A quiet, stately eloquence to this poet laureate of CBS News, this discourser on life and civilization, born Charles Osgood Wood III, known to us as Charles Osgood.

Anchor and guiding force of CBS News Sunday Morning for the last eight years, the broadcast is revered for its gentle, probing intelligence, its philosophy, its soul. On a recent Sunday morn in the wake of the atrocity that struck America, a portrait of the American Golden Eagle soaring the high peaks in its majesty, perched solitary on a pinnacle unvanquished, its eyes piercing the distance with strength and nobility -- an interlude of peace and solace and inspiration in a time of madness.

Charles Osgood discoursing on the haunting music of the bagpipers at the funerals of lost firefighters.

Sunday Morning with its ancient logo of the Sun as its defining symbol, the arresting images of the blazing sun taking us out of ourselves, transfixing us, reminding us of the spirit of life and renewal and hope.

His first love was the radio, to which he remains loyally attached, The Osgood File, a trenchant, bemused, often unique commentary on civilization and its discontents, sometimes written in verse, heard four times daily on the WCBS Radio Network [syndicated in newspapers], with one of the largest audiences drawn by any network radio feature.

Born in New York in 1933, growing up in Baltimore and later Philadelphia, the young boy was enraptured by the radio.

His afternoons were spent in the spell of Jack Armstrong, the All American Boy [his favorite], Little Orphan Annie, Dick Tracy and engrossed in evening dramas like Gangbusters, Suspense and the Inner Sanctum.

He played the piano early on.

His journalistic career began as a kid delivering newspapers.

"When I was growing up during World War II, the news was something you had to listen to. And I was a child listening to news. I would read the front page to find out what's going on.

"There were great newscasters too: Ed Murrow, Lowell Thomas, Gabriel Heatter -- all sorts of heroes of mine. There were also correspondents whose names you came to know -- William L. Shirer. This was before television. These people were going to be television stars."

These were extraordinary Radio Days for young Charles -- participating avidly in high school radio clubs, performing in amateur shows and small dramas run by the Catholic Youth Organization, ending up playing the organ and providing the musical score for the little radio productions, and finally being appointed the show's announcer!

Later at Fordham [1954, BS, Economics], he joined the university's full-time Radio Station WFUV FM.

"I did everything. I had my own show. I played piano and talked. I was the chief announcer at the radio station. I practically lived there at the radio station!"

Associates on the staff included actor Alan Alda, film producer Jack Haley Jr., and veteran sports announcer Vince Scully.

The Army years, just after Korea, (1955-58), were spent as a member of the United States Army Band. Charles Osgood was its official Announcer.

The poet came to life at ABC News in 1963. The program was entitled The Flair Report, a comedy show, and they were looking for an unknown with no experience and an original perspective. Osgood was hired on the spot. His mission: to write poetry for the show and deliver it on the air. The profound sense of whimsy was born.

In 1967, Osgood joined WCBS Radio, and in 1971, he moved to CBS News, which has been his home for 34 years.

He has anchored and reported for CBS Morning News, CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and CBS Sunday Night News. He is a winner of three Emmy's, three Peabody's, and has been inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

His inspirations? The great heroes of CBS: Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Douglas Edwards, Charles Kurault, Lowell Thomas. "Good mentors around here." And other top broadcasters: "Bill Moyers, Dan Rather, Charles Collingwood, Dallas Townsend."

The literary loves?

"I always enjoyed reading writers of humor -- James Thurber, S.J. Perleman, Robert Benchley, Dorothy Parker, the New Yorker writers. And Ogden Nash, the quintessential funny writer of poetry."

His most poignant memories as a newsman:

"Alot of them. The events of September 11, 2001. I have to include that. So awful, the number of people killed, stupefying.

"But my thoughts go to the time I went to view the Space Shuttle launching and the Challenger Shuttle Disaster occurred. I was at the school where Christa McAuliffe taught, spent time with her students, her family, It was very sad. It had been such a great thing, They were so proud of her. To have it end the way it did.

"One of things you learn: life is unpredictable."

And so it turns out that Charles Osgood Wood I, the grandfather after whom Charles was named, was a conductor -- not of a symphony orchestra -- but of the New York-New Haven & Hartford Railroad!

It was his mother, Mary F. Wilson Wood who encouraged his love of music and nurtured his love of radio.

Charles Osgood has sustained his great love for music throughout his life, the highlight being his performances on piano, five string banjo and voice with the Boston Pops Orchestra and later, the New York Pops, at its Seventh Anniversary Concert in Carnegie Hall.

It is to be noted that in 1968, Charles Osgood, then with WCBS Radio, won the Silurian Award for Excellence in Journalism for a feature piece written by his wife, Jean Crafton, and delivered on air by Charles!

Charles Osgood is the father of five children: Kathleen, Winston, Anne Elizabeth, Emily Jean and James Edward, and was named Father of the Year in 1985!

His beat is originality and heart and music and life and poetry.

And in a time of peril, his message is welcome news.