Arts + Entertainment

NPR’s Terry Gross was a terrible English teacher in Buffalo

blog by S.J. Velasquez • January 26, 2012 @ 11:54am

NPR “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross appeared as a guest on “The Colbert Report” Wednesday night, and she wasn’t shy about sharing her modest professional beginnings in Buffalo.

Gross, who graduated from UB with a bachelor’s degree in English and master’s in communications, took a job teaching middle school English in “Buffalo, New York’s toughest inner-city junior high.” She was fired within six weeks.

TV show host Steven Colbert asked, “Why did they fire Terry Gross?”

“Because Terry Gross was a terrible teacher,” the radio personality responded in third-person.

Lucky for Gross, she’d been volunteering at WBFO, Buffalo’s NPR affiliate radio station. “I didn’t get paid at all,” Gross said of her fledgling radio career. She eventually made it on the payroll, and the rest is history.

Watch the entire interview below:

The Colbert Report
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TAGGED: buffalo public schools, comedy central, fresh air, npr, stephen colbert, terry gross, the colbert report, wbfo