 In preparing for an interview Take a few moments to think about it That sounds silly, but a lot of people wing it and I have a feeling All of you have as well and I have to but just taking a few moments a few days ahead of time to think about the interview That's coming up really goes a long way Because I find that it's sort of as I like to say it It starts composting, you know, why are we having this person? Why are we... What do I want to know from this person? And I often will and this is especially when I was doing television and doing a weekly show I jot down a few questions. It's not a, you know, a legal pad or something But then that's a starting place to keep coming back to and jotting down more notes A really important thing and this really transcends television and radio Whether you're doing an interview show or a news show or a documentary Try to avoid too many questions in which the answer is a number Viewers don't retain numbers and lists as well as stories and ideas Numbers can go in the newspaper in a graphic or online But for television, television and radio are really human to human kind of media And so you really more want to, I mean if there's a really big impressive number If there's, you know, 95% of all people believe this or something like that Or, you know, how many people are at the University of Southern Maine Maybe one or two big numbers but, you know, you really don't have a discussion about data It's not really good television or radio, people tune out So that's a bit of advice about questions This is, the third one is something that I did when I did main watch But to be honest with main calling, I don't have enough time for most of the time Because we do a program every day and we have two or three guests most days But I'd call a guest ahead of time I wouldn't let them know I was pre-interviewing them because then people are on guard I'd just say, oh hey, it's Jennifer from Public Television I'm so excited you're going to be on the show Do you have any questions? Do you need directions? Have you done television before? Let's say we're doing a show on whether there are cougars And I mean the wild animal in Maine I'm thinking why, because it popped up a wildlife biologist You know, hey, let me ask you this, Warden How long have you been trying to figure out if there are cougars, you know I mean, is there really, you just start kind of asking them questions And you'd be surprised when you ask somebody something ahead of time When they don't know they're being interviewed How many times they'll tell you something really interesting That you never would have thought to ask them on the air And then I jot that down And I just note to self, this is really interesting Or note to self, when I asked him this question he said he didn't know And so, you know, you don't do the whole interview but sort of engage him I learned the hard way not to do that right before Don't have your interview come 30 minutes early Ask him a whole bunch of questions, I'll put them in front of camera One thing people tend to say is, oh, as we were talking about before And then the other thing is that people tend to say things really fresh once And then they don't say it really fresh again Which leads to something else that's not on this I make it a rule not to talk about the subject That we're going to talk about when the interview subject arrives So the person comes in for a main calling And I say, when did you fly in? Are you staying in Portland? Are you driving up to Bangor? Are you, oh, you have kids in college too, don't you? I talk about anything except the topic that we're going to talk about Because, again, people have this tendency to say, oh, as we were just talking about And even if they're trying not to, they still do it So that's one of my little rules with myself So when you do the pre-interview, I make some little notes to myself Oh, I did say that in my list, okay And then I kind of, you know, maybe somebody said something in the pre-interview That made me want to do a little more research and I'll look something up But the day of the interview, I write, read over the questions but don't memorize them Put them in a logical order starting with a broad question And then relax and forget about it until the interviewer walks in the door Or interviewer walks in the door So those are my sort of preparing for an interview tip My notes or thoughts about interview itself What I said when I first sat down, you set the tone for the interview And most people are kind of nervous to be on TV or be on the radio And so if you're kind of formal with them If you're kind of trying to be really impressive and buttoned up That's just going to make them more nervous Just be yourself, you know Maybe even be a friendlier, livelier version of yourself if you have to, you know I explain as well as I can everything that's going to happen I don't know why people don't I have had so many people, just happened to me on Monday The Senate Majority Leader told me he was on CNN And that they hooked him up and they just started asking him questions They didn't explain anything I hear that over and over again about the networks And I just don't understand why they would do that You know, they just hook someone up, say stand by And then start asking him questions Do you want your show to be bad? I just don't, I don't understand But you know, I find that if you explain to people And what I say, I have this whole spiel I do with Maine Calling The show is an hour long, it's in three parts We go to two breaks, we're going to take You know, I'll just talk with you until the first break And then after that we'll take calls, listener calls If we get a random call that has nothing to do with the