Douglas Edwards

Douglas Edwards

Edwards on the set of Douglas Edwards With the News (1952)
Born (1917-07-14)July 14, 1917
Ada, Oklahoma
Died October 13, 1990(1990-10-13) (aged 73)
New York City, New York USA
Occupation Broadcast journalist
Years active 1942–1988

Douglas Edwards (July 14, 1917 – October 13, 1990) was an American network news television anchor. He anchored CBS's first nightly news broadcast from 1948–1962, which was later to be titled CBS Evening News.

Early life and career

A native of Oklahoma, Edwards grew up in Birmingham, Alabama.[1] Edwards joined CBS Radio in 1942, eventually becoming anchor for the regular evening newscast The World Today as well as World News Today on Sunday afternoons. Edwards came to CBS, after stints as a newscaster and announcer at WSB in Atlanta, Georgia and WXYZ in Detroit, Michigan.

In the mid-1940s, Edwards was host of the radio program Behind the Scenes at CBS.[2]

As anchorman of Douglas Edwards With the News (The CBS Evening News)

In 1948, as CBS's top correspondents and commentators shunned the fledgling medium of television, Edwards was chosen to present regular CBS television news programs and to host CBS's television coverage of the 1948 Democratic and Republican conventions. The term "anchor" would not be used until 1952, when CBS News chief Sig Mikelson would use it to describe Walter Cronkite's role in the network's political convention coverage.

At first, Edwards would be eclipsed by John Cameron Swayze of NBC News's Camel News Caravan, but he would eventually regain his ratings lead. By the mid-1950s, the nightly 15-minute newscast Douglas Edwards with the News was watched by nearly 30 million viewers.

Among the events Edwards covered as a reporter in those years were the Miss America Pageant (five times), the attempted assassination of Harry S. Truman in November 1950, and the coronation of Elizabeth II in June 1953. He also received wide praise for his coverage, on both camera and radio, of the sinking of the SS Andrea Doria in July 1956. But by the end of the decade, viewership levels for the Edwards broadcast weakened severely as the Huntley-Brinkley Report began to attract a larger audience.[3]

By 1962, Edwards was replaced by Walter Cronkite, and the newscast's name was changed to CBS Evening News.

For several years after leaving the CBS anchor chair, Edwards headed the local evening news team on WCBS-TV, channel 2, the networks flagship television station in New York City.

Return to CBS Radio Network

Edwards subsequently moved back to CBS Radio, where he delivered the network's flagship evening newscasts The World Tonight for many years. Until his retirement on April 1, 1988, he maintained a daily midday role within CBS television news, anchoring a five-minute newsbreak known successively as CBS Afternoon News with Douglas Edwards (April 1962-Feb. 1968), The CBS Midday News with Douglas Edwards (Feb. 1968-April 20, 1979) at 11:55am Eastern time and The CBS Mid-Morning News with Douglas Edwards (April 23, 1979 – May 30, 1980) at 10:55am Eastern.[4] He also served, for a time, as a co-anchor of the CBS Morning News. His last radio newscast included a report of the death of singer Andy Gibb.[5]

Beginning June 2, 1980, Douglas Edwards anchored a daily one-minute-fourteen-second edition of Newsbreak at 11:57 a.m. Eastern Time.

Edwards at home with his three children in 1955. From the left, Lynn, Donna and Bobby.

In 1988, at the age of 70, Edwards retired from broadcasting work after 46 years with CBS.[6]

Death

Edwards died of cancer at 73. Many of his early CBS radio newscasts, including his World War II anchoring of World News Today, memorable broadcasts on D-Day and his Andrea Doria coverage, remain favorites of old-time radio collectors. Edwards was posthumously elected to the Radio Hall of Fame in 2006. In a 4 1⁄2 hour interview for the Archive of American Television, Walter Cronkite described Edwards as "a true gentleman... one of the gentlest men I've ever known."

Accolades

References

  1. ↑ "Bright Young Man" (PDF). Radio-TV Mirror. 39 (6): 24. May 1953. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
  2. ↑ Hilton, Chuck (December 26, 1944). "On The Beam". The Mason City Globe-Gazette. p. 2. Retrieved May 5, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ Bob Greene (2009-07-26). "Commentary: The man who wasn't Cronkite". CNN.
  4. ↑ Douglas Edwards Chronology
  5. ↑ Douglas Edwards Chronology
  6. ↑ "Douglas Edwards is retiring". The Galveston Daily News. Galveston, TX. AP. February 19, 1988. Retrieved October 22, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "Paul White Award". Radio Television Digital News Association. Retrieved 2014-05-27.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Douglas Edwards.
Media offices
Preceded by
Originator		 CBS Evening News anchor
May 3, 1948 - April 16, 1962 		Succeeded by
Walter Cronkite
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.