She just sounds old to me, much older than she actually is, but not like there’s anything terribly wrong with her. I like her topics, and she doesn’t bother me at all, but I grew up in a neighborhood where a lot of people weren’t native English speakers, and spoke hesitantly, not to mention my parents, because of their work, dealt with lots of people visiting the US from other places, and had very broken English, so I’ve heard so many variations of conversancy, that I don’t think twice about the way she sounds.
This. I have to admit that I never quite stop noticing her voice, but it doesn’t bother me.
MUCH less. Last time I listened to TG it sounded like she’s finally got that stutter under control (or discarded the affectation if that’s what it was), but her questions still go on forever. We all understand what her question is by the first comma, but she drones on and on finessing and clarifying and qualifying.
I actually like the inflection of her voice when she poses certain questions.
It’s already been stated, but I’ll reiterate: It’s because in the first hour, she gets a mix of guests who are actually willing to argue on a political or current events topic, moderates them well, and doesn’t let them worm around the subject any more than necessary. In the second hour, she’s still a pretty good interviewer despite her voice, but whether I’m going to listen depends on the interviewee.
I have a hard time listening to her show. She does do a good job of getting in and out of the conversation, asking her questions fairly quickly. But there’s just something that I find…grating.
That being said, I’m happy that there are lots of people who like to listen to her, and that she can keep doing what she’s good at. I can find something else to listen to in the rare times I’m in the car while she’s on the air.
Her voice doesn’t bother me at all anymore. In fact, I’ve grown to appreciate the pacing of the show, as too many other shows are rapid-fire, quick questions where you just know the interviewer isn’t even listening to anything other than their own voice. Diane is smart, funny, and beautiful to boot. It is refreshing to have a program where intelligence and thoughtfulness is valued higher than soundbites. I have learned so much more from her programs about topics I never would have considered, than from any flashy, fast-talking comedian/fake newsperson. You KNOW that she has really read the books she is interviewing the author of, and you KNOW she has done her homework on the topic. I’m sorry if she reminds you of your great-grandma and that’s a bad thing…as a grandma myself, I’m slightly offended that you find the voices of the elderly to be so off-putting that you don’t even listen to what is really said…I’m sad for your great-grandma and for my future. I don’t mean that as a personal thing, but just a general sense that as a society we are too enamored of the beautiful and perfect and young.
When I was first introduced to her show years ago, I would enjoy myself by mocking her signature, “This is the Diannne Rehhhm Shoooow.” Because I was a dumb kid and I didn’t know anything about her voice condition.
Now I’m full of nothing but awe and respect. Not only is she a masterful interviewer, but she has really good topics and guests. I’m a huge fan.
Diane Rehm is a civilized, gracious, intelligent interviewer and abeautiful woman.
She has a condition called spasmodic dysphonia, “a neurological voice disorder that involves ‘spasms’ of the vocal cords causing interruptions of speech and affecting the voice quality. SD can cause the voice to break up or to have a tight, strained, or strangled quality.”
She receives periodic botox injections into her larynx and this eases the condition a bit. You can usually tell when she’s just had a treatment and when she’s due for one.
I’ve read her autobiography,* Finding My Voice*, and it contains some heartbreaking moments. Her mother was emotionally abusive, at times punishing her as a toddler by not speaking to her for weeks at a time. Is it any wonder she has nerve-related voice issues?
I think she has balls of steel for continuing a radio career with this condition. It’s right up there with that dancer who just danced on her new prosthetic leg. Her program makes a valuable contribution to the radio discourse on current events, something which is desperately needed.
And no, her voice doesn’t bother me. But then I slept with an amputee (until he died), and that didn’t bother me either. I’d like the OP to work on acquiring some perspective.
ETA: She’s not exactly “elderly.” I believe she’s in her late 60’s. It’s the voice condition that makes her sound like she’s in her 90’s.
It’s not just the pauses and the quaver; I find her tone unpleasant. But I’m sure if I pay attention to the content, I will get past that.
Diane Rehm is 77 now and was 61 or 62 when she was diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia:
This, exactly. You’ve nailed it. So many interviewers seem to go over a prepared list of questions, while Rehm forms questions based on previous answers-- it gives the show a sort of mystery novel suspense.
