Dave Davies started masking native politics and authorities for WHYY in Philadelphia in 1982.
WHYY
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WHYY
Dave Davies started masking native politics and authorities for WHYY in Philadelphia in 1982.
WHYY
After 22 years of interviews, longtime Recent Air contributor and fill-in host Dave Davies is slicing again on his workload.
For years Davies has contributed not less than one interview per week to Recent Air, and oftentimes extra — particularly when the matters concern sports activities, investigative journalism or historical past. Davies is all the time enthusiastic about the expertise of the listener.
”If … one thing is not clear as a result of the visitor is utilizing shorthand for one thing or it is simply not fairly working, you must intervene not directly to verify the viewers stays with it,” he says. ”The viewers is all the time in your thoughts.”
A local of Lubbock, Texas, Davies grew up in Corpus Christi and moved to Philadelphia in 1975, the place he initially labored as a taxi driver and a welder. In 1982, he discovered his technique to the WHYY newsroom, masking native politics and authorities. He left in 1986 for stints at KYW Newsradio and the Philadelphia Day by day Information, however returned to public radio doing free-lance gigs, together with Recent Air interviews, starting in 2001.
Although Davies sometimes hears a Philly accent creep into his speech, you are unlikely to discover a hint of Texas in his voice — both on-air or in actual life.
Dave Davies stands exterior of the Recent Air studio in Philadelphia with a group of press passes from through the years.
Molly Seavy-Nesper/WHYY
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Molly Seavy-Nesper/WHYY
Dave Davies stands exterior of the Recent Air studio in Philadelphia with a group of press passes from through the years.
Molly Seavy-Nesper/WHYY
”I keep in mind in junior excessive and highschool being conscious that the folks on tv, just like the newscasters, spoke this normal English,” Davies says. ”And I type of I simply determined to try this.”
Davies will not be signing off utterly from WHYY. You may nonetheless hear him interviewing company on Recent Air — simply much less continuously. And, in fact, he’ll proceed to convey his A-game to the listeners.
”The one factor that I’ve achieved from the start is to actually put together very, very completely for each interview as a result of there’s a typical right here, proper?” he says. ”The thorough preparation is basically, I feel, in some methods one of many issues that defines the present.”
Click on on the audio hyperlink above to listen to clips of a few of Davies’ most compelling interviews, together with conversations with Frank Calabrese Jr. (2011); novelist Kate Christensen (2013); biographer Robert Caro (2019); and sports activities announcer Joe Buck (2017).
Heidi Saman and Seth Kelley produced and edited this interview for broadcast, with help from Roberta Shorrock. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey tailored it for the net.