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In 1975, Terry Gross began hosting “Fresh Air” as a local public radio program on WHYY in Philadelphia. A little over a decade later — in the mid-1980s — the program joined NPR’s national lineup, becoming one of the most recognizable and respected programs in public radio. During a conversation with Terry Gross, Dale Johnson asked how she started in radio.
Dale Johnson: Your first radio gig in 1973, it was an NPR, CPB-funded college station on the campus of the University of Buffalo in Buffalo, New York. Were you any good at the age of 22?
Terry Gross: No, no, no. I think I had a lot of curiosity, but my voice was probably a lot higher, and I had to learn how to do an interview. I went to the library to try to find books about interviewing, and all I was able to find was a Barbara Walters book. And that book wasn't really about professional interviewing. It was about like, say you're picking up the guest speaker, and you're not really at ease talking with them. Here's how to put yourself at ease and the kinds of questions you can ask while you're driving them to the gig.
Johnson: From where did the show's name, “Fresh Air” come?
Gross: Well, somebody had started doing it. The program director here had started the show and then two other people had hosted it briefly before I came. That was the program director's title. When I came, I said, “Oh, that's a kind of corny title. Let's change it.” And he said, “Come up with another title.” And I failed to come up with a good title. I'm not great at titles. Thus, the show remained “Fresh Air.” One of my problems with the title was that there was the Fresh Air Fund in New York to fund children who couldn't afford to get out of the city to go to summer camp for a few weeks. And I thought the Fresh Air Fund is going to get mixed up with a “Fresh Air” show. People are going to think it's about environmental issues. People will be, you know, saying, “Ah, a breath of fresh air,” anyhow. So that's the title
Johnson: You're known for asking probing and deeply empathetic questions, yet you've described yourself as a very inhibited interviewee. Is that true?
Gross: Well, you know, I think I'm opening up a little bit more. I liked to remain a little bit unknown so that no one could say, “Oh, she likes this,” or “She believes that, therefore I'm not going to listen to her interviews.” The interviews aren't about me, they're about the guest. So that's one of the things that inhibited me. I didn't even want my picture taken when I started, but now I feel like I am who I am. And you know, maybe it's not dangerous to reveal some of that. And also, you know, my parents died a few years ago, more than a few years ago. And you know my husband died in April, and I've been very protective of them over the years, protected, protective of saying anything that might violate their privacy and that might sound uncomfortable to them. So that was also part of the inhibition, and I feel like it's time to give myself the license to talk about myself when asked. I'm still a private person, so I still have my boundaries, but the boundaries are a little more porous than they used to be.
Johnson: You've also called yourself a physical coward.
Gross: That is true, that is a fact.
Johnson: And not much of a traveler. Yet, you hitchhiked across the country for a year, and you went to Woodstock for heaven's sakes.
Gross: I did, and that was decades ago, and yes, and I was a lot younger.
Johnson: Pick one of those two and tell me an adventure: a Woodstock adventure, or a hitchhiking across the country adventure.
Gross: Hitchhiking across the country. Okay, I was once in a car with my boyfriend at the time, and we got in a car in the back seat, with a third person who just coughed their way through the trip. And I thought, “Is this tuberculosis? Am I going to be really sorry about this?” And another time we stayed in a place that was condemned. It was like an SRO, a place where, you know, people who were alcoholics or homeless, or pretty much homeless, could stay for very little money, and they locked us in at night so people wouldn't be fighting in the hallways, so you couldn't really get out. And since the building was condemned and there were fire truck sirens and police sirens going on through the night, it was not feeling like a particularly good place to be hanging out.
Johnson: Terry Gross, host of “Fresh Air,” heard weeknights at 7 CT on Nebraska Public Media. Thank you very much, Terry, for being with us on Nebraska Public Media.
Gross: Thank you, Dale.