David Greene has come a long way since the "Bob, Dave & Lon Show."

Greene was the "Dave" in that trio of McCaskey High School buddies who read morning announcements to students over the school's public address system in the early 1990s.

Nearly 20 years later, Greene is still behind a microphone, but he now has a somewhat bigger audience — more than 13 million listeners.

That's how many folks tune in each week to hear Greene and his colleagues on "Morning Edition," the most widely heard news program in America.

Earlier this month, Greene was named a regular host and correspondent on the National Public Radio show, joining cohosts Steve Inskeep and Renee Montagne.

"It's kind of like a dream appointment," said Greene, who has worked several newspaper and radio jobs since graduating from McCaskey in 1994.

"There's something special about sitting in the host chair and guiding the listeners through the day's news. There's a special kind of rapport that you develop."

Greene, 35, is the primary substitute host for the daily news program as well as "Weekend Edition" on Saturdays and Sundays.

The appointment is the latest stop in a career that began with an internship at the Sunday News in Lancaster in 1995 and '96.

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After graduating from Harvard University in 1998 with a history degree, Greene began an internship with the Baltimore Sun as a research librarian in Washington, D.C.

He and his roommates lived "within inches of each other" in a tiny apartment, "working long hours and going out for cheap meals and dollar beers," he recalled.

Being 21 and surrounded by veteran Washington reporters was pretty heady stuff, Greene recalled, and he was hooked.

His next assignment was quite a change of pace — covering the Carroll County, Md., school district for the Sun in direct competition with another newspaper.

"You knew that every word you wrote every parent in Carroll County was reading," he said. "It was journalism at its best. It forced you to get good at the basics."

Greene then served as a general assignment reporter in Baltimore before the Sun moved him to the Washington beat. After four years, he was ready for a change of pace.

Greene had befriended NPR White House correspondent Don Gonyea, and the two journalists began talking about Greene joining Gonyea on the air.

"Don spent hours and hours teaching me radio in a tiny little booth in the basement of the White House," Greene recalled.

Greene made the transition in 2005, and one of his first on-air experiences was memorable — for all the wrong reasons, he said.

It was May 11, 2005, and Greene was alone at the mic in the basement booth for one of the first times.

"I remember sitting back and thinking, 'This is really cool. I'm on NPR, and Don's teaching me radio."

Greene closed the booth's soundproof door, and a short time later his editor called, frantically asking what was happening.

Greene had not a clue.

It turns out the White House had been evacuated when a small plane — flown out of Smoketown Airport, it turns out — had strayed into restricted airspace near the Washington Monument.

Unaware of the pilot's intentions, the Secret Service had evacuated the White House, but agents didn't know Greene was inside the booth — and he couldn't hear the commotion outside.

Undeterred, Greene filed several reports from the empty building.

After covering the Bush administration, the 2008 presidential election and other domestic issues, Greene moved to Moscow in 2010 for a two-year stint as NPR's central Asia correspondent.

He was in Tripoli last year when NATO forces began bombing Libya to weaken Moammar Gadhafi's grip on the country.

"It was oppressive," he said of the situation. "You couldn't go out in the streets without the government watching you, and you put people's lives at risk by talking to them."

Greene recalled having the sinking feeling that journalists who were taken to Gadhafi's palace were being used as human shields to thwart the bombings.

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In his new role on "Morning Edition," Greene is based in D.C., where he follows a regimented schedule, waking at 2:30 each morning to be ready to go on air at 5.

After the four-hour broadcast wraps up, he works with the staff on future stories before heading home by noon or 1 p.m.

By 6 or 7, it's lights out.

Greene credits his "incredibly patient wife," Rose Previte, with enabling him to work such quirky hours and tackle so many diverse assignments over the years.

His late mother gets the credit for his curious streak and his desire to tell stories, he said.

A psychology professor at Franklin & Marshall College, Terry Greene "was always one to say that everyone had a story to tell," Greene recalled.

"I think I got that from her. I think that inspired me as a journalist. You always want to have your eyes open."

His mother died in 2006, just hours after calling Greene to tell him she had won a prestigious teaching award.

Her unexpected death "was the hardest thing I've ever gone through in my life, and I still think about it every day," Greene said.

And what of his old pals, Bob and Lon?

Greene still keeps tabs on Lon Farenwald and Bobby Hopkins, the compatriots who helped him get his on-air start some 20 years ago. In fact, Hopkins and Greene were recently in each other's weddings.

"We were fun and goofy, and people seemed to like it," he said of their morning show, which later added music and sports reports in addition to school announcements.

It's been a long journey from McCaskey to "Morning Edition," but in some ways, not much has changed for Greene.

"When you're in that studio, you relax," Greene said. "It's as if you're sitting next to a listener, telling them a story."

bwallace@lnpnews.com