NPR’s decision to reassign Bob Edwards followed sound corporate strategy–and that’s a good thing, writes Steven Pearlstein in the Washington Post. “If you don’t find a way to disrupt your own success, the theory goes, someone else will.” (Pearlstein discusses his column.)

Last week’s Frontline doc on President Bush’s born-again faith “appears to be a balanced look at the impact of faith on politics,” cautiously admits a writer for the conservative Focus on the Famiily website.

Louis Rukeyser, longtime host of Wall Street programs on public TV, has taken leave from TV for health reasons, the Baltimore Sun reported. Doctors said he needs treatment for a low-grade malignancy, CNBC said. Since October, guests have hosted Rukeyser’s CNBC program, carried on many public TV stations. Rukeyser promised to return, according to news reports.

Philadelphia’s WRTI-FM will use digital radio technology to offer two channels–full-time jazz and classical streams–on its one frequency. (PDF of a Philadelphia Inquirer article.)

More on Bob Edwards and his last day as host of Morning Edition, via Google News.

NPR has created a tribute page to Bob Edwards, who leaves Morning Edition today.

The Agriculture Department has named a second round of rural public TV stations awarded DTV conversion aid. Eighteen stations received $14 million, including WVPT in Harrisonburg, Va. and Wyoming PTV, which got $2 million each, and KIXE in Redding, Calif., which got $1.5 million. South Dakota ETV and WSKG in Binghamton, N.Y., each received $1.2 million.

In a Star Tribune op-ed, chairs of Minnesota Public Radio’s corporate boards explain and defend the network’s unorthodox use of funds from for-profit sister ventures (reg. req.).

In its early days, KQED was “boiling with ideas,” says an old timer in the San Francisco Chronicle‘s series marking the station’s 50th anniversary this week. [See also David Stewart’s retrospective from Current.] The first public TV station, KUHT, celebrated its 50th last year. Also turning 50 this year are stations in East Lansing, Mich.; Pittsburgh; Madison, Wis.; Cincinnati; St. Louis; Lincoln, Neb.; and Seattle.

It’s Bob Edwards’ final week on Morning Edition, and articles in Newsday and the Washington Post highlight the impending change. NPR Ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin addresses the persisting woes of Edwards’ fans: “In some cases, listeners ended their messages to me in tears, unable to go on.” (More in the Houston Chronicle.)

In case you can’t remember what cicadas sound like, the University of Michigan offers audio files along with close-up photos and detailed text. Public broadcasters will have to put up with it just like everybody else.

Not waiting until Morning Edition‘s 25th anniversary to reassign host Bob Edwards made NPR executives looked as if “we didn’t care about Bob,” says NPR Executive Vice President Ken Stern in the Philadelphia Inquirer (reg. req.).

A Japanese company will sponsor a British knight’s series on American innovators. WGBH says Olympus backed Sir Harold Evans’ They Made America, on PBS in November.

Tom Silva of This Old House explains why America is losing its home-repair mojo in Boston Globe Magazine.

"We don’t do anything in a small way,” says Laura Walker, and in her eight years as president of New York’s WNYC the station has learned to live large.