Right now this is a sequential thread candidate: right after this thread on Diane Rehm is the thread on the tv show The Voice 
I don’t listen to her show that often given my schedule. I notice her voice but listen past it - not that big of a deal. But yes, I am a bit surprised she is supported by NPR to stay on the air.
Another thumbs-up for Diane Rehm, I listen to her most weekdays and have for years for all the reasons already mentioned. Initially I found her voice off-putting but now I actually really like it. It helps with the measured, thoughtful tone to her interviews.
Please explain, first, what you mean by “supported,” and second, why you’re surprised.
If you mean “financially supported,” her program is produced at and by WAMU at American University, so that’s where any financial support would come from. Local stations pay NPR for the programs, not the other way around. The show’s web site says, “The Diane Rehm Show is produced at WAMU, carried on over 190 stations and distributed by NPR, NPR Worldwide and SIRIUS satellite radio.” These stations pay to carry her for all the reasons listed in the posts above and those reasons are why she attracts listeners. So please explain the surprise part.
I don’t mind her voice and often enjoy her topics and guests. What I find incredibly frustrating is her frequent interruptions of the guests. The guests often cannot finish their sentences. And I’m not talking about the kind of interruption needed to stay on course or go to break. Terry Gross and others do the same thing, so I guess it’s par for the course.
My great-grandmother in question has been dead for over forty years, and she had trouble speaking due to a stroke. There was nothing glamorous about her condition, she was suffering the final stages of her body breaking down from extreme old age and a host of chronic medical problems.
I was close with her daughter (my grandmother), but my great-grandmother was just a figure of extreme old age and sickness in the time I knew her. I’ve heard lots of stories about her from those who knew her in her healthier years, but I feel pretty confident in saying the issues with her speech (and Rehm’s for that matter) were not just normal differences between an elderly person and a young person.
Yes, and I don’t know what exactly we’re using as the cutoff for “elderly” these days, but late 70s seems like it should be classified as such by any reasonable definition.
Maybe I’ve been judging Diane Rehm because of her voice, but from the parts of her show I do listen to a lot of her questions seem banal or almost Larry King-esque in their nature. Perhaps I need to give her show a more thorough chance and try to ignore her voice based on the comments here.
On a second reading of the OP, this stuck out to me. I don’t think this is a fair analogy, because as an interviewer, Diane Rehm’s voice is not really her whole toolbox. If she were simply a radio newsreader, where the whole qualification for the job was a clear, mellifluous voice, I’m certain she would have been out of a job.
But as the host of a (long, in-depth) interview program, voice comes in far behind such qualifications as thinking on her feet and being well-prepared. And she is meticulously well-prepared; she is the type of host who has invariably read not only her guest’s new book, the one they’re currently flogging on the talk radio circuit, but their last two as well. She will often reference things her guests have said in prior interviews, ensuring that not only does she not blithely repeat questions, but actually builds off of the good ones.
I think she’s pretty awesome. But I imagine she’ll retire fairly soon, thus sparing her non-fans having to frantically mash the radio buttons when her abrasive quaver…quavers…from the speakers.
I’ve noticed her interrupting a lot lately, too. Years ago she didn’t do that, and that was one thing I really liked. Maybe she’s been told to keep people on topic, because they will ignore the question and follow their own agenda if she doesn’t.
Terry Gross does it some… but mostly she sits in painful silence and lets people ramble on (in a good way) and they wind up spilling their guts in a way that I suspect they never intended.
The Queen of Interruptions is Oprah. Even though she had some great guests back when she had her TV show, she would barely let them get two words out before she’d break in. I admire her and all the good she has done with her money, but I couldn’t watch her after a while. NO ONE on NPR interrupts at that level.
The obvious difference between Diane Rehm and Terry Gross is that the former’s show is a live, call-in show, whch means that she has to be very deligent about time. She has to balance being a hard-hitting interviewer, cordial host, and a moderator. Her job isn’t easy. I don’t blame her a bit for cutting off long-winded ramblers. Sometimes they really do need to STHU. 
I’ll take Rehm’s quivering voice any day over one of my local public radio hosts who badly needs to trim his damn nose hair. The worst is when he’s not even talking, yet you can still hear his damn nose hairs whistling away into the mike with his every breath when someone else is talking. I’ve been tempted to call in live during a pledge-drive and agree to contribute only if he does a little nose-scaping.