Nightline Thurs: Koppel and STUDS TERKEL

[Bozita]

Set the VCR.

email:

Listening to America

Oct. 13, 2005 —

How many 93-year-olds do you know who are going strong after breaking their necks and undergoing open heart surgery? Then again, there are very few 93-year-olds quite like Studs Terkel, an American original.

To be a good interviewer, you have to be a good listener. And for most of his long life, Studs Terkel has opened his ears to people across America who aren't the most sought-after interviewees. Terkel has chronicled the trials and tribulations of the country's working men and women. But before he launched his career as an oral historian, he was one of America's most eclectic radio hosts, spinning records as diverse as Enrico Caruso and Louis Armstrong, on a program called "The Wax Museum." His new book, "And They All Sang: Adventures of an Eclectic Disc Jockey" (New Press), recalls a period when music didn't come out of the radio in synthetic niche formats.

Ted Koppel talks with Terkel about his secret as an interviewer ("ineptitude"). Terkel also reveals what's kept him going all these years: the awakening that the average person experiences after being interviewed and hearing his or her voice come out of a tape recorder for the first time. His passion has also been politics and he expresses his frustration that much of the New Deal is being dismantled. Terkel concedes he's an old lefty, but doesn't blanche at the description – hardly.

Boundlessly curious, Studs Terkel at 93 is getting around to thinking about his unfinished memoir – it's of someone, he says, who didn't know when to quit. "The Devil may be scratching at the door," Terkel acknowledges, "but I ain't answering."

This is a Ted Koppel conversation you'll want to watch.

Richard Harris and the "Nightline" staff
Senior Producer
ABC News Washington Bureau

[Missy M]

1. I can't miss this tonight because I have always loved Studs Terkel!!!

[Bozita]

2. kick

[Bozita]

3. kick

[peekaloo]

4. Worthy kick.

Amy Goodman had him on last week. Still kickin' at 93, bless his heart!

[Blue_Tires]

5. he was godd in "eight men out"

[Bozita]

6. kick