Why do NPR hosts get personal?

NPR hosts tend to get personal on air. They talk about themselves or drop in details about their families and home life, and listeners write in and share their views on this NPR mannerism. Some listeners appreciate these tidbits. They feel more connected to the hosts, and more invested in the journalism.

But not all listeners are thrilled with personal interjections from the hosts. Some in NPR's audience find it quite irritating. They just want the news and not the personal details. We in the Public Editor's office are more likely to hear from those audience members.

Carlos Carmonamedina for NPR Public Editor /

Hosts interject themselves into a segment or interview to forge a connection with the NPR audience. For example, Morning Edition hosts Steve Inskeep and A Martínez had a lighthearted exchange about running in a brief segment about getting into the TCS New York City Marathon. Ailsa Chang in January referenced growing up in an Asian community in Silicon Valley in the '80s and '90s before introducing an author on All Things Considered. And back in 2023, Mary Louise Kelly prefaced her ATC interview with bestselling author Judy Blume with a personal remembrance about reading "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret" as a girl.

"Humans like to get news from humans," said Jaime Spencer, chief operating officer for the research firm Magid. "And a journalist has admittedly just a few shots to be able to demonstrate humanity."

Radio hosts are most memorable to the audience when they are human and approachable, Spencer said, adding that two qualities help hosts flourish on air — competence and authenticity.

"I have to feel like you're an authentic person for me to connect with you," Spencer said. "And if I connect with you, I am going to be more likely to consume news from you."

For this installment of the News Literacy Edition of the NPR Public Editor newsletter, we address questions from listeners who are irked by this practice. And without getting too personal, we spoke with several hosts at NPR, the vice president for news programming, and an outside expert to understand why this is done, and how it serves the audience.

We often hear from listeners who are unhappy. Over the years, audience members have shared their opinions about hosts getting personal. We include a few below:

Part of an NPR host's job is to connect with the audience. One tool for doing that is to reveal a glimpse of their own humanity. But when is the best time to do that? It's something Scott Detrow thinks about often. His reasons are intrinsically tied to his goals as weekend host of All Things Considered, NPR's flagship evening news magazine. The first objective is to get the best conversation possible with whoever he's interviewing — whether that's a newsmaker, an NPR reporter or an outside guest.

"The second is to build a relationship with the audience because — especially as a solo host of a show — I feel like I am trying to bring you along to be your companion through whatever the news of the day is," Detrow said. "And I feel like it's really important for both of those jobs to talk as much as possible on the radio like we talk in person, to have conversations."

It takes time and work on behalf of hosts to strengthen their ties to the audience. There is no special formula.

"It's important for our hosts to build a relationship with the audience, and it's important to have that getting-to-know-you phase of the relationship," Eric Marrapodi, vice president for news programming, told us. "And I think the more people recognize and see hosts as human beings who cheer for sports teams and have had very specific life experiences, it makes them easier to trust. And it makes them more real and more three-dimensional as a person, and makes the audience more likely to come back and spend time with them."

Last October, Martínez introduced an author this way: "Let's be honest. Families can be a lot sometimes. And I should know. I have a big one. Among many other family members, I was raised by my mom and her five sisters — my five tías — in one little house in Koreatown in Los Angeles. And while it was a lot sometimes, they made me, well, me."

Martínez then interviewed Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, author of "Tías and Primas" (in English, "Aunts and Cousins").

His setup was intentional. The book's subject matter resonated.

"And because of that, I felt that I could ask questions that other hosts that didn't grow up like me, couldn't ask — wouldn't know to ask. That's probably the best way to put it," Martínez told me. "The reason why I'll inject myself like that sometimes is because it puts me in a position of being able to ask questions that aren't obvious to someone else that isn't in that same situation."

In late February, Detrow aired an interview on Weekend All Things Considered with Dan Robson, a writer for The Athletic, ahead of the final of the 4 Nations Face-Off between the United States and Canada. In the middle of the interview, Detrow offered this line: "First, I just have to — as somebody who grew up a Devils fan, we can't talk about great Canadian — French Canadian goalies and not mention Martin Brodeur in passing here, so I've checked that very important box."

