Ed Bradley Biography

Ed Bradley was a broadcast journalist for CBS News and one of the co-hosts of TV’s weekly news magazine 60 Minutes. Bradley, one of the first nationally known African American TV reporters, got his start in radio at WDAS in Philadelphia in 1963. He moved to New York to be with WCBS radio in 1967 and joined CBS News in 1971. With CBS television Bradley covered the war in Vietnam (1972-74) and politics in Washington, D.C. (1974-78). He also served as a correspondent for CBS Reports (1978-81) and anchored the Sunday night news broadcast (1976-81). When Dan Rather replaced Walter Cronkite as the CBS News anchor, Bradley replaced Rather as one of the hosts of the popular show 60 Minutes (1981). In contrast to the fiery, combative style of his fellow 60 Minutes host Mike Wallace, Bradley was cool, calm and persistent. Over the years his news exposés and interviews with celebrities — from Michael Jackson to Neil Armstrong — earned him numerous journalism and television awards, including 19 Emmys. A fan of jazz music, Bradley in his last years also hosted the weekly radio series Jazz at Lincoln Center on National Pulbic Radio.