JOHNSON CITY (March 8, 2013) – Radio personality Diane Rehm will be the featured speaker at East Tennessee State University’s Roy S. Nicks-Willene Paxton Distinguished Lecture on Thursday, March 21, at 7 p.m. at the Martha Street Culp Auditorium in the D.P. Culp University Center. A reception and book signing will follow in the Alumni Gallery area outside the auditorium.

Rehm began her career in 1973 as a volunteer producer for WAMU 88.5, a Washington, D.C. member of National Public Radio (NPR). By 1984, she was host of the station’s “Diane Rehm Show.”

Each week, more than 2.2 million listeners across the country tune in the show, which has become one of NPR’s most popular programs. She is heard on more than 160 stations nationwide through NPR, NPR Worldwide and SIRIUS XM satellite radio. Local listeners hear her on WETS-FM/HD weekdays from 10 a.m.-noon.

During her two-hour programs, Rehm includes questions and comments from listeners who call to participate in a civil exchange of ideas on topics ranging from Iraq and the U.S. economy to the art of landscape design and James Joyce’s novel Ulysses. Newsweek magazine called Rehm’s show one of the most interesting talk shows in the country and the National Journal says Rehm is “the class act of the talk radio world.”

Rehm’s guests have included then-Sen. Barack Obama, former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Sen. John McCain, author Toni Morrison and photographer Annie Liebovits. Rehm was the first radio talk show host to interview a sitting president in the Oval Office when she interviewed President Bill Clinton.

The Diane Rehm Show was named to the Top 10 list of the most powerful programs in public radio in 2007 and 2008, the only live call-in talk show on the list. In 2010, Rehm won a Peabody award for her more than 30 years in public broadcasting.

In 1998, Rehm developed spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological voice disorder that causes strained, difficult speech. After treatment, she returned to the show and called attention to the condition. The National Council on Communicative Disorders recognized her work with an award and ABC’s Nightline devoted a program to a conversation with Rehm about the disorder.

Rehm is the author of three books, including Finding My Voice, Toward Commitment: A Dialogue about Marriage, and Life with Maxie.

For additional information, or to arrange special assistance for those with disabilities, contact Teresa Brooks Taylor at (423) 439-7776 or taylort@etsu.edu.