Diane Rehm, who hosted a nationally distributed call-in show from news/talk pubcaster WAMU Washington, DC (88.5), is being inducted into Inside Radio’s Radio Hall of Fame.
In an Inside Radio interview, she was asked about her first job in radio. She responded: “I began as a volunteer at WAMU in Washington, D.C., in 1973. The station was non-commercial, licensed to American University. I was on the air the first day I arrived as a volunteer because the host was out sick. My responsibilities included helping the then-host for “Kaleidoscope,” choose topics, book guests and assist with on-air interviews. After 10 months, I was hired as a part-time producer. The station at the time had not yet gained membership in NPR.”
When asked about her fondest career memory, she responded: “There are so many. Working with an outstanding group of women and men who became producers of “The Diane Rehm Show,” helping to take it from a small program to one that NPR named as a program which had a very large draw, bringing in other stations to WAMU because of mine. I did a one-on-one interview with President Clinton in the Oval Room of the White House. I won a personal Peabody Award. I interviewed the actress Audrey Hepburn, Mr. Rogers, Joan Baez, Congressman John Lewis, John Le Carre, Maya Angelou… Among so many wonderful career memories, how could I possibly choose one? When I left the daily microphone to do a weekly podcast and a monthly book club, “The Diane Rehm Show” had a listenership of nearly 3 million.”
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