FRESH Aiiiirreeee

WKMS was sweet enough to ask me to record a commentary about why I love the station so much. I couldn't help but write about Terry Gross, one of my favorite interviewers ever. She's been on NPR for quite a long time, and now we have her on WKMS from 11 a.m.-noon, Monday-Friday. You can listen to my commentary here, and I'm pasting it below: I'm Mary Thorsby of iListPaducah.com, a community calendar Web site for our region's hottest events. We have fun feature stories, too, like our very popular iDate of the Week column where I interview lovely single people and I get to say: "So and so, you're just cute, cute, cute, no doubt about it." I love my job. I love it so much that there's only one person whose job I'd trade with my own. And that's Terry Gross and her gig on NPR's Fresh Air. Just imagine. A career built on interviewing actors, writers, musicians, politicians — and asking them anything she wants to know. And they ANSWER. How fun is that? I first heard Terry Gross when I was a young corporate freelance writer in San Francisco. I asked people questions too…but we talked about product brochures, annual reports and newsletters...not about ideas and the arts. I was about 23 when I discovered Terry Gross on San Francisco's KQED, and I was hooked. I spent close to 20 years listening to her warm, friendly and curious conversations with the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker, Steve Martin, Gene Wilder and even a very cranky Rosanne Barr. I'd marvel at how a guest could throw out some off-the-wall reference to some obscure jazz album or something, and Terry could pick up on it. HOW DID SHE DO THAT? THIS WAS BEFORE THE INTERNET! I began to fantasize about her. Did she spend the weekend pouring over books, magazines, videotapes and albums, sipping green tea and listening to obscure jazz while preparing for the next week's interviews? I imagined she had cats. I don't know about the cats, but I do know that Terry Gross does her homework. You hear it in her questions and how she listens to the answers and nails a follow up every time. And that's why people seek her out on more than 450 public radio stations across the country. When I moved to Paducah four years ago to marry the love of my life, Bruce Brockenborough, I wasn't sad to give up the views of the Golden Gate Bridge, the fancy shopping at Union Square or the half-caf half-decaf cappacinos at every corner. I was sad to give up Terry Gross. Even after discovering her Podcasts on iTunes — it just wasn't the same. The day I heard her unmistakable voice and the Fresh Air theme song on our very own WKMS, I about fell out of my seat. She's back! My long-lost friend is back! And now I can listen to her again, Monday through Friday, from 11 a.m. to noon. Terry Gross and Fresh Air come with a pricetag so it's taken a while for WKMS to snag her show. WKMS depends on those of us who listen to the station to invest in the station. So today I proudly wrote my check to WKMS. It is, in part, for Terry Gross. In fact, I'm dying to interview Terry Gross for iListPaducah.com. I’d ask her how she met her husband Francis Davis, the jazz critic for the Village Voice. Ah, maybe THAT'S how she knows all that jazz! What did she ask him when they met and which of his answers made her fall in love? After 25 plus years of Fresh Air, is there anyone left who she's dying to interview but hasn't yet? Does she have cats? And then I'd ask if we could swap jobs for a day. She can use my cute, cute, cute, no doubt about it phrase, and then I can say: I'm Mary Thorsby and this is FRESH Aiiiirreeee.

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