topic Don't worry about it, I'll handle it You know, and you can just see people's stress levels going You know, they just want to sort of understand what's going to happen One of the lines I like to say, and it's true in my case I don't know how hardcore I mean, you guys are interviewers But I say this is not AM Talk Radio No one's going to call you and yell at you This is public radio and you can see people go You know, it's, you know, explaining to people how it goes Is just very helpful When I would do television, when I do Maine Watch I'd say look at me, pretend the camera's not there If you really, really, really want to be advanced You can go from me to the camera and back and treat the camera like a person But really, just if you look at me it's going to be best I used to have this line that say if you look right into the camera You're going to look like a politician, you know And it was always got to laugh when a person was a politician But, you know, I just, you know, I just sort of tell them how it goes And, you know, that person over there is the floor director And, you know, sometimes I'd take them in the control room And say this is, meet everybody And just the more real you make it and the less sort of secretive you make it The better people are So the next section is what I really, really have come to believe Is my philosophy, is that you're there for the audience You're there for your listener and your viewer My thing that I don't like in interviewers Is when interviewers sound to me as though they're very impressed with themselves And that they are trying to impress the person they're interviewing It's not about, I feel like it's not about me It's about my audience And so the whole time I'm on the air I'm thinking about What would the listener want to know? What should my follow-up question be? If I were sitting in my car listening to the radio Or in my couch watching television, what would I want to know? And everything comes from that point of view And to be honest that's kind of liberating If you're not, if you sort of get rid of your ego And just try to really focus on what the listener, the viewer wants Sort of a lot of clutter goes away Are any of you guys old enough or lived in Maine long enough To remember Bob Elliott on Channel 6? Yeah, Bob told me one time, when I started Channel 6 in 1994 I was given a desk across from Bob Elliott One of the great honors and privileges of my life And one time he told me, Jen, you've got to get rid of the self-consciousness Just let it go, shake it off It's just in your way And it was as though a light bulb went off And he told me something that was just profoundly true The more self-conscious you are, the worse your interview is going to be The worse you're going to be And I think we're all sort of raised to try to be a certain person Be a certain way In high school and college we give these presentations in front of class Where we're judged on diction and grammar And the sooner you get rid of all that, the better you're going to be And so it's all about the audience Ask the questions your viewer wants you to ask Not necessarily the questions the interviewee wants you to ask Follow-up is something that's unclear, you know When someone... Acronyms, unless the acronym is CIA, FBI Or, I'm trying to think of the... Yeah, LSD, you know I was listening to air last night But, you know, with very few exceptions If someone uses an acronym, just stop them and say Oh, you mean the Drug Enforcement Agency You know, I mean it sounds like a silly thing But you're advocating for your listener or your viewer When you do that Again, don't worry about trying to look smart Keep the interview moving Another liberating thing is Ask short questions It's easier to ask short questions and you get better answers So, how often have you asked a question Do you start and you turn this way and you turn this way And then you're stumbling over yourself And you're thinking, where am I going with this? I've had to train myself But it's easier to ask short questions And if your interviewee is rambling It's okay to interrupt Or when Gratz taught me When I started at Public Radio He said, it's the funniest thing, Jennifer When you start talking, they stop You know And most of the time it works Sometimes it doesn't, but that's what the pot is for And then don't be afraid to ask the hard questions I read years and years ago when Katie Couric Tipped over for the Today Show The person who is executive producer at the time Jeff Sucker, I think it was, told her You can ask anything you want And this will date the comment You can ask anything you want as long as you ask it Like a lady Now, somebody wouldn't say that now But the point is, if you are polite And civilized and you are warm You can ask anything And I found that to be true The other day I had the author of the new book About the Northpon Herman on the show And he was fired from the New York Times About a decade ago for fabricating a story I had to ask him about it So I just asked him, you know He knew the question was coming He answered it I asked him a follow-up question And he moved on, you know Sometimes it's kind of scary to ask tough questions You just do it And you don't do it in a mean way You don't have to scold someone You don't have to yell at them You don't have to berate them Just ask the question And then finally, listen And what I wrote I really believe If you're a curious person And you're engaged in your interview It's hard to go wrong And, you know You're all here because you're curious I'm guessing, right? So that's my summary questions Yeah You pick your own interview So we have a team They're two and a half of ours We have an executive producer Me and a half-time