Edwards’ fans make themselves heard

Who would have thought public radio listeners would act like fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

When Buffy was dropped from the WB lineup, fans acted like the network had driven a stake through their hearts, even though Buffy was just moving to another network.

And when Morning Edition host Bob Edwards announced last month that he was being moved from his position as host of Morning Edition to that of senior correspondent for National Public Radio news, his fans launched an e-mail protest that has flooded the radio network with more than 30,000 e-mails so far.

Edwards, 56, made it clear that the move wasn’t his idea, which is probably what provoked some of the listener reaction. "I would have loved to have stayed with Morning Edition, but it’s not my candy store," Edwards told The Washington Post.

An online petition, http://www.petitiononline.com/nprbob/petition.html is gathering signatures. The Web site says it has collected 21,000 so far, and the petition will be delivered April 23.

Despite the protest, NPR spokeswoman Laura Gross says Edwards’ last day as host of Morning Edition, a post he’s held for a quarter century, will be April 30.

"Change is hard for everybody," Gross said.

"Yes, we did expect a reaction from our listeners, but we did not expect it would be this. . . . It’s definitely tapered off, though."

Renee Montagne and Steve Inskeep will, at least temporarily, be the new hosts of Morning Edition, which has more than 13 million listeners.