I started listening to NPR on 89.3 KPCC in earnest not too long after I moved out here, once I realized how lousy most LA radio is.
One learns to appreciate the art of the interview out here, as 90% of the music stations in town have four hours of talk and comedy in the morning.
I was certainly aware of Fresh Air before, Terry Gross’ voice sounded familiar. I have always found her to be a very uneven interviewer however, frequently missing opportunities for a line of questioning and often coming across as unconnected to her guests.
I caught the tail end of the Gene Simmons interview when it was broadcast, and the glee with which he was playing with her was quite plain in a way no transcript could show and she continually walked right into it (to her credit, I understand she included the interview in her recent book).
Another time she really blew it was her interview with Bette Midler a couple of years ago. About 3/4ths of this 21st century interview focused on her work in the gay bath houses in the early 1970s. Sure, it may have been her most significant period, but let’s just say that harping on the idea that their best work was 30 years behind them wasn’t the most effective way of putting an interview subject at their ease. Midler’s polite communication of her evident exasperation seemed to go right over Gross’ head for decades of minutes at a time.
Perhaps it’s just that, as experienced an interviewer as Gross is, she had met her match on the very station I heard her on. Larry Mantle, who hosts the 20-years-and-still-going-strong AirTalk (which I hear is rebroadcast on XM Public Radio, and well worth a listen) makes radio interviews seem as simple as breathing. Not only can he effotlessly get a guest to spill forth, but his selection of topics are almost always right on the mark.