producer It's sort of a continual conversation Among the three of us Yeah, so some shows I've set up Entirely myself And some I haven't at all And I mean I know what the topic is I've been in on the discussions About whether it's a good idea To do that topic But I'm trying to think Tomorrow's program I set up Friday's, I did not So Friday I know that the topic Is women in brewing in Maine But I don't know who the guests are Yeah, I may know them when they come in Because we've done some brewing shows before So, yeah What's your take on interviewees Asking to see the questions Before the interview? So, that's interesting you ask Most of my questions from the public So I say to them, I don't know I don't usually do that What I usually say, and this is the truth I say to them, I usually prepare My questions right before the show So I can't share those with you now Because I haven't written them yet I can give you a general idea Of what I'm planning to ask And in fact I did this just Monday We had legislative leadership Instead of having the speaker of the house And the senate president We had the house majority leader And the senate majority leader And on Friday afternoon The senate majority leader's assistant Asked what the questions would be Not quite that specifically And I said, Chris I haven't written them yet I said, but I can tell you I'll probably ask about education funding That's big in the news I'll probably ask about the governor's State of the state address I'll probably ask about the supplemental budget And opiate addiction But I'll be preparing that morning But just kind of just generally saying What I'm thinking about was fine That's really, you know, what she wanted to know But I've never written out questions Submitted them, gotten them approved Had them send back or anything with any interview I don't do that now Go ahead So that hermit guy who knew the question Just because that's kind of an elephant Elephant in the room Yeah Oh, okay Yeah, it was even in the press information That we got He was, he, oh he knew His reputation He knew what his reputation was So he So was it that you prepared that question That I had a time in here? You know, it's funny I did actually Write that one down word for word Before I went on the air Because I wanted to ask it well And if something's touchy I will spend a little more time Crafting a question that's An open question But a question that's Direct You know, a combination of One of the things I'm always telling my kids Because I think this is great advice in life And not just at interviews But when a question is open and possible You know, don't say why on earth did you do that Say why did you do that Or, you know, just So I wanted to be an open question But I also wanted to be a very direct question You know, how do you How do you answer those who are skeptical About your work after what you did You know, and So Yeah, I am a little more Careful in crafting questions That might be more sensitive Having said that, if I'm Doing in the middle of a program If something pops in my head I'll just ask it I don't care So the other side And you had guests come on saying I will not talk about this or this If someone were to say that To me Prior to a program I would probably not have them On my program Yeah, I'm trying to think Remember if there's been a time It hasn't happened in a long time Knock on wood What I used to get Sometimes with main watches That people wouldn't appear together Which And it was never on a topic you would think It was never on the big fiery Topic that was really controversial The most Difficult show to book if my memory Is correct was we did a show on coyotes And I guess there's a lot Of There's a lot of strong feelings About the people involved in the two Sides in the coyote issue Whether coyotes are killing deer Or whether coyotes should be allowed To thrive. But that caught me by surprise Because I was also booking shows That week on really controversial Initiatives. People are fine with that. They knew each other. Yeah, go ahead. Kind of a complicated question I was wondering about Do you get the quality of the answer You get from someone? Does it depend on the tone Which you ask it sometimes? I think so. Manipulate your tone to get a certain response Or a tougher question you have to Sure, so I'm not one of those kind of reporters But I do know reporters Who, you'll see them do an interview And they'll ask one nice question One nice question, one nice question And then they'll ask a singer And they'll do it intentionally I have even seen a reporter Who turns to his camera operator And does a wink, like this is going to be the one You know, and That's not my style I was kind of getting into You could have a tough question Not sugarcoating it, but you know The tougher ones are going to be a little bit more Difficult with the answer Are you a little more gentle? I wonder if I am, I don't know Because I've been hearing on radio for so long So the woman who hosts the show That's a lot like mine and Vermont In Vermont Public Radio We got to me and went out to lunch And she said that her friends say To her, I always can tell When you're going to ask a really hard question Because your voice goes up and you get really nice And so she's done it For a long time And I've never had anyone say that to me So I don't know if I do that But I'm sure it's possible, you know Yeah It's not that Common, I mean, I'm just You know, if you're having a dinner With somebody and you Ask them something tough, you just ask it You don't, you know There are tactful ways to ask Right Ask it like a lady But you know, just ask Respectfully You're not saying I think you're a bad person You're saying I'm going to ask you