Happy birthday, 'Morning Edition'

A favorite program, NPR's "Morning Edition," turns 34 today.

No, I wasn't listening when Bob Edwards began the program on Nov. 5, 1979.

But I listened later. Still do. Awoke this morning at 5 a.m. with a stomach ache and listened to the program awhile before drifting off to dream for a couple more hours.

I still love the show -- I am an NPR junkie -- but I miss Edwards.

It was his voice I heard on Sept. 11, 2001, as I drove to work on the Tuesday morning none of us will ever forget.

And I remember the tail end of his four-minute Friday morning chats with the legendary Red Barber. Funny thing is the ol' Redhead wanted to talk about everything but baseball, mostly the camellias in Tallahassee.

Listen to a selection of those memorable broadcasts here. Edwards later wrote a charming book about his banter with Barber. He can still be heard on his own show on Sirius/XM.

I listen to NPR's afternoon show "All Things Considered" almost each weekday. The local segments are hosted on WUOT-FM by my friend Brandon Hollingsworth.

And I'll usually dial up other favorite programs produced by either NPR or PRI, including "Fresh Air" at noon daily, "Wait..Wait...Don't Tell Me!" on Saturdays and, of course, the old favorite "A Prairie Home Companion."

Friday nights haven't been the same since Marion McPartland's death. Her "Piano Jazz" kept me company on drives home from Farragut.

I guess it says something about me that my two favorite media are newspapers and radio. Old habits die hard, especially for an old soul.

Happy birthday, "Morning Edition."