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MichaelMeckler.com: Blog: 'See you on the radio'

'See you on the radio'

29 AUGUST 2016

Charles Osgood yesterday announced he was leaving his duties as host of "CBS News Sunday Morning" next month after 22 years. His standard signoff on television has been "See you on the radio," because radio has always been his favorite medium and the medium in which he has had the greatest impact.

I met Charles Osgood before he started his "Sunday Morning" TV gig back when I also worked for CBS at WWJ radio in Detroit in the early 1990s. CBS would send him to the various owned-and-operated stations to do remote broadcasts of his "Osgood File" radio program, often tied in with public appearances. On two occasions he came to Detroit during my time at WWJ.

Charles Osgood was just as friendly in person as he appears on TV or on radio, and while his visits were working events — and we were working, too, for that matter — I got the sense that he was happy to meet us and work with us during his visits. He was in a separate studio to prepare his broadcasts, but he would join our morning anchors live in the main studio to chat briefly about his life and career for our southeast Michigan listeners. He also came into the newsroom after he had finished with his broadcasts to chat with the rest of the staff.

I've always thought he had a dream job which allowed him to use his wit and creativity to bring particular attention to an aspect of what was making news at that time. And while he may be giving up "Sunday Morning," he plans to continue with "The Osgood File." (It would be nice if our local CBS radio affiliate carried it.)

I haven't seen Charles Osgood in person in more than two decades, but I remember fondly his visits to Detroit when I worked at WWJ, and I hope we have the chance to "see him on the radio" for many years to come.

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