Blog 6 - NPR Radio Interview Analysis

I did my analysis on a segment called “Is the Planet Facing A Mass Extinction?” It was a part of the Talk of the Nation program. The host of the show was a man named Paul Raeburn. He was very knowledgeable on the topic and was very well informed of all that was going on in regard to it. He knew relevant facts and history. The main point of his introduction was that about one-third of the world’s species are now threatened with extinction. He was interviewing a group of biologists and ecologists. They were all professors and were all conducting research at top universities.
Raeburn started off with some rudimentary questions. He asked his guests the nature of their professions to get a feel of what they do. Then he dived straight in to more detailed questions about the topic at hand. He was interested on his guests take on a recent U.N report on an increase in number of endangered species in the world. This triggered many more questions about the guest’s respective research and findings. Raeburn fully understood the answers and would give his own input and views before posing another question. He would also state justifications for why he was posing these questions before he actually asked them.
To me, this segment was more of discussion amongst professionals of the field rather than a radio interview from a host who was trying to cover a story. Every individual was qualified and they were all respectful of each other’s opinions. I do not recall any inappropriate or irrelevant answers. Raeburn was very much in charge. He posed questions to the individual he thought could give the best answer. It seemed like he knew his guests very well prior to the interview, and he knew exactly how to get the best out of all of them.
I learnt that knowledge is very important when interviewing a guest. You must cover all the bases. If you are going to interview an individual who is well qualified in a certain field, then you need to be prepared with intelligent questions and appropriate input. I kept in mind that this was a radio show that people tune in to listen to. The objective of the interviewer should be to provide the best possible listening experience. So the interviewer needs to pose questions that will deliver informative and thought provoking answers.