by Chad Campbell, senior producer
Bob’s weekly chat with “The Dean of the Washington Press Corps” is by far the most polarizing segment on our satellite radio program. Some of you love it and never miss it…and some of you can’t stand it and have to walk away from your radio. Whether you agree or disagree with what he says, David Broder forces you to form an opinion. He was the very first guest, on the first ever Bob Edwards Show which premiered on XM Satellite Radio on October 4, 2004. And unless David was on vacation or Bob was on a reporting trip, the two talked live every week about politics inside and outside the beltway. David Broder has covered every presidential race since the Kennedy-Nixon election in 1960. He’s been writing about national politics since 1955 – the Eisenhower administration. And he’s been with the Washington Post since 1966. For this interview, we took a few steps back to take in the scope of his entire career, but I think the weekly chat with Broder was Bob’s idea and David used to come in to our studio every Monday morning on his way to work at the Post for his 10 or 15 minute interview. It was live, at the top of the show and through these past six years it has become the only thing we still routinely do live in our daily show. At some point, we switched the segment to Friday mornings, then we had an ISDN line installed in David’s home so now he doesn’t have to leave his house to talk with Bob and share his five decades of political perspective. We hope that as long as there’s a Bob Edwards Show that David Broder will always be a part of it. Long live the Dean.