Terry Gross

She began hosting a three-hour local edition of Fresh Air in 1975. A weekly half-hour national edition distributed by NPR was launched in 1985, and a daily one-hour national edition was launched two years later. It is the first non-primetime show in public radio history to reach more than 5 million listeners (cumulative) weekly. She prides herself on preparation; prior to interviewing guests, she reads their books, watches their movies, and/or listens to their recordings. She has a reputation for researching her guests' entire lives and asking them about lesser-known aspects of their early careers. Her smart, thoughtful questioning pushes her guests in unlikely directions. Leading journalists have declared that she is almost certainly the best cultural interviewer in America, and one of the best all-around interviewers. ~~