045 CLEARING THE AIR WITH RENOWNED RADIO HOST

National Public Radio’s Terry Gross to Speak at MTSU

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 1, 2006
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

(MURFREESBORO) – One of the media’s premier interviewers, Terry Gross, host of National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air with Terry Gross,” will lecture at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19, in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building. The talk is free and open to the public.
Gross’ appearance at MTSU, postponed from April 17, is co-sponsored by the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies of the College of Mass Communication, the Department of Electronic Media Communication (EMC), the National Women’s History Month Committee and the Distinguished Lecture Program.
“I think it’s a great opportunity to have a nationally recognized award-winning interviewer come here to talk,” Marc J. Barr, EMC professor, said. “She has come to be one of the best interviewers, if not the best interviewer, out there in media.”
Earlier on the day of the lecture, Gross is slated to speak to journalism and EMC students at 3 p.m. in Room 103 of the John Bragg Mass Communication Building.
“Fresh Air with Terry Gross” won the Peabody Award in 1994 for what the Peabody Board called its “probing questions, revelatory interviews and unusual insight. It also captured the Ohio State Award in 1987 and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Award for “Best Live Radio Program” in 1981.
Gross embarked on her radio career in 1973 at WBFO, a public station in Buffalo, N.Y., where she hosted several programs. In 1975, she was hired at Philadelphia’s WHYY-FM as producer and host of “Fresh Air.” The daily interview and music program went national with a half-hour edition in 1985 and expanded to a one-hour edition in 1987. “Fresh Air” now air on 160 stations.
In addition to the program which bears her name, Gross has guest-hosted NPR’s “All Things Considered,” co-anchored the PBS show “The Great Comet Crash,” and guest-hosted the now-defunct “CBS Nightwatch.”
According to www.npr.org, the San Francisco Chronicle characterizes Gross’ interview technique as “a remarkable blend of empathy and warmth, genuine curiosity and sharp intelligence.”
In explaining how she puts her guests at ease, Gross says, in a quote posted on the NPR Web site, “Anyone who agrees to be interviewed must decide to draw the line between what is public and what is private. But the line can shift, depending on who is asking the questions. What puts someone on guard isn’t necessarily the fear of being ‘found out.’ It sometimes is just the fear of being misunderstood.”
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Terry Gross earned a bachelor’s degree in English and an M.Ed. in communications from the State University of New York at Buffalo, which awarded her its Distinguished Alumni Award in 1993.
While the Tuesday night lecture is free, tickets are required for admission. Tickets that were issued for the original April date are good for Gross’ upcoming appearance, and those individuals will be allowed first entry. No new tickets will be issued. However, non-ticket holders will be allowed entry after ticket-holders based on available seating. For more information, contact Barr at 615-898-5118 or at mjbarr@mtsu.edu.

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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For a black-and-white jpeg or tif photo of Terry Gross, please contact Gina Logue in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or at gklogue@mtsu.edu.