NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 Charles Osgood, a five-time Emmy Award-winning journalist who anchored 鈥淐BS Sunday Morning鈥 for more than two decades, hosted the long-running radio program 鈥淭he Osgood File鈥 and was referred to as CBS News鈥 poet-in-residence, has died. He was 91.
CBS reported that Osgood died Tuesday at his home in Saddle River, New Jersey, and that the cause was dementia, according to his family.
Osgood was an erudite, warm broadcaster with a flair for music who could write essays and light verse as well as report hard news. He worked radio and television with equal facility, and signed off by telling listeners: 鈥淚鈥檒l see you on the radio.鈥
鈥淭o say there鈥檚 no one like is an understatement,鈥 Rand Morrison, executive producer of 鈥淪unday Morning,鈥 said in a statement. 鈥淗e embodied the heart and soul of 鈥楽unday Morning.' ... At the piano, Charlie put our lives to music. Truly, he was one of a kind 鈥 in every sense.鈥
鈥淐BS News Sunday Morning鈥 will honor Osgood with a special broadcast on Sunday.
Osgood took over 鈥淪unday Morning鈥 after the beloved retired in 1994. Osgood seemingly had an impossible act to follow, but with his folksy erudition and his slightly bookish, bow-tied style, he immediately clicked with viewers who continued to embrace the program as an unhurried TV magazine.
Osgood, who graduated from Fordham University in 1954, started as a classic music DJ in Washington, D.C., served in the Army and returned to help start WHCT in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1963, he got an on-air position at ABC Radio in New York.
In 1967, he took a job as reporter on the CBS-owned New York news radio station NewsRadio 88. Then, one fateful weekend, he was summoned to fill in at the anchor desk for the TV network鈥檚 Saturday newscast. In 1971, he joined the CBS network and launched what would be known as 鈥淭he Osgood File.鈥
In 1990, he was inducted into the radio division of the 春色直播 Association of Broadcaster鈥檚 Hall of Fame. In 2008, he was awarded the 春色直播 Association of Broadcasters Distinguished Service Award. He won four Emmy Awards, and earned a fifth lifetime achievement honor in 2017.
Jane Pauley succeeded Osgood as host of 鈥淪unday Morning,鈥 becoming only the third host of the program.
When he retired in 2016 after 45 years of journalism, Osgood did so in a very Osgood fashion.
鈥淔or years now, people 鈥 even friends and family 鈥 have been asking me why I continue doing this, considering my age,鈥 the then-83-year-old Osgood said in brief concluding remarks. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just that it鈥檚 been such a joy doing it! It鈥檚 been a great run, but after nearly 50 years at CBS ... the time has come.鈥
And then he sang a few wistful bars from a favorite folk song: 鈥淪o long, it鈥檚 been good to know you. I鈥檝e got to be driftin鈥 along.鈥
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