something That a lot of people want to know Because it's controversial People get that They're not appearing on a TV or radio show If they don't get that I think you said earlier Don't ask the question that the interviewing Wants to just let them tell their story Not necessarily Think of your audience and ask their question But on controversial issues Your audience is very split If you were interviewing The president or Planned Parenthood In New England You asked questions about How much could they do with healthcare for women And another one to question How they feel and how she feels about Abortion So you asked both You asked both You know, I start and say What exactly does Planned Parenthood do And You know, I wouldn't say What good do you do for women Because that's a leading question I would say what services do you provide And I actually probably wouldn't even ask that I would know what services they provide And I would say You know On your website you say you provide This service, this service, this service What do most people come for How many abortions a month do you provide How many other places in Maine Provide abortions Those are a number of questions as I asked you What's the climate like now One little trick I often ask people things If I suspect, especially they've done something for a long time I'll have asked them ahead of time How long have you been had a Planned Parenthood And if somebody says I know that's not the case with the director of Planned Parenthood here But let's say she said 20 years I would ask How has What you do changed In the last 20 years An open-ended question, opportunity to say Just about anything You know, oh we serve 10 times As many people as we used to We don't get the funding we used to It's just really hard to always have to Have an armed guard in the lobby That's not the atmosphere we want to provide Again an open question That's based on finding out a little bit of information About her first So Go ahead What is the point where you feel comfortable Interjecting Particularly when you have someone's verbose That is The big question Interjecting Interrupting when someone goes on and on and on It's funny because I'm trying to Be better at that I'm trying to be better at cutting people off earlier And And I've gotten criticized a couple times For that I think for every One person who's upset when I cut someone else There's off, there are 25 people Who are glad I did So You have to use your instinct If you're sitting there and you're sort of thinking It's time Yeah And If you're looking at them in the eye And you're engaged And you just jump in It doesn't feel like you're interrupting You know It's little Right Enough with that You're going on and on There are other ways to do it So I'll say things to people What I do during debates I don't do it during interviews as much But I will say I try really If somebody has two sides of an issue I'll say beforehand I'm going to try really hard to keep this fair And so if I feel as though one of you Is going on and taking more time I will cut you off And so They kind of have that in their head already That they're not going to try to take advantage Of the situation So in debates We used to time debates At public television and public radio And it was easy because the red light Came on and so I cut them off But this last time around we didn't time them We didn't time our answers We had someone in the control room keeping track And I let them know that I said we're not going to have a hard and fast time But someone's going to be keeping track And they're going to let me know And if one person is going On more than the other It's going to feel to you like I'm feeding more questions One way or the other Again transparency being really up front This is how we're doing it And I didn't have anybody through all the primary Debates, main callings Or the regular debates Nobody including the referendum Nobody complained about feeling like We're going to have more time or more Because right at the beginning I said This is what we're doing It's a little different, it's more casual Than we've done it before But there's someone in the control room Keeping track of how much time Each of you is getting And people seem to appreciate that And get it You're a very public figure You well know Does that make you circumspect About forcing your own strong feelings Why did you work at the agency? I don't think, see I'm a journalist So I don't think I ought to I don't put Political signs in my lawn I'm not registering a political party I absolutely Don't talk about my personal issues I don't talk about my personal Feelings about things on facebook You know I posted a picture of my daughter getting ice cream at reds When it was 12 degrees outside Does that extend to your family? My husband knows how I feel about things A lot of things How do I say this My husband knows how I feel about things My kids will be rolling their eyes Right now and saying my mom always has to Tell me both sides of every issue You know one question turns into a lecture It happened today in the car with Julia My daughter trying to explain to her Why some people might feel some way about an issue She just couldn't understand how people would See the other side I think they could tell you how I feel But they could also tell you the other side Go ahead What interviewer's Shows do you listen to and admire And in particular there's two That I tend to listen to a lot And I was curious about those If others like Terry Gross And Christa Tippett So it's funny I don't usually get to listen to Christa Tippett But I had a very early morning drive On Sunday morning and I heard her And it was so fun because I thought it was terrific I really admire