Bob Edwards Weekend - A short review
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The show is almost exactly like the show we hear every weekday morning on XM Satellite Radio; I was a little surprised they decided to use the same theme (too bad most people out there won’t recognize that seven-note XM “signature”). Standard opening, “today on the show,” but then it was almost…disquieting to hear Bob, after the intro music faded, say, “First, the news…” I almost expected to hear Carl Kasell, so great was the deja vu. I had to take a breath…Bob’s hosting a program on public radio stations for the first time since April 30, 2004…son of a gun! (I’m only sorry he’s not currently on any stations in Washington, D.C. - I’d really like to think about a few pinstripes having to change the station to avoid their embarassment. Call or write your local stations if you live in the area, and lobby for the show.)
Anyway, after a very short introduction (and I admit, I was expecting him when talking about hosting NPR shows for thirty years to use the line he used on the first XM show; “they said I should never do that again…“), we’re into the interviews. The first hour was an interesting mix of programs; a little current events, a little book promotion, even a Tom Bodett essay. If you didn’t know this was put together from different programs, it could easily have been a “stock” Bob Edwards Show. (If you’re as anal about such things as I am, and want to know from which shows the program was crafted, check out the “Previous Guests” section of the Bob Edwards Show Discussion Forum.)
The first hour of the show ended, as I expected it would, with a simple, “Thanks for listening,” then XM and PRI credit. It’s modular enough that a station can run only one of the two hours cleanly. For those “going the distance,” there’s a “Next hour on Bob Edwards Weekend” snippet anfter the music is out, and we’re into local top-of-the-hour stuff.
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