Young at Heart
In the here and now with Robin Young. Listen to this interview
SHE’s WON A PEABODY AWARD. Earned more than one Emmy. Directed a documentary. Hosted NBC’s Today Show and Evening Magazine. Even starred on a cooking game show. And she’s WBUR’s voice at noon. She’s Robin Young.
Airwaves
How did your career in radio begin?
Young
You might need a global positioning device to answer that! I was working at TV 38 in the early 70’s and I wrote a letter to WBZ radio’s program director, Dave Graves. I asked him why is it that you’re such a big radio station, yet you have no women on the air? This is 1973 and that is appalling!
He called me soon thereafter and asked, “What are you doing Saturday night?” I said, I can’t believe I wrote you a serious letter and here you are trying to pick me up. I am so insulted! He replied, “No, I’m hiring you.”
Airwaves
You then left WBZ radio and went to TV as host of Evening Magazine. Was it easy to make the switch from TV to radio? What are your likes and dislikes about each medium?
Young
I was active in television at an extraordinary time in the early 70s, primarily with Evening Magazine. There was this growing sense that newscasts can be more than just today’s news headlines. I was able to talk to anyone about any topic- from presidents, to a young girl who was pregnant, to actors and actresses and filmmakers. Everything was possible.
Today with TV, I see colleagues who are doing things like reporting on Hurricane Katrina. They’re doing an extraordinary job and television enables them to make use of gripping pictures that help tell a complete, powerful story.
But most of the time I’m disappointed by what’s happening in television. I feel that 90 percent of what I do in one day on Here & Now I couldn’t do in a month on most television outlets. The kinds of stories we get to pick, the time we get to spend with the guests. It’s rarely done. I’m not saying there aren’t pockets of greatness still on television, but not enough.
With Here & Now, I feel this is a radio homecoming for me. I love this medium. I love the intimacy of it. I love the connection with the listener. I just think it is so much more intimate than television.
Airwaves
You’ve won a Peabody Award for your documentary film work, as well as several Emmy Awards. You’ve hosted NBC’s Today Show, programs on the Discovery Channel, even a cooking game show. How have your experiences shaped your work on Here & Now?
Young
I joke that I am the only person I know who has won a George Foster Peabody award and hosted a cooking game show! Seriously—being in the media is like having this incredible platter set before you. You have to ask yourself, what do you want? I’ve never had a limit on the answers, and my experiences have helped me pick the stories listeners will want to hear about most.
With Here & Now, our first mandate is to tell you what’s happening. We live in very important times. We’re in two wars, we have concerns about global warming. There are a lot of serious issues going on and I love having a front row seat for it all.
Airwaves
What’s a day in the life like riding in that front seat?
Young
This show is truly all consuming. I get up at 5:00 AM to read the papers. The team comes in between 6:00 and 8:00, and then we all meet and decide what we’re doing. We work all morning putting together 50 percent of the show, which is breaking news. Then in the afternoon we turn right around, eat lunch at our desks, and work on the arts pieces that require more editing. Then I go home between 5:00 and 6:00 PM and start reading books. Sometimes 2-3 books a week.
Everywhere I go I’m looking for a story. It does give me a license to be nosey. But I enjoy that!
Airwaves
Do you have any special tricks to get guests to open up and engage?
Young
I don’t know if there’s really a trick. It’s usually a simpler thing like asking “Well, what happened next,” and giving a person a chance to tell their story. Sometimes it’s about having a carefully crafted question ready, but more often than not it’s about listening and recognizing when someone really hasn’t answered a question and then doing a follow up to get them back to topic.
As an interviewer, you can’t be afraid to be surprised by something your guest says. When I speak to young people in the field they’re often petrified of being wrong, or scared of not knowing something. I say to them if we knew all the answers, we would be the guests. The goal is always to push to get the best answer from the people you’re interviewing.
Airwaves
Do you enjoy hosting, or do you ever see yourself going back to producing?
Young
I can see just producing behind the scenes, but I also get to produce on a daily basis for Here & Now. I love editing stories together-Kathleen McKenna (Here & Now’s Senior Producer) and I are always helping each other. We have to because something seems to hit the fan everyday and the team is forced to scrap an entire show sometimes at 11:45 because there are bombings in Lebanon or a vote in the House. She and I will have these quick on the fly huddles while running down the hall. We can finish each others sentences now.
Airwaves
More than anything else, what do you want the listeners to take away from your program?
Young
One of the things that Here & Now gives listeners is a chance to linger over the more human aspects of the news. We want listeners to feel our stories in mind and body. It’s a careful balance too because we never want to be exploitative or saccharine but at the same time we don’t want to be afraid to delve deep. The other thing we want our listeners to get is a fair presentation of the news.
Airwaves
Is that a big challenge?
Young
No. It’s something that is not negotiable. That’s always the goal-to give listeners an unadulterated sense of the news. That is where our muscles are.
Here & Now is broadcast weekdays on WBUR 90.9 FM at noon. The show’s podcasts can be downloaded here.