Dear Studs, We Are Listening

Known as a master interviewer, Terkel was able to establish an easy rapport with just about anyone. His secret, he once said, was simple: "It's listening."

Studs Terkel~ May 16, 1912-October 31, 2008. A master chronicler of American 20th century life, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, spirited radio-show host, oral historian, veteran radical and the pulse & soul of Chicago, has died at 96. Yet all these glowing descriptions still don't convey how profound a man he was.
As the late CBS newsman Charles Kuralt once said: "When Studs Terkel listens, everybody talks."

What can I say here...I love Studs Terkel. My husband and I are friends with a family who by chance, became Studs' next door neighbors. I would say half joking (and a little more than half serious), "So when are you having us over for dinner with Studs?" Now that would have been a night to remember.

Listening to Studs' radio shows never fail to stir up my emotions, to make me think, to feel how that we as humans - from all walks of life- are irrevocably connected... and frequently left me without a dry eye. I've never heard Bob Dylan open up to anyone the way he did with Studs in 1963 (listen here). How fortunate we all are to have shared time on this planet with such an remarkable individual. Chicago misses you, the world misses you. Thank you for leaving an incredible legacy. And because of you Studs, we will be listening.

Hear downloads of his Conversations With America at Studs Terkel official web site