Radio talk show host Diane Rehm will visit Ohio University tonight at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium to talk about current issues, her own experiences and her career in broadcasting.
For the past 27 years, Rehm has been the host of The Diane Rehm Show distributed by National Public Radio. In 1998, Rehm was diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological voice disorder that affects speech.
Rehm's speech marks the first event of the Year of the Woman, a university-wide commitment to acknowledge the achievements of women. One of the goals of the Year of the Woman is to bring women of national prominence, such as Rehm, to OU.
The Post: When I talked to Liz Pahl (Kennedy Lecture Series coordinator), she said that through working with you one of the things she learned was that you like to engage the audience in dialogues a little bit. Is that something you're going to be doing?
Diane Rehm: Precisely. I don't like making speeches; rather I like conversations. That's what I do each and every day...It's much more fun to engage the audience and to let them set the agenda as to the things they'd like to talk about, the things they'd like to hear about. It's very important to me as I go around the country to hear from people as to the issues that are on their minds.
The Post: Can you tell me a little bit about spasmodic dysphonia?
Rehm: It's a neurological condition that begins in the nasal ganglion of the brain. And what it does is to tell the brain to send an incorrect message to the vocal chords, telling them to clamp down inappropriately...And then you can hardly talk. I started having symptoms back in, I think, '91, and it just kept getting worse and worse. Doctors kept saying I was fine and there was nothing wrong...finally one day I couldn't talk any more. So I went to my manager and I said, 'I've got to get off the air for a while and find out what's going on.' And I sat at home really for about four months, not being able to talk or answer the telephone or speak to anybody except my husband. And finally our physician called and said 'Well, we've got to send her to Johns Hopkins'G?And within one hour they diagnosed it as spasmodic dysphonia.
The Post: But you've managed to overcome that?
Rehm: I've managed to deal with it. Mine is not the perfect radio voice, no matter how you look at it. But people seem to (deal with it); once they get past the initial introduction to the voice, they tend to listen to the content of the program. They kind of forget about the voice and that's what's lovely.
The Post: Besides your show, what's your favorite thing to listen to on the radio
Rehm: Oh, I love Morning Edition. I love All Things Considered...I love listening to the old programs cause those are the ones that I remember as a little girl growing up, cause I grew up listening to soap operas on the radio. And if I stayed home because I wasn't feeling well, I'd listen to the radio all day long.
The Post: What advice do you have for college students about overcoming challenges and reaching their goals?
Rehm: Well, I think there are an awful lot of young people these days who have great ambitions but they're not quite clear on how to achieve those goals. They sort of see themselves moving from college into a workplace that's going to welcome them with open arms and pay them lots of money. It's tough out there and if you want to succeed you have to really want it and you have to really work at it, even if it's a volunteer job that you first have to begin with, even if you cannot afford a car or going out as much as you'd like or having the apartment of your dreams. You have to put those things off for a little while and just concentrate on what it is you want to do, and go for it, even if you get paid very, very little to begin with. Learn everything you can about it and then work as hard as you can at it. You know, that's how it happens.
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NPR talk show host Diane Rehm will speak tonight at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium. Rehm is most well known for her distinct voice caused by spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological voice disorder that affects speech, in 1998.
