What to ask the woman who's asked it all

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Q: Typically, the guests you interview on Fresh Air are not with you in the studio at WHYY. How do you maintain that level of intimacy in your interviews without having eye contact?

A: At first I thought it would be a big problem, because I was used to visually seeing if somebody was done talking or not. Without that visual cue, every time somebody took a breath I thought 'They're done. My turn.' So it took me a while to just leave that extra beat, and see whether they were done or just taking a breath.

Beyond that, there's something that's very comfortable about the long distance interview, because I never feel like I'm invading their space. We're all so used to talking on the telephone with people, so if you look at it that way, it's not that big a deal. The assumption is always that if you're in the same room, it's going to add to the magical chemistry between you. The truth is, sometimes when you're in the same room it adds to the distance between you because you can just see that you're not going to work together. Without that cue, there's a more open-mindedness on both sides.

Another thing that I like about the long distance interview is I'm not somebody with a lot of physical confidence. I feel very physically unassuming. I like being invisible and to just be this voice asking questions -- to be disembodied works for me. And, if you're a bit of a coward, as I am, it's sometimes easier to ask challenging questions that need to be asked when you're not looking at the person and when you're not watching them be made uncomfortable by what you're asking.

Q: When you're asking someone about religion or sexuality or drug habits, how do you work up the nerve? Is that still challenging?

A: It's not as hard as it was, but it is. I always try to be aware of the fact that I'm not talking to an "interviewee," I'm talking to a person. I'm talking to a person with a life and a private life, and maybe with a spouse and children and close friends and parents, and they want to protect those people in their life from anything that's going to hurt them.

Q: Given these tough questions that you often ask, how do you think that people respond when they find out that you describe yourself as shy?

A: I'm different off the air than I am on the air. As a professional interviewer, I'm not shy -- I can ask anything. But when I'm on my own, no microphone, out in the world, that's where I'm much more shy and self-conscious and basically uncomfortable. In terms of the physical world, I'm an incredible coward. You'll never see me spending my vacation climbing a mountain or doing an adventurous hike. I'm basically sitting in a movie theater on my vacation, or reading by the ocean. I don't like to be physically uncomfortable. I like indoor plumbing. I would never ever dream of being a war correspondent. Those men and women who are war correspondents, those are some of my heroes. And I can't image having to do that -- I lack the genes for that completely.

Q: In the book you write about growing up in a Jewish community in Brooklyn where privacy was a very valuable thing. How do you balance guarding your own privacy with trying to get at your guests' private lives?

A: And the question almost becomes, 'Am I hypocritical?' I try not to be. I try when I'm interviewed to be reasonably open to the kinds of questions I ask. But I don't ask extremely personal questions to just everybody. I tend to ask those questions to people whose art or work is connected to it. Like John Updike. He writes incredibly about the sex lives of his characters. When I'm talking to people like that, I'm going to ask a few sexually related questions, because that's part of what their work is about. If somebody is terminally ill and that figures into their public life in any way, I will ask them about it.

But I don't just go asking anybody about sex, or death or religion, because I know you don't just talk about that to anybody for any old reason. I'm also hoping that because I'm shy and because I'm kind of private, that it helps me accept the fact that people draw the line, and might only want to go so far. I understand -- I'm that way, too. But it also makes me really appreciate those people who are willing to open themselves up for self-examination, and in part for public reflection, because I think that we all learn from that.

Q: Is there any person who you have a desire to interview and for whatever reason have not been able to do it?

A: If I could go back and revive the dead, I would do a series at the piano with some of the great America songwriters: Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, Harold Arlen, Duke Ellington, Billy Stayhorn. They'd be at the piano, and they'd be performing throughout the interview. But, sadly, I don't really have that power, do I?

I've kind of given up on the idea of having like a "wish list." One of the things we've learned is, the people who are really hard to get tend to be that way for one of two reasons: either they're really tired of talking about themselves, or they're not very comfortable being interviewed. So, if they're tired of talking about themselves or if they're not very comfortable being interviewed, it can be a less fulfilling experience than you were hoping for.

Q: Your husband Francis Davis writes about music, and particularly jazz, so when you interview musicians do you talk about it with him beforehand?

A: Sometimes. Often I don't, but he will loan me his records. I live with one of the best jazz record collections in America, so when I have on a jazz musician he's going to have whatever I need. We both live in this world where music, movies and books matter immensely. And we're both always talking to each other about that, and we understand what each other is saying. We have very similar tastes -- we're just awfully compatible like that. Unfortunately, our apartment looks a lot like the description that I've just given, it's basically a couple of couches, a table, a bed, a desk and shelves and shelves and shelves and shelves of books and records.

Q: What has kept you with public radio?

A: For the kinds of books and music and movies that I like, you're not going to find a lot of places on commercial media -- TV or radio -- where you can talk about them. And even if there were, you couldn't talk about them at the length that I can talk to somebody here. Let's face it: there's nothing competitive with public radio on the radio, either for in-depth news, interviews, or music. I feel like our only competition in some ways for the programming that we do is with each other, because commercial radio just isn't into this.

Q: Where do you see the future of the show going?

A: The show has often changed because it needed to, because there was something we needed to respond to whether it was the Gulf War, or September 11th, or the War in Iraq. We're kind of a reactive show, so for us, rather than having five-year plans, every few years something really surprising or even shocking -- whether that's a good thing or a bad thing -- happens in the world, and our response is to change. So it's not like we have a five-year plan, but we have our antennae up, and we are more than willing to change as the world does in ways that make our show more responsive to it, both in terms of content and format.

Q: When Bob Edwards was asked to leave his position as host of Morning Edition, did that make you think, 'oh my gosh, I've been hosting for a really long time, too'?

A: I'm not in fear of my job, but if something happened, 'Okay, time to do something else.' If the stations agreed at any point that it was time for the show to end -- I don't think that's on the verge of happening, but if it was -- I would find something else to do. I'm truly not worried about that, not because I arrogantly think that it will last forever, but when it's time for it to stop, it will stop. And I will move on.

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