Most of the obituaries for Charles Osgood opened with him hosting CBS Sunday Morning, but I'm among the fans who first found him weekday mornings on CBS Radio's The Osgood Files.
Osgood, who died Tuesday at age 91, brightened my morning drive to work with his upbeat network features on old NewsTalk WCKY-AM — up to four times a day, five days a week — and sometimes in rhyme.
"Nothing Could Be Finer Than A Crisis That Is Minor In The Morning" was the title of his 1979 book, a collection of his broadcast essays and poems written on the fly each morning.
"The one thing there has been a very great proliferation of
Is crises, which it would appear we have become a nation of.
We've got crises blooming here at home, and crises international.
Crises that make little sense because they are irrational.
Crises that are major that sneak up and enrage you without warning.
Nothing could be finer than a crisis that is minor in the morning."
For the book's dedication Osgood wrote: "To Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) / Who gave me a new way to look at the neuss."
Osgood was one of those TV/radio broadcasters who preferred to be on the radio, like Vin Scully or Marty Brennaman. With their colorful descriptions, the pictures always were better on radio. He closed The Osgood Files, and his CBS Sunday Morning TV shows, by telling people that "I'll see you on the radio."
Charlie Osgood was a thorough journalist, gifted writer, master storyteller — a peerless communicator, really — plus a poet and musician. And versatile.
In his 45-year career at CBS, after joining the network from hosting mornings on WCBS-AM in New York City, he worked on every TV broadcast — the CBS Morning News, CBS Sunday Night News, CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and his final 22 years hosting CBS Sunday Morning (1995-2016).
This excellent CBS News obituary provides a complete picture of the man born Charles Osgood Wood III on Jan. 3, 1933, in New York City. Young Osgood was fascinated listening to radio reports by legendary Edward R. Murrow and Lowell Thomas. He took the radio name "Charles Osgood" because there was a Charles Woods on the air at the time.
On radio, he gave morning commuters more smiles per gallon than anyone else on network radio.
Like his musings after South African censors banned a Walt Disney commercial because of a mouse who says "Holy mackerel!"
"(It) would seem at first to be innocent enough. But the very fact that it contains the word 'holy' suggests religious origins … All phrases beginning with holy are similarly suspect. With all respect to (New York Yankees announcer) Phil Rizzuto, 'holy cow' would be offensive, it would seem, to those who believe that the cow is indeed holy …
"Also of questionable origin in ‘Holy Toledo.’ Toledo, Ohio, is not a particularly holy place, as far as I know. Perhaps the original reference was to Toledo in Spain. I’ve never been to Toledo in Spain, but I do suspect that, if anything, it is holier the Toledo, Ohio.
"The word ‘moley’ does not appear in my dictionary, although it, too, has been sanctified…
"Perhaps what the censor there in South Africa had in mind is that ‘holy mackerel’ is a substitute phrase for something else one shouldn't say. When we say ‘gee’ or ‘gosh’ or ‘golly,’ we are substituting an innocent phrase for an oath, but the oath is implied. ‘Gosh darn’ is a double substitute… ‘Fudge’ as an expletive doesn’t refer to candy. ‘Cheese and crackers’ isn’t an appetizer…
"I mean, shoot, what in tarnation is the world coming to when mice come out with rough stuff like that. Next thing you know your kids will come home with all sorts of things like 'Judas priest,’ ‘great Caesar’s ghost’ and ‘jumping Jehoshaphat’ …
"The potential for giving offense is practically unlimited. So be careful what you say that’s holy, and advise me, if somebody will, what in the heck is a moley? And who the Sam Hill is Sam Hill?"
When he retired from CBS Sunday Morning in 2016, I wrote a story from past interviews in which Osgood talked about his storytelling, respect for viewers, the choice of Sunday Morning topics and the show's success.
Charles Osgood on Charles Osgood
"Television people think that the way you increase audience, if you want to do it, is to keep digging down to the lowest common denominator," he said in 1999. "We are broadcasting for the head and for the heart. You know, for the mind and the soul."
Osgood even commented on his trademark bow tie in his unique manner: "The man who writes the 'Dress for Success' books has written that … if you're going to wear a bow tie, you may as well wear the rest of the ensemble, which is a beanie with a propeller."
I first met Osgood when he came to Cincinnati in spring 1987 for a speaking appearance. After the Cincinnati Enquirer printed my story, I sent him a clipping and a copy of his Nothing Could Be Finer book to autograph.
I must admit — full disclosure here — that my favorite thing in the book is Osgood's personal poem to me:
Nothing could be better / Than a John Kiesewetter / Any old time.
Thank you, John!
Charlie Osgood
CBS Sunday Morning will honor Charles Osgood with a special broadcast 9 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 28.