The admission that he is a Devils fan was not planned.

"I was talking to somebody about hockey. He mentioned Patrick Roy and I said, 'What about Martin Brodeur?'" Detrow recalled. "And he kind of laughed, and we kept going with the conversation. I think non forced natural human moments make the radio sound better."

In conversations with producers during the editing process, Detrow pushes to keep what he describes as "a real human moment," where somebody says something genuine or a little off-script.

All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly told us she inserts her own experience into her work because it helps the storytelling. Kelly said she could introduce a story, lay out a sequence of events, bring on a reporter, and end it right there.

"But if I'm trying to hook a listener and pique their interest and get them engaged in something they didn't know they were interested in hearing about, which is often the case, then telling a little story sometimes helps," she said. "And it can just be the tiniest little detail."

She also wants to remind listeners of our common humanity, Kelly said, at a moment where the country seems so divided.

Marrapodi recalls a long history in broadcasting where there was a desire to "sand off one's uniqueness and differences." Broadcasters believed that the audience preferred a specific sound, tone and style.

"I don't believe that's true anymore, and so I like when hosts have regionalisms and accents and personal stories," Marrapodi said. "I think it helps the audience better understand who these journalists are and how they can bring themselves into a story to help the audience better understand it. Sometimes a personal anecdote can be really helpful."

But when is it too much?

One test is to ask if the host's personal story gets in the way of the story, distracts listeners or takes them off topic, Marrapodi said. If so, that can be cut or rerouted. "The main focus needs to be the story itself. And there are some times where the host anecdote can help amplify that story, or help reveal some of who they are, to help the audience better engage with a story."

Detrow believes the personal story has to be genuine, not forced.

For Martínez, sharing his opinions would cross a line.

But there is a bit of wiggle room. In sports interviews, for example, Martínez said he might offer thoughts that may sound opinionated. But he maintains that they are based on his experiences. One recent example is a two-way he did with Jesse Washington of ESPN's Andscape about LeBron James becoming the first player in NBA history to score 50,000 career points. As they debated professional basketball's greatest players, Martínez reached back to his younger days as a fan, in LA in the 1980s, "So no one's going to tell me that Magic (Johnson) isn't the great, I mean, that's my greatest of all time."

Bringing personal experiences into a story brings hosts closer to the listener, Martínez told us.

"The listener can hear something that maybe they identify with," he said. "And it's always about connecting with that listener and getting them to remember something they heard."

Spencer, of Magid, said that being a journalist today is hard. But he noted that journalists need to find ways to make personal connections with their audience and he encourages them to share their personal stories in practical doses. "I also get that everybody's radars are so touchy right now," he added, "that small things can really send people over the edge."

We usually hear only from listeners who are critical of hosts. But the hosts we interviewed said they have heard from audience members who appreciate the details they share about themselves.

Martínez hears regularly from listeners who value his name pronunciations. When it comes to the interview he did around "Tías and Primas," he said he heard from several men who were also raised around a lot of women. "That's why you do it," he said.

Kelly said she's been approached by people who recognize her voice. "They come up and introduce themselves and say, 'This is so strange because I feel like I know you.'"

Part of that, Kelly said, is that her voice and those of her colleagues at NPR are heard in cars and kitchens. Host voices are there when listeners fall asleep or as they wake up. She said people remember details she's shared because it's something that perhaps they relate to in their own lives.

"And I think that maybe, also, says something and has value in this moment," she said. "In a divided country, if you're trying to build trust with an audience, you have to show a little bit of yourself." — Amaris Castillo

The Office of the Public Editor is a team. Reporters Amaris Castillo and Nicole Slaughter Graham and copy editor Merrill Perlman make this newsletter possible. Illustrations are by Carlos Carmonamedina. We are still reading all of your messages on Facebook, Instagram, Threads and from our inbox. As always, keep them coming.

Kelly McBride
NPR Public Editor
Chair, Craig Newmark Center for Ethics & Leadership at the Poynter Institute

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