Webley Edwards (November 11, 1902 – October 5, 1977) was a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

news correspondent, National

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transm ...

host and politician.

Early life and education

Edwards was the starting quarterback at

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degree ...

where he became the first student manager of campus radio while also joining the

Phi Delta Theta Phi Delta Theta (), commonly known as Phi Delt, is an international secret and social fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, along with Beta Theta Pi and Sigma Chi form the Miami Tria ...

fraternity. Edwards left Oregon State prior to graduating.

Career

Initial radio career

In 1928 Edwards relocated to

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the islan ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

where he became an

auto salesman The automobile salesperson is one of many sales professions. The automobile salesman is a retail salesperson, who sells new or used cars. Unlike traditional retail sales, car sales are sometimes negotiable. Salesmen are employed by new car de ...

and played for the Scotty Schuman's Town semi-professional football team. It was during this time he developed a keen interest in Native Hawaiian musical traditions. In 1935 he became a producer for a radio show which showcased authentic island music. The show, named ''

Hawaii Calls ''Hawaii Calls'' was a radio program broadcast live from Waikiki Beach from 1935 through 1975 that reached 750 stations world-wide at the height of its popularity. It featured live Hawaiian music by an 11-piece dance orchestra conducted by Harry ...

'' debuted on July 3 of that year. The show struggled financially for the first several years.

The war years

Edwards was the station manager at

KGMB KGMB (channel 5) is a television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Gray Television alongside NBC affiliate KHNL (channel 13) and Kailua-Kona–licensed Telemundo ...

in late 1941. Edwards was the first radio announcer to broadcast the attack on

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the ...

by the Japanese. It was he who said on air: "Attention. This is no exercise. The Japanese are attacking Pearl Harbor!....All Army, Navy and Marine personnel to report to duty". After the attack, Edwards worked as Pacific Bureau manager for CBS Radio. Among his most notable experiences was landing the first interview with

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

Paul Tibbets Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. (23 February 1915 – 1 November 2007) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force. He is best known as the aircraft captain who flew the B-29 Superfortress known as the ''Enola Gay'' (named after his moth ...

, the pilot of the

Enola Gay The ''Enola Gay'' () is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. On 6 August 1945, piloted by Tibbets and Robert A. Lewis during the final stages of World War II, it be ...

which dropped the atomic bomb over Hiroshima. Edwards, of CBS, was one of only two broadcast journalists aboard the USS ''Missouri'' during the surrender ceremony at

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous ...

on September 2, 1945. He was the "chief announcer" for the ceremony,

Merrill Mueller Merrill Mueller (January 27, 1916 – November 30, 1980) was an American journalist whose reporting included breaking the story of Hitler's invasion of Poland. He worked for numerous news agencies including the Independent News Service and NBC. W ...

of NBC was the "narrator." Edwards has the distinction of being the only broadcaster to witness the very beginning and end of the United States' involvement in World War II.

Radio career after the war

Edwards returned to radio broadcasting Hawaiian music. ''

'' ran for 37 years. He wrote lyrics (with Leon Pober) to the popular song, "Pearly Shells" recorded by Burl Ives, Don Ho, Billy Vaughn and Hank Snow, to name a few. Edwards' popularity was evident in that he served in the Hawaiian Territorial & State Legislature from 1952-1966 and as a Hawaiian State Senator from 1966–1968. He died of a heart attack in 1977.

References

External links

Space Age Pop Music ProfileYahoo Music Bio Tribute to Webley Elgin Edwards in Broadcasting Magazine, 18 May, 1942 - re: his broadcasts of 7 December, 1941
1902 births 1977 deaths American radio personalities American radio reporters and correspondents American male journalists Oregon State University alumni {{US-radio-bio-stub