Diana A lot, Diane Rehm Who just retired I don't have cable television at home So I can't really talk about that You know I like the PBS I like Charlie Rose And I Loved Diane Rehm I think my style is very different Than Tom Ashbrooks And I actually To be honest with you, I don't listen that often Because I'm preparing for my show At that point in the morning And so I have the classical music on Because I get too distracted by I can't listen to On point and prepare for my show At the same time Diane Rehm, I do like Terry Gross a great deal My I rarely ever get to do cultural programs I do a few but you know It's a different kind of interview But what I like about Terry Gross Is that she follows my rule Of she doesn't try to sound smart Or you know You don't get the sense that she's beating herself Like look at how great I am And how many people I know She's gentle and like a regular person On the air, yeah Maybe this should be the last question To an interview Well, there's one back there, right? A question back there, yeah, go ahead I was going to ask you Is your show edited a lot And Do you ever really disagree with your director And how do you resolve it? So I do a radio show now that's live So it's not edited at all When I did main watch It was A little bit It's funny My director and I almost had code With each other We would try to tape as live We would say We want this segment to be about 12 minutes And he would count me down To 12 minutes And if I kept going He would know That I'd already in my mind's eye Thought there was a section that was bad And was going to need to be cut And he He knew what segment Because he agreed It was usually obvious Somebody had a coughing fit Or somebody just kept saying the same thing Over and over again I'm sure you all have had those interviews Or someone sort of in a loop And they just keep repeating themselves It's funny you say that Because we really tried to do as live But we sort of had a little bit of a code We would not do a 30 minute Interview that became 12 minutes But we'd be making that decision almost Like On the fly So If that makes sense When you work with the same people Over and over again You get to know each other And he'd say Two minutes, one minute You're going longer, aren't you? That's what I'd be hearing in my ear You're going longer, aren't you? I get it It was kind of funny. He was a very good director Yeah So Would one of the access producers like To volunteer to be the guest on Jennifer Rook's show here tonight? Matthew's producer? One of the producers who's made Matthew, did you... Sure, okay. Matthew had a visit with Matthew Francis And he has a show And he shows what he does here on What's the topic of your show, Matthew? How do we address transgender issues? Great. Okay, great. So I'm going to break all my rules here Because I would have prepared I would have Watched your show I would have Some idea Of what's going on In the news today Oh, you're not hiding your wire So Matthew, tell me again your last name? Francis. Okay, so let me think So if I I would have watched the show I would have sort of done If we're going to talk about Transgender issues I would have done something really sophisticated I would have gone to news.google.com And typed in the word transgender To see if there was any big news that I missed That I would, you know Be remiss not to ask about So I'll just show you some open questions Matthew, why did you decide to be A producer For community television? Well, I did because in August 2015 I had been invited To Augusta to speak Out the names of some trans folks who had been killed For being who they were And truthfully I just had an alarming thought Like what if it's me next year And I thought this is an emergency And that we needed to normalize The situation And that this might be a great forum to do so How did that lead to a television show? Did you just knock on the door down here? No, I had met My friend Tom Handel at a mixer And just kind of Spontaneously came up with that idea And lo and behold he worked here And so we weren't from there How do you find your guests? Wonderful, interesting They come to me Now they ask Sometimes they even demand to be on the show Other times So they've been some community folks And then there's even been some Nationally renowned folks Well, let me ask you a question that Some of you were asking me You're talking about a very personal Very sensitive topic How do you prepare for your interviews? I do similar, I do the research I usually have coffee with them I try to get a feel for where we're going to go I usually have a topic in mind And so that's how I approach it And then it's improv, most of it Are you transgender yourself? I am And do you share your story When you're on the air, when you're talking with them Is it a personal conversation? It hasn't been I've been the one to ask the questions And draw them out and kind of keep the story on them But lately I have been hearing a lot of people Like I want to know more about you Yeah, doing a little bit more involved So do you ever pose questions saying Well, when I told My parents, I did this What about you? Or do you don't pose them that way? Or No, I haven't done it like that That's a good idea I'm not trying to give you an idea That's a great idea Well, it's interesting because There's always that And I have that conflict How much do you talk about yourself I think there are some listeners and viewers Who do really want to know And then there are others Who kind of roll their eyes Oh, Jennifer's talking about her kids again You know, it'll be a show about education And I'll say, well, my daughter, blah, blah, blah And so you do kind of have to Figure it out for yourself But I bet you I