Charles Osgood

For other people named Charles Osgood, seeCharles Osgood (disambiguation).

Charles Osgood
Osgood in 1979
Born	Charles Osgood Wood III (1933-01-08)January 8, 1933 New York City,New York,U.S.
Died	January 23, 2024(2024-01-23)(aged 91) Saddle River, New Jersey,U.S.
Alma mater	Fordham University
Years active	1952–2017
Spouses	Theresa Audette ​ (divorced)​ Jean Crafton ​ (m.1973)​
Children	5
Career
Show	The Osgood File
Network	CBS News Radio
Country	United States
Website	TheOsgoodFile

Charles Osgood Wood III(January 8, 1933 – January 23, 2024) was an American radio and television commentator, writer, and musician.Osgood was best known both for being the host ofCBS News Sunday Morning,a role he held for over 22 years from April 10, 1994, until September 25, 2016,andThe Osgood File,a series of daily radio commentaries he hosted from 1971 until December 29, 2017.

Osgood was also known for being the narrator ofHorton Hears a Who!,an animated film released in 2008, based on thebook of the same namebyDr. Seuss.He published a memoir of his boyhood in 2004.

Early life and education

Osgood was born inManhattan,New York City, on January 8, 1933.As a child, he moved with his family to the Liberty Heights neighborhood ofBaltimore,Maryland. He attendedSt. Cecilia High SchoolinEnglewood, New Jersey.

His memoir about growing up in Baltimore duringWorld War IIis calledDefending Baltimore Against Enemy Attack(2004) and in it he recounts his perspective from age nine.

Osgood graduated fromFordham Universityin 1954 with aBachelor of Sciencedegree in economics.

Early career

WFUV Radio

While attending Fordham, Osgood volunteered at the university's FMcampus radio station,WFUV.He often played piano betweenrecordson his shows and frequently collaborated with other students, including future actorAlan Aldaand future producer and directorJack Haley, Jr.

United States Army Band

Immediately after graduating from Fordham University, Osgood was hired as an announcer byWGMS (AM) and WGMS-FM,the classical music stations inWashington,D.C.(todayWWRCandWTOP-FMrespectively). Shortly afterward, however, he enlisted in the military to be the announcer for theUnited States Army Band.In 1991, he explained this turn of events in an interview with theLos Angeles Times.

[After college graduation] I went right to work for a classical musical [sic] station in Washington called WGMS. I was an announcer. I learned a lot doing that.

I was about to be drafted in theArmy,this was 1954, and I ran into a guy while I was having dinner with a friend of mine and he was dressed in a white uniform, the most fancy uniform this side of theRitz Hotel.It turned out he was the announcer for the United States Army Band. I asked him when he was getting out and he said within the next few weeks, so the next morning I was parked out at the commanding officer's office. He was impressed with the fact I could pronounceRimsky-Korsakov.That's how I got the job. I spent three years with the United States Army Band. It was a great experience.

Besides acting as the band'smaster of ceremonies,he performed as a pianist with the band and sang with the United States Army Band|United States Army Chorus.

His roommate,John Cacavas,composed arrangements for the band. They would collaborate on many songs, a relationship that would continue through the 1960s. In 1967, along withU.S. Senator Everett Dirksen(R-Illinois), they shared aGrammy Awardfor best spoken word performance for their singleGallant Men.As Dirksen read a patriotic poem written by H. Paul Jeffers about the dignity of duty in the armed forces, it was framed by Cacavas and Osgood's martial music and stirring choral refrains.In 1967 it peaked at number 16 on theBillboard 200record chart.

Other work

Stationed adjacent toArlington National CemeteryatFort Myerduring his service with the U.S. Army Band, using pseudonyms, Osgood worked as an announcer for radio stations in the Washington area to supplement his income and experience. He hosted the morning show on WEAM (WZHFtoday) as "Charlie Woods."At WGMS, he called himself "Carl Walden." At WPGC (AM) (WJFK (AM)today), arockstation, he referred to himself as "Chuck Forest."

In September 1955,President Dwight D. Eisenhowersuffered a serious heart attack during a vacation inDenver,Colorado, and was confined to a hospital room there until November. During this time, under the auspices of WGMS, Osgood hosted aclosed-circuitprogram of classical music delivered exclusively to the president's room to encourage his relaxation and convalescence.

WGMS Radio

When his tour with the U.S. Army Band was completed, in October 1957, Osgood returned to WGMS full-time as announcer Charles Wood and as a special assistant to the general manager.Before the end of 1958, WGMS promoted him to program director.

In 1960, credited by name and as a WGMS announcer, he provided introductions and commentary on a six-record album of a collection of thirty-three speeches byPresident Franklin Delano RoosevelttitledFDR Speaks.Edited by historianHenry Steele Commager,it included a welcome by the president's widow, former first ladyEleanor Roosevelt.Their sonFranklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr.recited one of his father's speeches.Billboardmagazine reported thatFDR Speaks"was one of the most listened-to-attractions" at the1960 Democratic National Conventionwhich nominated senatorsJohn F. KennedyandLyndon B. Johnsonas its candidates for President and Vice President of the United States.

WHCT Television

In April 1962, the parent company of WGMS,RKO General,transferred Osgood toHartford, Connecticut,and promoted him to his first job in television: the general manager ofChannel 18, WHCT (WUVN today).

