "I'd go to bed at 6, and they'd stay up a while. I guess now I get to stay up and ask them to come to visit."

Copyright © 2004 The New York Times Company