Diane Rehm: From Volunteer to Legendary Talk Show Host
When you interview Diane Rehm, you might as well accept the fact that, at some point in the conversation, somehow, she’ll find a way to interview you. Rehm, known for putting guests at ease while keeping them on their toes, seems to have been born to be a radio interviewer. Actually, she fell into the job while volunteering.
After 14 years as a stay-at-home mother, Rehm decided to volunteer “just to get out of the house.” Her husband, John Rehm, worked for the State Department, and she joined a related organization, The Hospitality and Information Service (THIS for Diplomats). “It seemed to me a perfect partnership with what John was doing,” she says. At that time, Rehm explains, “the organization helped the wives of diplomats interact with Washington women who were involved in a great many things, who could provide a social network.” Rehm was also a beneficiary of that social network. She befriended Fay Armstrong, a Canadian diplomat’s wife who volunteered with THIS. Armstrong mentioned her other gig, helping out at WAMU on The Home Show. Rehm’s classmates in a one-semester course at George Washington University had previously suggested she should “try broadcasting.” As Armstrong described her work behind the scenes on the radio show, Rehm says, “something happened to me.” It was a light bulb moment of extraordinary wattage.
You know that nightmare where you step through a door and you’re on stage, with everyone looking expectantly in your direction? Rehm’s first day of volunteering at WAMU was kind of like that. It was 1973, says Rehm, when WAMU had “two full-time employees. It was a very, very tiny operation.” When Rehm arrived at the station, nervous about her first day, the station manager met her with the news that The Home Show host, Irma Aandahl, was out sick. Expecting to turn around and go home, Rehm was instead pulled into the studio to co-host that day’s show, which featured a representative from the Dairy Council. “Now, as a homemaker for 14 years, I certainly knew about milk and cheese and meat and so on,” says Rehm, “and I felt that the Department of Agriculture had the food pyramid all wrong, and I said so.” She was polite but firm in challenging the guest’s sweeping statements; a style was born.
Apprenticeships are becoming popular again, Rehm notes, and she feels that her time volunteering for WAMU was just that. “You take an apprenticeship to learn the job on the job with someone who is a good and generous teacher. That’s what I had in Irma Aandahl. Irma taught me how to cut tape, she taught me how to edit. And once I said to her, ‘Is my voice okay?’ She said, ‘Diane, it’s not your voice that matters, it’s what’s up here.’ (Rehm points to her forehead.)“ I’ll never forget that. That helped me through the spasmodic dysphonia portion of my life.”
For the first year after Rehm took over the show in 1979, it was a one-woman operation. “I was doing the entire show alone, and that meant booking, researching, writing, and broadcasting. I’d leave home at about 7:30 in the morning. I’d come home at about 8:30 at night, and after about a year, John Rehm said to me, ‘You just cannot keep doing this.’ So, what did I do? I hounded my bosses and said, ‘You’ve got to give me help.’” The station found additional volunteers. “Without volunteers, I could not have kept going.” The staff eventually grew to include six full-time producers and one part-time producer. One of those producers, Sandra Pinkard, started out as a volunteer. She’s been with The Diane Rehm Show for 23 years.
Rehm encourages WAMU volunteers to make use of their abilities. Her advice begins with the basics. “Show up. Be the best that you can, offer to do as much as you can, bring ideas about what you are doing, interact with others who are volunteering. Don’t be afraid to do that. If you have an idea for something you think would be good, offer it.” At a recent volunteers’ luncheon, Rehm circulated for hours, chatting with volunteers, sharing experiences, thanking them for their help, and, of course, asking questions.
Over the years, Rehm has made use of volunteers’ skills for everything from reviewing potentially featured books to providing snow rescue. In her younger days, if she was snowed in at home, Rehm would walk outside, put up her thumb, and hitch a ride to the station. She laughs, recalling those times. “Eventually, my husband said to me, ‘You’re not going to do that anymore,’ so he went with me. We hitched together.” In 2014’s pre-Valentine’s day blizzard, WAMU volunteer Deborah LaLond, a Minnesotan with four-wheel drive, saved Rehm’s thumb from reliving old times by picking her up and driving her to WAMU so she could do her show.
Rehm will retire from her daily show at the end of 2016, but she’ll continue working at WAMU helping to raise money for the station. She’ll also create and host a weekly podcast (details to be announced). Somehow, this still leaves time for her to return to her roots as a volunteer. “I’ll be working on right-to-die issues, and I’ll be touring nationally in a play about Alzheimer’s disease” (“Surviving Grace,” by Trish Vradenburg), she says. When it comes to volunteering, she’s excited about the future and grateful for the past. “Being a volunteer at WAMU created the pathway to my entire professional life,” says Rehm. “I mean, really. I just feel so fortunate.”