WHCT was the first TV station in the United States to be licensed to usePhonevision,a system developed byZeniththat scrambled the station's picture and sound. This limited viewing to paid subscribers who were issued decoders attached to their television sets and telephone lines. The station offered its subscribers premium programming such as first-run movies, live sporting events, and cultural programs like ballets and symphonies, all with no commercials.Although RKO expected to operate WHCT at a loss for the three years before theFederal Communications Commissionwas due to renew the station's license, by early 1963, the financial realities became too difficult to bear unabated.In a 1985 interview withBroadcastingmagazine, Osgood explained:

[The station] lost money at an alarming rate... [RKO] let me off the hook very gently. They said, "you're fired."

ABC

Unemployed at age 30, Osgood turned to one of his Fordham classmates, Frank McGuire, who directed program development atABCin New York. In 1963, McGuire hired Osgood to be one of the writers and hosts ofFlair Reports,which related human interest stories on theABC Radio Network.

"I went from being the world's youngest station manager to being the world's oldest cub reporter", he quipped in a 1981 interview withPeoplemagazine.

Another new McGuire hire forFlair Reports,whom Osgood befriended at ABC, wasTed Koppel.

Becoming "Charles Osgood"

While he was at ABC, he began using the name "Charles Osgood" because the network already had an announcer named "Charles Woods". In a 2005 interview withInside Radio,Osgood related the story:

They didn't want to have a Charles Woods and a Charles Wood. When they told me to pick a name, I used my middle name as my last name. It's worked out well and is a little more distinctive and professional.

Later career at CBS

Radio

Osgood moved over toCBS Radioin 1967 when it became clear, in his words, that he "wasn't going anywhere" at ABC.He worked as a reporter and anchor forWCBS.In August 1967, he anchored the first morning drive shift for WCBS after its conversion to an all-news format. The first day of all-news programming aired onWCBS-FMafter an airplane crashed into the AM station's antenna tower on New York'sHigh Island,keeping WCBS off air until a temporary tower could be erected.

Osgood anchoredThe Osgood Fileon ofWestwood One,a daily commentary morning show. It began as a segment on WCBS in 1967 and went national in 1971.Each three-minuteOsgood Filefocused on a single story, ranging from a breaking development of national importance to a whimsical human-interest vignette. Some of those he did in rhyme, which is why he was known as CBS's "Poet in Residence." He continued these broadcasts until December 29, 2017.

Television

On television, Osgood joinedCBS Newsin 1971. He was a reporter, and served as anchor of theCBS Sunday Night Newsfrom 1981 to 1987, co-anchor of the weekdayCBS Morning Newsand frequent news reader onCBS This Morningfrom 1987 to 1992, as well as occasional anchor of theCBS Afternoon Newsand theCBS Evening News with Dan Rather.

Osgood hostedCBS News Sunday Morningfrom April 10, 1994, to September 25, 2016, succeeding the original hostCharles Kuralt.Osgood's tenure of twenty-two years as host exceeded Kuralt's fifteen years.

Among Osgood's personal trademarks were hisbow tie,his weekly TV signoff "Until then, I'll see you on the radio",and his propensity for delivering his commentaries in whimsical verse. Example: When the Census Bureau invented a designation for cohabitant(s) as "Person(s) of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters", or "POSSLQ",Osgood turned it into a pronounceable three-syllable word and composed a prospective love poem that included these lines, which he later used as the title of one of his books:

There's nothing that I wouldn't do
If you would be my POSSLQ.

End of broadcasting career

On December 21, 2017, it was announced Osgood would retire fromThe Osgood Filedue to health concerns, ending his broadcast career.His final broadcasts were on December 29, 2017.

Other works

In 1956, Osgood wrote a three-act play calledA Single Voice.

Osgood was the narrator in the 2008 animated filmHorton Hears a Who!.

Osgood wrote a biweeklysyndicatednewspaper column. He authored seven books:

• Nothing Could Be Finer Than a Crisis That Is Minor in the Morning(Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1979)
• There's Nothing That I Wouldn't Do If You Would Be My POSSLQ(Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1981)
• Osgood on Speaking: How to Think on Your Feet Without Falling on Your Face(William Morrow and Company, 1988)
• The Osgood Files(G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1991)
• See You on the Radio(G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1999)
• Defending Baltimore Against Enemy Attack(Hyperion, 2004).
• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White House(Hyperion, 2008).

He also edited two books:

• Kilroy Was Here(Hyperion, 2001).
• Funny Letters From Famous People(Broadway Books, 2003).

Personal life

Osgood's first marriage to Theresa Audette ended in divorce after 16 years.He and his second wife, Jeanne Crafton, had five children, who were raised in Englewood, New Jersey.When they becameempty nesters,Osgood and his wife moved to a 12-room duplex onWest 57th Streetat7th Avenuein New York City.

Osgood died from complications of dementia at his home inSaddle River, New Jersey,on January 23, 2024, at age 91.CBS News Sunday Morningdedicated its full January 28, 2024, broadcast to celebrating Osgood's life and work.

Honors

• 1990:National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame,radio division
• 2004:Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism.
• 2005:Paul WhiteAward,Radio Television Digital News Association

See also

• New Yorkers in journalism

External links

• "Charles Osgood: A life in broadcasting"onYouTube(September 25, 2016)
• The Osgood Fileat theWayback Machine(archived June 13, 2018)
• Charles OsgoodatIMDb
• AppearancesonC-SPAN
• Charles Osgooddiscography atDiscogs