My old colleagues at CBS News last night remembered one of the greats, Douglas Edwards. Today would have been his 100th birthday.
He was CBS News’s first television “anchor”—and at one time had an audience of some 30 million people watching his newscast every night. (For comparison: according to AdWeek,fewer than 6 million watched the CBS Evening News last week.)
A long time ago, in a very different world, when radio producers still recorded things on reel-to-reel tape that was edited with grease pencils and razor blades, a 27-year-old kid who had no idea what he was doing was given the chance to write a radio newscast for Douglas Edwards. Somehow, the world of broadcasting survived—and so did I.
Doug was a prince—kind, grateful, gracious and always, under any circumstance, a gentleman. Nothing will quite compare with hearing that voice read your words—and then say, after the newscast, “Nice job.”
Douglas Edwards retired from CBS News in 1988 at the age of 70, and died just two years later.
Happy birthday, dear Doug, happy birthday to you.
And thank you. Nice job.
And today we celebrate...