In an opinion piece, the general manager of an Illinois public radio station says:
Bob Edwards is a reliable personality, has a great voice and has such a long and celebrated history with Morning Edition that many people feel he and the show are synonymous. Still, some broadcasters and listeners have thought Morning Edition has needed a second host for some time, and Bob’s low-key nature has caused a number of people to wish the show had a higher energy level.
…NPR’s managers should look for other opportunities to give new energy to Morning Edition. Perhaps new music is needed. The World makes terrific use of regular, highly produced segments such as Geo Quiz, and that kind of thing might work well.
First off, that Geo Quiz on The World is annoying in the extreme. Maybe if they did it once a week, it would be tolerable, but hearing it every day is grating and hearing the same little music button for it over and over and over is driving me nuts.
Why, oh why, do people want to “jazz” up Morning Edition? Don’t they realize that the key to it’s success — at least for this listener — is precisely that it is low key?
I don’t listen to rock music in the morning. I don’t listen to Howard Stern or any other shock jock. I don’t even listen to regular news radio.
I don’t want to be jolted out of bed by a high energy radio program. I want to be eased into my day.
