Bob Edwards Has Grown Up

Over the weekend Marc Fisher checked in with Bob Edwards, and heard his familiar complaint about how he has no idea how many people listen to him each morning on XM Satellite Radio (now with one less board member!). “I feel like a grown-up finally,” Edwards tells him. “Here, they’re letting me do whatever I want to do.”

“In the 17 months since he jumped to pay radio, Edwards has displayed more range and reportorial chops than some at NPR had given him credit for,” Fisher observes.

The best in-fighting moment? “With the exception of continuing bad blood with NPR, which has refused permission for several of its top names to appear as guests on his show, Edwards declares himself to be in radio heaven.”

> UPDATE: A reader writes, “Scott Simon isn’t the only person NPR stopped from appearing on XM’s The Bob Edwards Show; Daniel Schorr was prevented from appearing on the one-year anniversary show back in October (recorded in September before a live audience) to discuss Edward R. Murrow. See here for the gory details, and here for a quote from Mr. Edwards on the denial and a description of the evening from someone who was there. (Few in the news media blinked at this – apparently after Simon was prevented from appearing on the show, it was old news.)”

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