NPR Talk Show Host Diane Rehm shares advice with future broadcasters

"I never took no for an answer," Diane Rehm, a National Public Radio talk show host said on Wednesday, April 14, in the Donald C. Bedell Performance Hall at Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus.

Rehm, host of NPR's "The Diane Rehm Show," was the final speaker in the 2013-2014 Southeast Speakers Series. Unlike most of the speakers in the series who deliver prepared remarks, Rehm's speech was more of a conversation, with retired Southeast faculty member Tom Harte acting as moderator.

Rehm spoke about how she is a first-generation Arab American, how she got started in broadcasting and about her voice problem called spasmodic dysphonia, which requires her to travel to Portland, Ore., to receive Botox injections into her vocal cords.

"To a doctor, they all kept saying to me 'It's all in your head,'" Rehm said. "The more they said that, the more concerned I became."

Rehm, who was born and raised in Washington, D.C., began her career in radio in 1973 as a volunteer for her local station WAMU.

Jacob McCleland, host and news producer for southeast Missouri's NPR station KRCU, said that he thought her speech was fantastic.

"She was inspiring, she was funny, very endearing," McCleland said. "I think like she brought a lot of her life experiences here to Cape Girardeau. Like the story of success that she was able to develop for herself in broadcasting."

Southeast President Kenneth W. Dobbins introduced Harte and Rehm at the beginning of the event, and announced that speakers for next year are being talked about. He also said that suggestions for next year's Speakers Series can be emailed to him at president@semo.edu.