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'Morning Edition' Celebrates 35 Years With A Trip Down Memory Lane

Published November 5, 2014 at 3:31 AM EST
Bob Edwards was the host of <em>Morning Edition</em> from its 1979 inception until 2004.
Max Hirshfeld
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NPR
Bob Edwards was the host of Morning Edition from its 1979 inception until 2004.

On this day in 1979, Morning Edition broadcast its first show, bringing a new style of storytelling to the early-drive-time airwaves.

That first show, hosted by Bob Edwards and Barbara Hoctor, included an interview with a young actor named Martin Sheen about Apocalypse Now; a report on a failed prison escape by James Earl Ray, the man who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr.; and a story about Rhodesia, a country that no longer exists. (You can view the first show's rundown of segments here.)

Over the next 35 years, Morning Edition would elevate itself to become public radio's top news program.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Memo from Larry Lichty, former NPR director of audience research and evaluation, seeking name suggestions for a new morning news program.
/ NPR
/
NPR
Memo from Larry Lichty, former NPR director of audience research and evaluation, seeking name suggestions for a new morning news program.

Corrected: November 5, 2014 at 12:00 AM EST
A previous Web version of this story incorrectly identified Barbara Hoctor as Barbara Hunter.