Edwardson dies; helped create Florida's WUFT-FM

Mickie Edwardson, who helped found University of Florida's pubradio WUFT-FM in 1981, died May 15 at age 80 following complications from an accident, according to the Gainesville Sun. Edwardson began as a producer-director at WUFT-TV soon after its launch in 1958. When the station announced a format change to news in August 2009, she told Current (July 6, 2009) she was concerned for the students. “I’m worried that the new shows won’t provide the educational component that the current programs provide,” said Edwardson, who at the time of her death was a retired journalism professor and still produced opera specials during WUFT pledge drives. “I taught for 38 years in that college, and I think we do a good job of training students. They’re adding talk programs that to a great extent duplicate what people can otherwise get” from cable TV news channels, she said. She was preceded in death by her husband, John Edwardson, a professor in the university's agronomy department. A memorial service is planned for 10 a.m. Sunday at on campus in Gainesville.