Often referred to as CBS News’ poet-in-residence, Charles Osgood has been the anchor of CBS News Sunday Morning since 1994. He also anchors and writes “The Osgood File,” his daily news commentary broadcast on the CBS Radio Network.
Osgood’s commentaries draw one of the largest audiences of any network radio feature. He was called “one of the last great broadcast writers” by his Sunday Morning predecessor, Charles Kuralt.
Osgood was recognized with the 2008 National Association of Broadcasters Distinguished Service Award. He was the recipient of the 2005 Paul White Award, presented by the Radio-Television News Directors Association, for lifetime contribution to electronic journalism. In 2005, Osgood received the Walter Cronkite Excellence in Journalism Award from Arizona State University. He was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 2000 and joined the ranks of the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1990. Osgood has received some of the highest accolades in broadcast journalism, including a 1999 International Radio and Television Society Foundation Award for significant achievement.
Osgood received a 1997 George Foster Peabody Award for Sunday Morning and two additional Peabody awards in 1985 and 1986 for “Newsmark,” a weekly CBS Radio public affairs broadcast. He received his fourth Emmy Award in 2005, for his story on “Playing for Peace,” a basketball group created by Americans to bring strife-torn children of different religions and races together.
“The Osgood File” has earned its author five coveted Washington Journalism Review Best in the Business awards. Osgood received a 1999 Radio Mercury Award, a 1996 President’s Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers for outstanding coverage and support of music creators, and a 1993 Marconi Radio Award.
He has been an anchor and reporter for many CBS News broadcasts, including the CBS Morning News, the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and the CBS Sunday Night News. Before joining CBS News in September 1971, Osgood was an anchor /reporter for wees News Radio 88 in New York (1967 – 71). Prior to that, he worked for ABC News, was the general manager of WHCT-TV in Hartford, Conn., and the program director and manager of WGMS radio in Washington, D.C.
Osgood recently made his big screen debut as the narrator of Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who, the animated feature film adaptation of the beloved children’s book. He also wrote “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White House” (Hyperion, 2008), a compendium of anecdotes from the last 70 years of presidential campaigns. Osgood, who edited “Funny Letters from Famous People” (Broadway Books, 2003) and “Kilroy Was Here” (Hyperion, 2001), is the author of six books.
Osgood was born in New York. He graduated from Fordham University in 1954 with a BS degree in economics and holds honorary doctorates from 11 institutions of higher learning. He has served as a trustee for Fordham University and St. Bonaventure, is an overseer at Colby College and is a trustee at the School of Strings in Manhattan. Osgood has performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and played the piano and banjo with the New York Pops and Boston Pops Orchestras.
He lives in New York City with his wife, Jean. They have five children and three grandchildren.