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Life Before NPR's "Morning Edition"

R

Radio1360

Guest
Back in 1977 when I first heard NPR, "Morning Edition" didn't existed yet. Instead, it did had some sort of 15 minute morning radio newscast at 8 a.m. (eastern) opposite of the old NBC Radio News Service (prior to it being axed in 1978), CBS' World News Roundup, and ABC Radio's World News This Morning (Axed in 1986 I think. Oh, Mutual Radio had a 15 minute newscast also). It was five minutes of news (with an odd telephone-like news theme) followed by a 10 minute news feature. All that ended in December of 1979 when "Morning Edition" with (then) Bob Edwards debut. Do any of you recalled that?
 
Back in those days WUNC (one of two NPR stations in North Carolina) signed on at 7:00am and read UPI wirecopy for newscasts. The first thing one normally heard from NPR on the station was All Things Considered at 5:00pm. When Morning Edition began, they would sign on at 5:00am with music, and air ME at 7:00am. A few years later they dispensed with the early morning classics and just cycled through ME twice in the morning.

Now that seems to be the norm for public radio.

Later . . . .
 
Thank you for the history lesson. I have often wondered what NPR sounded like in its early days. What other programs were available back in the 70s?

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I am guessing individual stations had to rely a lot more on locally produced programming back then.
 
Definitely!

NPR didn't exist before 1971, and network interconnection nationwide didn't begin until 1973. Public radio in the 70's and before was very music-intensive, about 80% classical and 20% jazz.

What existed prior to 1971 was a tape exchange, National Educational Radio Network (NERN), also syndication services from some of the major symphony orchestras. Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, Philadelphia Orchestra, N.Y. Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony all had weekly broadcasts available by tape.

Of course, in-season most public radio stations carried the Saturday afternoon broadcasts of the Texaco-Metropolitan Opera Radio Network. They were provided free of charge, and stations looked the other way when the announcements were made that the program was "...sponsored by Texaco."

Otherwise, most public stations filled the day with recorded music or (in the case of college-connected stations) local live concerts.

Later . . . .
 
I worked at an NPR station in the later 1970s. There were many programs from the network made available via tape... "Folk Festival USA" being one I recall. Programs from other Transcription Services were also used.
 
Back before Morning Edition many if not most NPR affiliated stations had classical music in the mornings, as I remember things. Many of the NPR stations that are now primarily news and information started out being mostly classical and/or jazz in the various dayparts and gradually moved to more talk.
 
I remember WGBH-FM Boston syndicated "Morning Pro Musica"... maybe it was 7am to 10am? It included newscasts as well as some chatter from host Robert Lertzimer (sp?) designed to get your day started with the classics.

I believe it was widely heard on NPR stations in the Northeast, including for awhile WNYC-FM New York. I'm not sure why it never spread beyond the Northeast and I suppose it was gone before the debut of Morning Edition. Or maybe it remained a local show on WGBH-FM.


Gregg
[email protected]
 
Correct about Morning Pro Musica. WGBH syndicated several shows, including that one, and it was carried throughout the Northeast in the years before Morning Edition. Stations in Albany NY, Amherst MA, Concord NH, Hartford CT, and for a time WNYC NY carried portions of the show, hosted by Robert J. Lurtsema. RJ was not pleased when Morning Edition began. WGBH wanted to run the NPR hourly newscasts during his show, and he objected. He ended up reading the copy himself. I think the Eastern Educational Radio Network's phone lines were restricted to the Northeast in the years before satellite distribution. When the public radio satellite was launched, WGBH made the show available to the rest of the country. Don't know if anyone carried it beyond the Northeast. My recollection is that RJ had a rather "Boston-centric" view of the world, which didn't help the show's appeal in other markets. But he certainly was a legend in his home town. Morning Pro Musica was a staple of WGBH's local schedule until Lurtsema died about 9 years ago.
 
In Wichita KMUW had the "Alarm Clock Show". Light classics and jazz, interspersed with NPR Modular features, world headlines at the top of the hour, and a full ten minute newscast at 6:30, 7:30, and 8:30.
 
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