Failing to get a job as a high school teacher, he worked at KFRC and then hitchhiked across the country to New York City,[1] where, he said, "I ate ten-cent meals and slept on park benches".

It was Edwards who introduced Major Bowes every week on the Original Amateur Hour and Fred Allen on Town Hall Tonight.

He appeared in a few films, including Radio Stars On Parade with the comedy team of Wally Brown and Alan Carney, and I'll Cry Tomorrow with Susan Hayward.

[citation needed] After years of experimental broadcasts, the Federal Communications Commission approved commercial television broadcasts starting on July 1, 1941, and NBC's New York station WNBT (now WNBC) was the first to make the changeover, with Edwards hosting a one-time episode of Truth or Consequences over WNBT to commemorate the first day of commercial telecasting.

After the U.S. entered World War II in late 1941, causing early television broadcasts to be cut back dramatically, its radio run started on CBS (home network to both Edwards and Allen), then moved to NBC.

[citation needed] Edwards and the Truth or Consequences radio show were featured in a Superman story in Action Comics #127 (December 1948).

Throughout the half-hour Edwards would guide the narrative of the show, ushering visitors on and off stage, and eventually prompting the honoree to recall a personal turning point.

Edwards was showman enough to draw upon his Truth or Consequences experience, emphasizing the sentimental elements that appealed to viewers and listeners at home.

Celebrity subjects included Marilyn Monroe, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Bob Hope, Andy Griffith, Buster Keaton, Barbara Eden, Bette Davis, Shirley Jones, Jayne Mansfield, Johnny Cash, and Carol Channing.