Morning Edition

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Morning Edition


Genre news, analysis, commentary, interviews, special features
Running time ca. 105 min
Country Flag of United States United States
Home station National Public Radio
Host(s) Steve Inskeep
Renée Montagne
Creator(s) Bob Edwards
Air dates November 5, 1979 – present
Website Morning Edition

Morning Edition is an American radio news program produced and distributed by National Public Radio (NPR). It airs weekday mornings, Monday through Friday, and runs for two hours, although many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5 AM to 7 AM Eastern Time with refeeds and updates as needed until noon Eastern Time. The show premiered on November 5, 1979; its weekend counterpart is Weekend Edition.

A typical show includes news, both newscasts and in-depth reports; features on science, arts, business, sports, and politics; interviews with and profiles of people in the news; commentaries; and human interest features. Some regional public radio networks (such as Minnesota Public Radio) and local stations also produce locally-focused content under their Morning Edition banner.

Bob Edwards, previously the co-host of All Things Considered, hosted Morning Edition since the first episode, a job he initially took on a temporary basis when a shake-up in production and on-air staff occurred ten days before the show's premiere. His last day as host was April 30, 2004. Since May 3, 2004, the show has been co-hosted by Steve Inskeep and Renée Montagne. Inskeep reports from NPR headquarters in Washington, DC and Montagne reports from NPR West in Culver City, California, a suburb of Los Angeles.

Arbitron ratings show that over thirteen million people listen to Morning Edition each day. It's the second most-listened-to national radio show, after The Rush Limbaugh Show.[citation needed]

In 1999, Morning Edition with Bob Edwards received the George Foster Peabody Award.

On January 3, 2007 NPR announced that it is developing another morning news program that is aimed at the coveted demographic of people between the ages of 25 and 44. NPR expects some of its affiliates to either replace Morning Edition or run this new program on one of their frequencies -- if they have more than one -- or provide it via their websites. Beginning in March 2007 the public can help shape the program through the Rough Cuts blog, podcast, and vlog on NPR's website. The new program is expected to launch in September 2007[1].

Contents

[edit] Format

The program begins each hour with a sixty-second open (called a "billboard") which highlights stories to be covered in the hour. At least one birthday or anniversary of a major event is announced as well.

The standard NPR newscast follows for five minutes. Many stations cut into the newscast at :04 or :06 past the hour to deliver local news, weather and traffic reports. For those that do not, a Morning Edition-specific 3.5-minute newscast begins at :06 after, covering stories not in the general newscasts. After that, the signature thirty-second "bleeble" begins the program.

The first segment, called the "A" segment (duration 9:00), highlights the most important stories of the day. Usually the "A" segments differ between hours, although when the topic is extraordinary, the "A" segment will cover the same topic, but in a different format between the first and second hour. Between each segment, one to three minute breaks occur which are filled with promotions for other programs, sponsorship credits, and station-provided content such as local traffic and weather reports. Segment A ends at nineteen minutes past the hour, and a two-minute station break follows.

Coming back from the break at twenty-one minutes past the hour, the second segment, or "B" segment (duration 8:50), generally contains features, commentaries, or long form interviews. Interviews can sometimes take up the entire segment. Segment B ends at 28:50 past the hour, going into a funding credit and thirty-second local break.

At the bottom of the hour, a humorous news item is delivered. These segments are called "returns", because many stations that air local news or announcements return to the national feed at half past the hour. The return lasts thirty seconds, and ends with the tagline "It's Morning Edition, from NPR News," or some variation thereon.

Another five-minute newscast follows at 30:30, with many stations covering the last two minutes with local news and features. The "C" segment follows at 35:30 (duration 4:00) and is sometimes covered by stations with local reports as well. This segment features news or cultural reports of three to four minutes long. Segment C ends with a thirty-second music bed, and is followed immediately by Segment D.

The "D" segment (duration 8:59) is typically composed of two to three stories focusing on health news, international events, or short updates on national stories. At forty-nine past the hour the segment ends, and another two-minute station break begins. This station break generally carries a promo for Talk of the Nation (first hour), or instructions on how to obtain tapes and transcripts of NPR programming (second hour), followed by music. Many stations eliminate the promotional announcements and use the time for local weather and traffic updates.

