We'll be seeing a little less of WCCO-TV's charming Edward Moody III because he wants to smell the roses and perhaps enjoy the bees.
Viewers have noticed.
"Where is Edward Moody? I miss his bubbly personality," e-mailed reader "Jerry Fisher." A reader identified as "Will Laman" wrote: "We have not seen Ed Moody of WCCO-TV for some time. Any idea why?"
Moody joined WCCO in 2012 as a reporter and weekend anchor, but he recently "asked to go part time, so I could reconnect with my REAL life. I'd been hopping around the country for about a decade, and maybe two years ago I realized I'd basically missed 10 years of the lives of the people I love, chasing this dream. So now I'm using the extra time to be with my partner Up North and see my mom, aunt and grandmother more."
The Kansas City, Mo., native got "the journalism bug" at age 10, according to his station bio. He was hired as an anchor/reporter for "The What's Up Network," a nationally syndicated, now-defunct, Emmy-winning show for kids. Chasing the dream has included stops in Duluth and Indianapolis.
"I didn't want to totally step away from my career, but I needed to pull back," Moody told me when I tracked him down Monday. "Some people can balance a demanding career and personal life, but I wasn't doing it so well." As part of this change, Moody has given up his weekend anchor chair.
A few weeks ago when Twitter's @EdwardMoodyIII was reporting a story about honey, I sent a tweet asking if some bees had set up camp on his face. Wanted him to know that I had spied that almost imperceptible goatee. Moody told me it was an experiment. Others noticed, too.
"We had to chuckle this morning. For the first time, I noticed WCCO-TV's Edward Moody looks as if he has more than just a shadow under his chin. Is he going for a King Tut look? We really enjoy his reporting and his on-air style; maybe this is an attempt to look older than 12 years old on camera! He truly does a good job at Channel 4, so my comments should be taken as just a little ribbing. A Channel 4 Fan, an Edward Moody fan, & a C.J. fan," wrote "àla Kurt."