Popular Radio Host Diane Rehm to Retire Next Year: Report

PHOTO: Diane Rehm, photo from dianerehmshow.org

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WASHINGTON, DC — One of the nation’s most popular radio hosts tells The Washington Post she plans to retire next year.

Diane Rehm, host of WAMU-produced “The Diane Rehm Show,” says she plans to retire from the daily airwaves after next year’s presidential election.

Rehm, 79, is a native Washingtonian who began her radio career in 1973 as a volunteer for WAMU 88.5, the NPR member station in Washington, D.C. She was hired as an assistant producer and later became the host and producer of two health-oriented programs. In 1979, she began hosting WAMU’s local morning talk show, Kaleidoscope, which was renamed The Diane Rehm Show in 1984.

The Diane Rehm Show has grown from a local program to one with international reach and a weekly on-air audience of more than 2.4 million. A growing number of listeners also catch the program on its website, drshow.org, or via podcast. Video of the show’s Friday Domestic News Hour is available online, as are video spots with special guests.

The program is produced by WAMU 88.5 at American University and distributed by NPR to nearly 200 stations across the country. The program is also distributed by NPR Worldwide, SIRIUS XM satellite radio and the Armed Forces Network.

Rehm is the author of three best-selling autobiographical books: Finding My Voice (Knopf, 1999), in which she describes her childhood, marriage, career, and voice disorder; Toward Commitment: A Dialogue about Marriage (Knopf, 2002), a deeply personal book co-authored with her husband, John; and her most recent book, Life With Maxie (Gibbs Smith, 2010), a lighthearted story about her dog. Her fourth book, On My Own, is to be published by Knopf in 2016.

Rehm is exploring a continuing relationship with WAMU after her retirement from her show, she told The Post.

Read the Washington Post story here.