Segment E begins at fifty-one after the hour and runs for eight minutes, twenty seconds. The "E" segment differs between hours. In the first hour, the Segment E focuses on business stories, while in the second hour, the Segment E is a cultural feature or softer news story, usually taking the entire segment length. The majority of NPR stations cover the "E" segment in the first hour with a broadcast of the Marketplace Morning Report, and some stations replace the second hour "E" segment as well. Segment E ends at 58:20 after the hour, and leads into a music bed that takes the listener into the next hour, or the end of the program, depending on the hour.

Stations receive over their computers the daily rundown of stories before each program which allows them to plan their coverage and decide what stories they wish to replace with local content. The rundown is updated as necessary until the feed ends at noon Eastern time.

[edit] Differences in Pickup Times

Most stations in the Central and Eastern Time zones run Morning Edition live from 5 to 7 AM ET, repeating one or both hours through morning drive time. Some stations run only the two hours, others run up to seven hours. The repeats are automatically fed through the NPR satellite, and are updated as necessary by NPR anchors in the studio when breaking news events occur. In the past, Bob Edwards would stay in the studio waiting until he was released at noon, in case there was anything that required an update. Today, with two hosts, one host generally stays in the studio while the other does field reporting or works on stories for future shows, and the transition is seamless, unless both hosts have to be away from the studio for some reason. In that instance, substitute NPR anchors John Ydstie and Linda Wertheimer host the re-feeds.

On the West Coast, Morning Edition can run for up to seven hours (the first "live" feed and the subsequent re-feeds). For example, KPCC in Pasadena carries Morning Edition for seven hours, from 2:00 AM to 9:00 AM PT; and KSKA in Anchorage carries the show from 1:00 AM to 8:00 AM AT. It should be noted that KPCC handles the re-feeds uniquely: instead of taking the re-feed from the satellite, they "roll their own" by taking the tape from the feed two hours prior, so that they can run the A and B segments of Morning Edition about three minutes earlier than cross-town rival KCRW, which takes the re-feed direct from the satellite. This breaks down when a breaking news story occurs, and for that KPCC runs the same feed as KCRW.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Hosts

[edit] Newscasters

[edit] News Analysts

[edit] Correspondents

  • Jason Beaubien - Foreign Correspondent, Cape Town
  • Howard Berkes - Correspondent, Rural Affairs, National Desk, Salt Lake City
  • Barbara Bradley-Hagerty - Correspondent, Religion, National Desk
  • Anthony Brooks - Correspondent, National Desk, Boston
  • John Burnett - Correspondent, National Desk, Austin
  • Adam Davidson - Correspondent, International Business and Economics
  • Gregory Feifer - Moscow Correspondent
  • Pam Fessler - Correspondent, Homeland Security, Washington Desk
  • David Folkenflik - Correspondent, Media, Arts Information Unit
  • Lourdes Garcia-Navarro - Foreign Correspondent, Mexico City
  • Anne Garrels - Foreign Correspondent
  • Rob Gifford - Foreign Correspondent, London
  • Tom Gjelten - Correspondent
  • Tom Goldman - Correspondent, Sports, Portland
  • Don Gonyea - Correspondent, White House, Washington Desk
  • Richard Gonzales - Correspondent, San Francisco, National Desk
  • Wade Goodwyn - Correspondent, National Desk, Dallas
  • David Greene - Correspondent, White House, Washington Desk
  • Vertamae Grosvenor - Correspondent, Culture, Arts Information Unit
  • Jon Hamilton - Correspondent, Science Desk
  • Scott Horsley - Business Correspondent, San Diego

[edit] Commentators

[edit] Executive/Supervising Producer

  • Ellen McDonnell - Executive Producer, "Morning Edition"
  • Bruce Auster - Senior Supervisory Editor, "Morning Edition"
  • Madhulika Sikka - Senior Supervisory Produer, "Morning Edition"

[edit] Founding, Format and Themes

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ NPR Plans Morning Addition (Broadcasting & Cable) (January 3, 2007)
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