by DrMabuse

Bob Edwards Fired by NPR

At the risk of coming out of the radio junkie closet, “natural evolution,” my ass! Canning Bob Edwards is like pissing on the pontiff’s robe. You just don’t do it.

[UPDATE: If you’d like to write a letter, NPR’s address is 635 Massachusetts Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001. Letters, by way of being physical objects, are more likely to be read than email. So get at it, folks.]

19 Comments

  2. This is worse than Hollywood logic: “And we figure as long as the show is doing well right now … it’s just time for a change.”

    What? I expect a little more from NPR.

    Edwards told one of the Ky. papers here (where he’s from) that he’s just glad they didn’t fire him. How sad to be reduced to just being glad not to be fired.

  3. These NPR “executives” are truly idiots! Bob Edwards should be declared a National Historic Site so that he can be protected from such desecration!

  4. I am contacting my local radio station manager and telling him that my next plege check is going to the studios of PRI International. “When they feel the heat they see the light”

  5. My father taught me long ago…if it ain’t broken DON’T fix it. Morning Edition has not been broken for the past 25 years, firing Bob Edwards is not a FIX. The people at NPR’s helm appear to be broken, and showing them the door would certainly be a FIX in my book.

  6. If you’re going to write letters, try:

    635 Massachusetts Avenue N.W.,
    Washington, D.C. 20001

    I sent my letter yesterday.

  7. I sent mine too. I was particularly struck by the mealymouthed excuses from Ken Stern (“changing needs of our listeners”). Assuming Stern’s got data backing that up (let’s pretend), what kind of data would outweigh Morning Edition’s 41% increase in audience over the past 5 years?

    And Nina T, hang your head in shame! “Nothing stays the same forever, and he deserves a break.” Nice spin. Sheds a whole new light on your reporting.

  8. What folly! Bob Edwards is the priimary reason I listen to National Public Radio. I haven’t seen any good reason given for his departure. NPR should be ashamed of itself.

    Irate in Oregon.

  9. It would appear that a little housecleaning is needed at the executive level offices of NPR

  11. Whenever the executive bunch starts serving up such porous twaddle as “natural evolution” and “new perspectives” to characterize an act that is so obviously counterproductive and reckless, let alone unpopular, you have to wonder what is the REAL reason being obfuscated. Like, whom did Bob offend? Or what interest group will welcome his departure? Are we heading for more pre-masticated MacNews?

  12. Bob Edward’s firing hit me like 9/11. He has become a fixture in my daily routine. That he was fired for no apparent reason reduces the managment of NPR to the level that they sought to distance themselves for the last 2 decades. It is a sad day across America.

  13. Please add your name to the “Save Bob Edwards” petition: we have over 21,600 names already! The petition will be delivered to NPR headquarters Friday, April 23; we hope to have at least 25,000 signatures by then.

    To sign the petition, visit http://www.savebobewards.com and click on the “Sign the Petition” link on the left side.

  15. am glad to see this site.

    but where is the details re why bob edwards was fired?

    thank you.

  16. visiting washington this past week a senior civil servant advised that edwards was targetted by a certain right-wing female neo-con. this individual was described as the sort who typifies the princess and the pea. not having had any great sense that edwards was liberal, (just afflicted with decency and common sense), this neo-conservative attack on NPR is another dangerous data point on the current climate. one is advised to do one’s own research into names, but perhaps this is a small indicator. i asked directly if this information was widely known, and was informed that it is not.

  18. Surely someone knows why Bob Edwards was fired just weeks before his 25th anniversery. It seemed so ham handed. Some say NPR wanted to change the morning news format for some time and getting a megabucks donation from a friendly billionairess gave them the freedom to do it. I don’t buy this explanation. Why change a winning formula? It doesn’t seem to me that they have changed the format much after Bob Edwards departure. I’m sure Bob and the management know the reason but will we ever find out? Piss on them if they expect to keep getting money from me. It seems to me that corporate underwriters, the big business oligarchs
    have taken over.

  19. It’s sad. At least they had that Tribute page with all these great interviews. They seemed to regret it, to an extent.
    I cannot fathom why they’d put Steve Innskeep in place of Bob. He’s OK, and does a nice job, but it aint BOB!! Then, they kind of realized he couldn’t take the whole thing himself, and at least put Renee Montagne, as sort of a tag-team. But I used to work at an NPR/PRI member station and we had a crazy “takeover” and wierd politics went on there, firing some great foiks. He could’ve just been a scapegoat, like was hinted at, if he’d said something and it got back to the wrong person. With such strong ties to gov’t funding, who knows? It stinks, but heck, I’ll still listen and contribute, after all, it IS still NPR. And there’s not really anybody bad on it. I heard Bob is going to have another show on Satellite radio.

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