Brad Edwards (December 31, 1947, in

Indiana, Pennsylvania Indiana is a borough in and the county seat of Indiana County in the U.S. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The population was 13,564 at the 2020 census, and since 2013 has been part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. After being a long time par ...

– May 16, 2006, in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

), was a news reporter for

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

station

KFOR-TV KFOR-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Independent station (North America), independent station KAUT-TV (channel ...

in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His

investigative journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years res ...

, through which he mostly represented the city's elderly and

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...

, made him one of the area's most influential and well-known media personalities.

Career

Edwards started his broadcasting career in radio in 1961 at

WDAD WDAD (1450 AM) is a radio station in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. It is owned and operated by Renda Broadcasting. History WDAD was the first radio station in Indiana County, and was one of the first radio stations in the nation granted licens ...

in Indiana, Pennsylvania, at age 14 as a disc jockey and newscaster. Upon graduating from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, he was recruited by the U.S. Air Force and serve as a military news broadcaster in Thailand. in 1971, he became stationed at Wichita Falls and was hired as a part-time reporter, photographer, and anchor at

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

affiliate

KFDX-TV KFDX-TV (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Wichita Falls, Texas, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the western Texoma area. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside low-power MyNetworkTV affiliate KJBO-LD (channe ...

. In 1973 after leaving the service, Brad joined WKY-TV (now KFOR-TV) as a general assignment reporter and photographer, before becoming the station's 10:00PM anchor. Edwards also started the annual campaign "Warmth 4 Winter", a partnership between the station, the Salvation Army and Oklahoma City area dry cleaners to collect coats for those less-fortunate. Edwards began the investigative report segment ''In Your Corner'' in 1981, reporting on consumer advocacy issues, questionable business practices and government issues, and did the segment until a few months prior his death. In 2005, Edwards contracted an unknown illness with symptoms including a heart infection, bronchitis and inflammation of the lungs. Edwards slipped into a coma and he died six days later on May 16, 2006, as a result of a brain aneurysm. He was survived by his wife Mary Ann and a daughter, Ashton (who currently works as an Executive Producer at KFOR-TV's sister station

KSTU KSTU (channel 13) is a television station in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Provo-licensed Ion Television owned-and-operated station KUPX-TV (channel ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

). Edwards was inducted into the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2006. His ''In Your Corner'' segments continue to this day. Lance West, Ali Meyer, Cherokee Ballard and Scott Hines covered stories on a rotating basis for several months after Edwards' death, until Hines was named as the sole reporter of the segment in 2007. Oklahoma Attorney General

Drew Edmondson William Andrew Edmondson (born October 12, 1946), known as Drew Edmondson, is an American lawyer and politician from the state of Oklahoma. A member of the Democratic Party, Edmondson served as the 16th Attorney General of Oklahoma from 1995 t ...

created the Brad Edwards Consumer Champion Award to honor those who fight for consumer rights.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Brad 1947 births 2006 deaths American television journalists American male journalists Television anchors from Oklahoma City