I have often mentioned my friend Paul Harris on this blog. Paul has been hosting radio programs on a regular basis for four decades, most recently on KTRS in St. Louis. Today, he does his final regular show there. That doesn't mean listeners somewhere won't hear him again. You can take the boy out of radio, etc. He may do fill-ins and guest hostings. But he no longer has his own program and he can now devote all his time to his favorite pastime — losing every cent he ever made in radio at a poker table.
No, actually, he seems to be pretty good at winning at cards, though I think I could take him in a high-stakes game of Old Maid. He is also really, really good at radio. When folks ask me for pointers on interviewing — something I often do at comic book conventions — I tell them to go to Paul's website and listen to how he asks questions. He is well-informed on his guests. He knows what kind of interesting stories and discourses they may have. He asks pointed questions that give the guest a good starting point for a reply. (First sign of a bad interviewer: Too many questions that include the phrase, "What was that like?")
Most of all, he senses how much of any given interview should consist of him talking and how much should be the guest. There are people paid millions of dollars a year to host TV talk shows who could stand to learn this. I am about one-tenth as good at interviewing as Paul but it would be more like one-thirtieth if I hadn't learned from his examples.
His last show today is on KTRS from 3 PM to 6 PM Central Time. You can listen on iTunes or at the KTRS website. I have great confidence though this will not be his last show. It better not be.