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Longtime CBS host on TV and radio, Charles Osgood dies at 91

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Now we want to take a moment to remember the broadcast journalist Charles Osgood. He died Tuesday at the age of 91.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "CBS SUNDAY MORNING")

CHARLES OSGOOD: Good morning. I'm Charles Osgood, and this is "Sunday Morning."

MAARTIN: On both radio and television, Osgood conveyed that he knew what he was talking about but in a kind and comforting way, like a friend who just happened to know a lot. And he made you feel like he was talking to a single person - you.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Even though he was talking to millions of people, including on the long-running TV show "CBS Sunday Morning." He often went on camera wearing a bow tie.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

OSGOOD: (Singing) I knew that dopey guy when he didn't know how to tie a bow tie.

MAARTIN: You hear him rhyming there, which is something he did a lot. He was kind of a poet on his radio program, "The Osgood File." He would pick a single news story, deliver an essay on it. It might be the major news of the day but more often was a tale of some kind that took you places you might not expect.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

OSGOOD: See you on the radio. I say that every week. A peculiar phrase, some people think, for anyone to speak. I've got a piece of mail or two up on my office shelf complaining that this sentence seems to contradict itself.

INSKEEP: He said those few words that didn't strictly make sense, but his fans knew to follow wherever he went. Osgood was born in the Great Depression in 1933 and continued broadcasting well into this century.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "CBS SUNDAY MORNING")

OSGOOD: It's been a great run, but after nearly 50 years at CBS, including the last 22 years here at "Sunday Morning," the time has come.

MAARTIN: "CBS Sunday Morning" will broadcast a tribute to Osgood this weekend, and we'll be watching.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHILLED PIG'S "GOLDEN HOUR (PIANO INSTRUMENTAL)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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