NPR's Gross shares life stories

After more than 30 years of asking people to share their stories, National Public Radio’s Terry Gross finally shared some of her own Wednesday night at the IU Auditorium.

Gross, the award-winning host and co-executive producer of the talk show “Fresh Air,” shared some of her most controversial and memorable moments from her 34-year tenure with the show, which is produced by WHYY in Philadelphia and distributed to more than 450 NPR stations.

“I know how disorienting it is to see me,” joked Gross about matching her well-known voice to her petite frame, dwarfed by the large size of the stage she sat on accompanied only by a chair, microphone, side table and music stand.

Throughout her presentation, selected excerpts played over the loudspeaker with Gross providing her own narration of some of her more controversial interviews, such as those with Bill O’Reilly and Lynne Cheney.

“If we stop asking people in power all of the questions that make them uncomfortable, think of the number of questions we’d never be asking,” Gross said of her interview with Cheney, in which she inquired about Cheney’s feelings about same-sex marriage, given that her own daughter is gay.

A crowd favorite was when she recounted her famous altercation with Gene Simmons of the band KISS, in which she argued with him about his crude sexual jokes.

“I enjoyed her talking about some of her most difficult interviews and how she handled those people,” said Michael Robbins of Bedford, Ind. “I really enjoyed her putting Gene Simmons in his place ... I thought it was very entertaining.”

She also shared clips from less political interviews like Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and George Clooney.

“A lot of the interview excerpts that she played are some that I had already listened to, and so it’s actually really interesting to just hear her comment on them,” said Javier Leon, IU professor of ethnomusicology.

Gross, who rarely shares information about herself on “Fresh Air,” opened up about how she was fired from her first job as a teacher after just six weeks and got her start on a feminist radio show called “Woman Power” in 1973. She played a clip from her early days in radio, her voice and on-air personality unrecognizable to her “Fresh Air” fans.

“I sounded like a feminist Minnie Mouse,” Gross joked.

Toward the end of her presentation, Gross turned the tables around and let audience members interview her, fielding questions about her preparation and editing processes.
 
Gross has interviewed thousands of artists, authors, musicians, politicians and actors throughout the years and has in turn learned a lot about herself.

“I like to do interviews because I like to find out what makes people tick,” Gross said. “But the real reason I like to do interviews is because I like to find out what makes me tick.”