NPR talk-show legend Diane Rehm will retire from broadcasting next year

Diane Rehm, the host of one of public radio’s longest-running and most popular news discussion programs, will retire next year, ending nearly 40 years on the air.

A retirement date has not been firmly established, but Rehm, who is 79, says she will end her eponymous program, produced by Washington public station WAMU-FM (88.5), after the presidential election in November.

“My thinking is that I’ll stay on the air until the election because I really want to see how this will go,” Rehm said in an interview Tuesday. “My feeling is, I have a number of ideas and I’m perfectly happy doing something different . . . where I’m not forced to get up at 5 a.m. every morning to prepare for a show. I’ve been doing that for 37 years. Maybe I’ll get to sleep until 7 or 7:30 a.m., like other people do.” WashingtonPost.com