From One World Trade Center in Manhattan, this is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.

Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. I've got a little confession to make.

When I first started doing this program, I was more than a little anxious. I've been a print journalist all my

life, a writer and an editor, but talking to you in my own voice, on the radio, or a podcast, felt

a little alien. So to prepare myself, I decided to study the great ones. And at the very top of that

list has got to be Terry Gross. Gross has been the host of

fresh air for nearly 45 years. And over that time, she's interviewed thousands and thousands of

guests from Ray Charles to Hillary Clinton to, I don't know, any summary of her big guests

doesn't actually do her justice. Terry is perhaps the best interviewer of our time. Let's strike the perhaps. She is.

Terry Gross joined me in October 2019 at the New Yorker Festival. We're the crowd welcomed her

like a rock star. Terry, I'm basically going to steal tips from you.

I don't really care about them.

I want to know how you do it,

because when you go into an interview,

it's obvious to me,

and I think all your listeners from the get-go, that you are so

grounded in the knowledge that's necessary to have for an extended real conversation.

I'd like to know about process. What goes into your week? How does it work?

Well, okay, I do the research the afternoon and the night before. And then in the morning, I write up the questions. My interview is often at 10

in the morning, so I don't have a lot of time to do anything, really. And then after that, I'm reading the copy to introduce guests.

While the show is actually on the air, so to speak, I'm in the studio just in case, but I've

tried to pre-record all the introductions, and I'm writing copy for tomorrow's show while

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