Long-time Morning Edition host Bob Edwards, who was unceremoniously (and inexplicably) dumped as host of that show in April, is leaving National Public Radio for a new morning show deal at Washington-based satellite broadcaster XM. The Bob Edwards Show, will be flagship of a new channel for XM (XM Channel 133, premiering 9/1).

Though public radio stations are not sampled for Arbitron ratings, the 57 year-old Edwards was arguably the most listened-to host on morning radio across the nation. The nearly 25 year-old Morning Edition has had a long-time following with Edwards as it's original host.

Edwards was "promoted" to "Senior Correspondent" for NPR at the end of April, but he holds no grudge against his "former home." On the other hand, he's excited at the new opportunity.

"They want to give me a program, so I can continue to host and be heard every day instead of occasionally, as I would have been at NPR," Edwards said Tuesday while driving around Maine as part of a three-month book tour/public radio fundraising effort that ends this weekend.

"It's also new. It's like being at NPR when I joined NPR in 1974. It was less than three years old -- as old as XM is now. I get to be a pioneer again. How often does someone get that opportunity twice?"

The new show will anchor a new channel of public radio-style programming, some coming from XM, and some coming from other producers, like Public Radio International, American Public Media (an arm of Minnesota Public Radio) and WBUR in Boston.

Edwards is presently on a book tour promoting his recently published, Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism, on the history of the medium.

An XM radio unit that can go from home to car runs around $99; monthly service from XM is less than $10 per month.

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