EDITORIAL
What's morning radio without Bob Edwards?

The timing couldn't be worse. At nearly the same time Hawai'i Public Radio announces the onset of yet another dreaded if necessary semiannual fund-raiser, the parent organization, National Public Radio, announces it is firing one of broadcasting's most inspired institutions.

We've been listening to the mellifluous Bob Edwards at the helm of "Morning Edition" since it began in 1979. That means he's been rising at 1 a.m. for the past 24 1/2 years to bring us what other broadcast companies long ago abandoned: serious overseas reporting, in-depth cultural explorations and quality news coverage.

Because NPR has been vague about why it wants Edwards to move on, we worry that it may have decided not to be satisfied with the program's respectable 13 million listeners, but instead to "pep things up" as other broadcasters have done.

If so, it certainly won't make things easier for HPR's fund-raising efforts.