Fox Good Day LA anchor Steve Edwards on his career

You’ve had so many co-anchors on GDLA over the years, Steve. They go; you stay. What keeps FOX renewing your contract?
Maybe they’re not paying attention. But seriously, in this business it’s a combo plate of luck, management, ratings, not bumping into the furniture too often and … did I say luck?

What do you love about your job?
The live, unpredictable nature of every broadcast. There’s a clear path every day that has roadblocks and twists and turns and surprises. There’s comedy and real tragedy. It’s a little corny—but it’s a front row seat to the passing parade that’s an education every day.

Anything you don’t particularly like?
We’ve become a world of short attention spans: 140 characters, viral videos, images that quickly disappear. A wide spectrum of choice is progress, but it hasn’t necessarily made the world better. We have so many ways to communicate, but it often seems like we’re saying less.

When it comes to women broadcasters, people always “diss” their hairdos. Have you ever had a bad one?
There was a time when I had my hair colored because my graying came in from the top of my head, so it looked liked I was wearing a yarmulke under the lights. But that coloring resulted in a shade of what we liked to call “premature magenta!”

Before GDLA, you were at Entertainment Tonight briefly and then KABC. Of all your co-anchors, who has been your favorite?
Are you crazy? I’m not going to answer that question. I want to continue living in peace in this town.

The news/infotainment biz has changed so much. People used to be glued to the TV in the morning to get the top stories—but now with the internet—behavior has changed. People get news as it happens.

When I started in TV in Houston, there weren’t so many options. If Clint Eastwood came to town to plug a movie, he did the show. If a presidential candidate came seeking votes, he did the show. It was pretty much the same when I did AM Los Angeles. There were basically two TV options: us and The Tonight Show. Now there are 50,000 places in new media emerging as we’re speaking.

This is how much things have changed: when Elvis Presley died, The CBS Evening News ran it, I think, as the second story. The piece was 90 seconds long. That was it! Imagine what that would be now: wall-to-wall for weeks.

You’ve lived up the street from me in Encino for what, 20 years? Why Encino?
When we moved here it just seemed like a nice, quiet place that was near where you could get everything you needed; and it was 20 minutes to everything. That obviously was a long time ago …

I always see you walking up the hill with the same pretty, blonde woman—your wife?
We’ve been walking that hill for a long time. In fact, we’ve been climbing hills since college and have gotten over most of them. Two kids, grown up (both in the music biz, so semi-grown up) and two-and-counting grandkids.

Do you have any favorite Valley haunts/hangouts?
I like running around the Balboa golf course, walking to the Nike site and the trails beyond. We also like to go to Cucina Bene in Sherman Oaks and Gio Cucina Napo- letana in Encino.

Have you achieved your dreams?
I was the kid who was always announcing into a spoon or a hairbrush. At first though, I was studying for a PhD in clinical psychology. But I came to my senses, got a job at a small radio station and found my home. I’ve been so fortunate, living out most of my fantasies: sports talk host, issues talk radio, TV talk shows and news. I know how lucky I’ve been, and I’m so grateful.