Recent Interviews

We have over 900 interviews in our collection, most of which are available for viewing online. See the most recently uploaded interviews below.

Rebecca Eaton

Mon, 09/09/2019

In her three-and-a-half-hour interview, Rebecca Eaton talks about growing up in Pasadena, CA and attending Vassar College. She discusses her first job after graduation, at BBC Radio in London, and on returning to the United States to work first for Boston’s WGBH radio and then for WGBH television. She talks about the atmosphere at PBS in the early 1970s, and outlines her transition to producing Masterpiece Theatre (later renamed Masterpiece). Eaton goes into...

Tom Brokaw

Fri, 09/06/2019

In his two-and-a-half hour interview, Tom Brokaw talks about his early life, including early television news reporting jobs with various local stations around the country. He recalls his stint as the White House correspondent for NBC News during which he covered Watergate and the fall of the Nixon White House. He discusses being co-anchor on Today, the highlight of which for him was covering the 1981 Royal Wedding between Prince Charles and Lady Diana. He recounts being hired...

Barry Manilow

Tue, 07/23/2019

In his two-hour interview, Barry Manilow talks about his early life, including the bands he played with as a teen and his early interest in orchestration. He discusses working in the CBS mail room, which led to a job on the local WCBS series Call Back. He details his career writing commercial jingles for companies including State Farm, Band-Aid, Dr. Pepper, and McDonald’s. He speaks of being the accompanist for Bette Midler, and going out on tour. Manilow recounts his first huge hit...

Margaret Loesch

Tue, 07/09/2019

In her four-hour archive interview, Margaret Loesch talks about her early years, and her first jobs, including working for animation legend Friz Freeling. She speaks of going to work for Hanna-Barbera, where she worked on Scooby Doo, and developed the smash hit cartoon The Smurfs. She discusses the Children's Television Act of 1990, and her effort to create television that both entertained and informed children, for the public good. Loesch recalls working with Stan Lee...

Carl Gottlieb

Tue, 07/02/2019

In his five-and-a-half hour interview, Carl Gottlieb talks about his early years, and joining The Committee improv group in San Francisco. He discusses working with various members of that group, including Peter Bonerz, Del Close, and Avery Schreiber, and later collaborating with Howard Hesseman and Rob Reiner. He recounts writing for The Summer Brothers Smothers Show, which lead to a writing job on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Gottlieb recalls the tumultuous years on...

Cokie Roberts

Tue, 06/25/2019

In her one-hour interview, Cokie Roberts discusses her early years as the daughter of Congressman Hale Boggs, and how the assassination of President John F. Kennedy shaped her politically. She discusses breaking into broadcasting, and the challenges a woman faced in doing so at the time. She recalls going to work for The MacNeil/Lehrer Report and NPR, and later being hired by ABC News. Roberts talks about being a panelist on This Week with David Brinkley, and...

Martha Quinn

Thu, 05/30/2019

In her two-hour interview, Martha Quinn talks about her early years, and music she saw on television while growing up, on shows like The Midnight Special, Soul Train, and Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. She recounts being hired by Robert W. Pittman to be one of MTV’s first VJs, along with Nina Blackwood, J.J. Jackson, Alan Hunter, and Mark Goodman. She speaks of the early years of MTV, the visual style of the channel, and the kinds of videos MTV ran at its launch. Quinn...