NPR host Rehm to visit Southeast Missouri State as last of Speakers Series guests

National Public Radio talk show host Diane Rehm will visit Cape Girardeau for the first time April 16 to close out Southeast Missouri State University's 2013-2014 Speakers Series.

Rehm, host of "The Diane Rehm Show," will present "A Conversation With Diane Rehm" at 7:30 p.m. in the Bedell Performance Hall at the River Campus.

Growing from a local morning call-in show, Rehm's program now has more than 2.4 million listeners and is heard on more than 184 stations nationwide, according to a news release. It also is broadcast in Germany, Japan and Finland, is available on U.S. military installations worldwide on the Armed Forces Network and can be streamed from drshow.org.

Facebook and Twitter have helped build the show's audience, as well.

Having been on the air for 35 years, Rehm said in a phone interview with the Southeast Missourian on Monday that she remains inspired by the variety of topics she covers, the joy of learning something new every day and "working with the wonderful staff I have."

"I think I'm surprised every day," Rehm said. "I think that not only do our guests present ideas and thoughts that are sometimes surprising, but so do our listeners. Their perspectives are always interesting and quite often surprising."

Through the years, Rehm's interviews have read like a Who's Who list -- Barack Obama when he was still a U.S. senator; former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter; former vice president Dick Cheney; former secretary of state Colin Powell; retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor; Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Nobel Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison; and photographer Annie Leibovitz, the show's website says.

In 2000, Rehm became the first radio talk show host to interview a sitting president in the Oval Office when she spoke with President Bill Clinton, the site said.

Even with all that star power, Rehm said she doesn't really get nervous.

"In the early days I think I was somewhat nervous, indeed quite nervous, but after all these years it's gotten a lot easier," she said.

Rehm's shows often feature a segment with several panelists discussing news, or a topic such as Internet freedom. Her manner, which she said developed over time, contrasts with other talk radio shows in that she listens to guests answers and allows for pauses.

"My style, as you put it, is simply to enjoy a conversation and to enjoy listening to what people have to say. I think we ought to be called listening shows, rather than talk shows," Rehm said.

"I think right from the start I was used to listening, but I think broadcast journalists are sometimes fearful of silence and I think I've gotten used to simply allowing the silence to go on for a little bit longer than other people do," she added.

Asked how she figures out how much time to give each guest, Rehm said she doesn't view it that way.

"It's the discussion that's important; it's not how much time each person gets, but rather the flow of the discussion and what belongs where and how to make it a really rounded hour so that from the beginning to the end of the hour, you, the listener, have come away with something of value," she said.

In 1998, Rehm thought her career might come to an abrupt end because of a neurological voice disorder called spasmodic dysphonia, which causes strained, difficult speech. But she has found treatment.

"It is something for which I am treated about once every five or six months, and I have to take time off after each treatment because it takes sometimes two or three weeks for [my voice] to come back after I've had the treatments," Rehm said.

This will be Rehm's first visit to Cape Girardeau. The number of appearances she makes depends on how often she's invited. "I think last year I probably did about eight or nine visits," she said.

Rehm's presentation is open to the public. General-admission tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the River Campus box office. Southeast faculty, staff and students can use a valid Redhawks ID to pick up a free ticket in the University Center, room 202, the Center for Student Involvement or the River Campus box office.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

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