bet you have a following that would be Really interested in I do have a following I love her I did just interview me for my own show And it's being aired right now Oh really? That's right now Okay, so you guys You see, I asked Really broad questions They weren't yes or no questions They didn't have numbers I looked you right in the eye I pretended they weren't there It sounds like It's also obvious But you all know that it's harder That it seems when you're in front of a camera Yeah And I feel like I could just share everything with you Oh, thank you And I really am interested I really want to see your show now And I think that's part of the key Is to make yourself interested And you all are choosing your own topics So you are anyway Every once in a while I'll get a topic That I think, oh gosh But I just make myself be interested in it You know, and so I use acronyms and words I don't know, you know But I don't play video games But I made myself interested today So anyway Well thanks! Thank you Yeah I'll be out of 40 I'll just look on the website Yeah, I'd love to see it And I'll have you on main calling Sounds good There you go Anything else you guys? Thank you Yeah, I'm still Oh, do I have a question? No? I have a lot of questions We hear a lot of talk about The lack of civility in society Yeah What if anything Can you as an interviewer do To help address that Well, I just try to be civil On my own program And I don't I try to be really firmly I have one program a day In Maine And I can do my best I can with my program Do you want to name the issue And deal with it as a topic? The civility? Yeah, I think that would be a great topic We've done fake news, we've talked I don't think we've done a show Just on civility But we've done shows in which We've discussed the lack of civility In fact, we just did that We do a month in review Program with journalists And that was a part of the discussion There's some important Working on that very issue Yeah, it's a good topic But can I understand That you Walk the walk You act in a very Similar way And you change starts With you when you demonstrate that Yeah, thank you It's just My style and what I believe in And you know It's my own Silent protest Of maybe not silent protest But I'm not going to be One of them, I'm not going to yell I'm not going to call people names Thank you As a woman in the public eye And being a journalist, what are some of the issues That you face and how did you handle them As a sexism or not being looked at As you know, up there Speak like a lady as an example Yeah, nobody ever told me that That was before my day But I bet you have had Some experiences I've been really, really lucky My first job in a TV newsroom Was in San Francisco In a very, very Progressive, diverse television Newsroom, first Television station in the country So, you know I haven't faced Anything overt I'm one of those people who's I feel as though I can name a few times in my career Where I'm not sure somebody would have talked to me The way they would They would talk to a man differently Than they talk to me But I haven't had some of the experiences Women in maybe even Older than I have had in this Business Has it changed? Since The women before me I think a lot, it's changed a great deal Sure, I was told when I was In my young 20s That I was going to have to make a choice If I wanted to be A broadcast journalist I wasn't going to get married and have kids That I had to choose The reality was You have to make a choice You can't do both Not in this business And I remember even then thinking Well, just watch me And sure I'm not a network correspondent I'm not a national public radio I'm not jetting around the world But I have A beautiful family And I cooked dinner I put dinner in the crock pot this morning To work and I've done it And I don't know If I could have done it if I were The generation ahead of me I think those women had to really Work hard and were Crazy brutal hours To prove themselves And I'm Grateful, they paved the path For my generation of women to have it Much better So, go ahead But I've seen what you do When I called in and you had like A call-in show with A representative And I asked a question and he was dismissive So I just hung up And then you said Well, you didn't answer the question What would you, and then you rephrase the question So there's a little bit of What you do Is really strong And that's what I said on my piece of paper To really listen So I think what happens a lot In an interview show is that And I've found myself Doing this, you're so focused on coming up With the next question That you forget to listen to what the next You know, you ask a question and the person starts To answer and you start thinking What am I going to ask next Instead of just listening But you asked a question And I was listening for the answer And the person didn't give the answer So I repeated the question But if I weren't listening And I have to say I'm not perfect that way Because I've got a lot coming at me Because I've got a screen That's got the list of calls And I've got another, the bottom of the screen Is the emails and texts coming in And tweets coming in And so I'm kind of watching things And trying to listen at the same time So I'm not perfect There are times when I probably ought To ask a follow-up question But I'm sort of Focusing on, you know That email that just came in And should I ask that or is it You know But when I was doing television It was just the two of us You know, you really really And Diane Rehm says that When people ask her what her secret is She says it's to listen Really listen Really pay attention to what people are saying And then go with your gut and follow up You know, there are