For Charlie: WUTC’s Ray Bassett Remembers Charles Osgood

Charles Osgood - on the set of CBS News Sunday Morning.(CBS News)I am here because of a storyteller.Year after year, millions of people across the country would tune in to hear him - and see him.Charles Osgood was the host of CBS News Sunday Morning for more than 22 years - but his first love in broadcasting was radio.I know it well.I worked for Charlie as his final producer in New York for The Osgood File, his drive-time feature that aired nationwide for decades on CBS Radio, syndicated in my time by Westwood One.The other day, we learned Charlie died - he was 91.Countless memories I have of him compete in my mind now, wrapped in the bowties he wore in the cadence of the rhymes he crafted - all je ne sais Charlie - including this poem he wrote about his TV signoff: “See you on the radio.”_____"See you on the radio" - I say that every week.A peculiar phrase, some people think, for anyone to speak.I've got a piece of mail or two up on my office shelf,complaining that this sentence seems to contradict itself. "Dear Mr. Osgood," someone wrote, "That sentence is absurd.Radio is for the ear, the song or spoken word.The medium for seeing is without a doubt TV.That's why we call it 'video' - which is Latin for 'I see.'So, please don't say that anymore - you really should know better."That's a gentle paraphrase of what was in this viewer's letter."Dear Sir," I then wrote back to him - and this was my reply,"I do believe that you are wrong, and let me tell you why.I've worked some years in radio - and television, too.And though it's paradoxical, it nonetheless is truethat radio is visual - much more so than TV.And there's plenty of good reason why that paradox should be.No television set that's made, no screen that you can findcan compare with that of radio, the theater of the mind,where the pictures are more subtle - yet more powerful, somehow.One-on-one is how it's done - and that is still true now.TV screens have gotten bigger, but they still cannot compare.We can whisper in the listeners' ear - and take you anywhere.I'm there inside the radio, the one beside the bed,and it's me you hear when it goes off - 'Come on now, sleepyhead!'You may think you are alone, but I can see you coast-to-coastas you sip your glass of orange juice and bite into your toast.I'm with you as you drive to work - right there inside your car -to keep you company and tell you how I think things are.You and I have known each other for a good long time,and you're willing to put up with me when I resort to rhyme.A true friend will stick with you, though your poems may not scan.I'll see you on a radio - I can, you see, I can."_____Thank you, Charlie - I’ll always see you on the radio.Thank you to Phil Chin - his longtime producer before me, who brought us together.Thank you to everyone behind the scenes - and everyone who tuned in.And thank you to so many here in Chattanooga and the Tennessee Valley who listen to this show - and WUTC.I'm Ray Bassett. Join us again next time for Scenic Roots.Charles Osgood - at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville in 2010.(Grand Ole Opry)