limitations though You know, if you're coming up to a break If you want to cover a broad You know, you're often making this choice of Gee, I want to follow up on that question But I also want to get to these four other things And I only have this much time left So you're sometimes always making this call Of should I ask the follow-up question Or just let it go and ask the next question Because I want to get to this topic too You know, and You just got to sort of Do your best at that moment You know So What are your guys' biggest problems with gas? What are your biggest issues? They ramble If they're used to being interviewed They kind of almost take it over Yeah Yeah, jump in I requested an interview with somebody From my hometown Which is kind of isolated In the middle of nowhere And he had his PR Person write me back and asked me About the experience I had Oh my gosh And we're from a very small town On the east coast of Newfoundland Yeah So I don't know if it was like Is he a really big deal? In his mind But he's just like a local kid That kind of made it big And he's going to be in Maine For two days doing concerts If it's in he's starting a mental health Organization back home It's like And I said well I actually Better with hockey players Does he want to do it on states? That's the issue that I get sometimes I've had interviews turned down Do you know his direct address? Can you go around his PR person? I've done it on Twitter And said hey you want to do an interview When you're in town and he said Get in touch with my So the email went to his PR person I thought it was him directly I've been doing it for years And I've interviewed musicians But it wasn't related to music So it was kind of like It was a shot I can do it I know his songs Do I have to sing his songs? I'm not going to ask about that I didn't ask what I was going to ask Have you done musicians before? It sounds like a witness test And if you didn't give the right answer Then you would just pull it away With different organizations Who will check in credibility That's interesting I've always worked This is Jennifer Rook's Main Public Radio So I haven't had to do that I think you just have to Do the best you can What do you know about The audience for community television So they don't really have Public television You can say our community television station Reaches This many people The show will broadcast Three times Here's what I can tell you about My program I host a show on mental health In Portland's community television station We have an audience of this Many people And if he says no It's not him I feel like if I could get in touch with him It would be different Are you performing Right here Either at the state or port city Or somewhere like that Brunswick and Some other places You could say our studio is literally One block from where you're performing Coming into the studio to do an interview In here and I thought that might Swam Sometimes people just don't do it The flip side of that is Sometimes people do I'm just going to say yes So Yeah I've been surprised both ways I've been surprised when people say no And I've been surprised when people say yes Oh yeah Never hurts to ask Go ahead I used to do an interview show Where most of my guests Were political organizers and activists And almost every question Was if I pushed a button for a political speech Yeah And to get To just change the tempo Of what you were describing A much shorter back and forth I really had to work at it Yeah, it's not easy It's not easy Go ahead Jennifer, I was just going to ask you About really sensitive topics I loved your show About the Muslim community I had no idea there were seven mosques In Maine I really loved that show For the informational part of it But in regards to like Like Matthew Transgender rights Or the Muslim community Do you ever find it challenging That like personally You really want to Sort of validate and protect That you're interviewing But you also have to sort of be objective And do you ever feel And also When I'm interviewing people When I Don't live in that community I'm worried that I'm going to say something Offensive without meaning to Or But I think people Again, if you're really Sort of like I said transparent About how you do your show I think people don't take it that way Even if you ask something And it's all in the tone You know, there's So many questions you can ask Somebody asked it, it'd be offensive And somebody else asked it And you just like laugh because it sounded so funny The way they asked it, you know But sure, I really do I worry about that especially With sensitive topics Yeah Yeah, absolutely I think you wouldn't be a human being if you You know, I mean you wouldn't That wouldn't be good If you didn't worry about that kind of thing There's a lot of pressure to get those Juicy sound bites but also Hold space for the people to sound I don't have to worry about Sound bites anymore Yeah, that was the old Jennifer That the Daily News I had to get good sound bites But again, even if it's a sensitive Topic, if you guys are doing field Reporting where you're going to be cutting And whether it's a documentary or a two Minute news piece Huh, is a great question Like Or what do you mean by that? You know And I had a A roommate, I worked in Monterey, California Who had asked the same question like five times Because she just wants somebody To say it really well And she's an anchor in it In Los Angeles right now so she did well But yeah, I think about I think about things a lot But I think people know I'm a nice person, I'm trying my best And even if I ask something really dumb They are not Or they act like they're not Fended at least Maybe they really are Yeah Thank you very much