News
 

Finding the answers

Interviewing is a lifelong passion for KUHT's Manouse

By Bridget Brown
The Daily Cougar

Emmy-nominated Ernie Manouse, the host and producer of KUHT-TV's InnerVIEWS, isn't afraid of silence. During the show's one-on-one interviews, the guests respond in their own time. But where other journalists might start to panic, Manouse simply waits and listens.

"(Loyola University) professor Craig Kois taught me that the answer isn't as important as the process," Manouse said. "If you understand the process, you can find all the answers."

Manuel Rearte/The Daily Cougar

---

Ernie Manouse, the host of KUHT's InnerVIEWS, began his interviewing career at an early age -- one of his first subjects was his mother, chats with whom he tape-recorded at the dinner table.

Manouse's disarming, genuine approach to interviewing has helped him secure prominent guests like author Anne Rice, actor Frankie Avalon and political columnist Molly Ivins for the half-hour program.

"I was very nervous, since I am a big fan," Manouse said of his session with Rice. "But once we got started, her honesty reassured me and we got going. It's sad. Those 26 minutes sometimes fly by too quickly."

All 26 InnerVIEWS episodes are shot on location in real time. The cameras begin rolling the moment the guest is seated, giving what Manouse called the best opportunity to see what an actual conversation with the guest would be like.

"When 26 minutes are up, we end the interview, thank the guest and they leave -- (the viewers) are actually with me just about the entire time I am with the guest," he said. "We are probably the fastest shot-to-shoot-to-edit on TV today."

Interviewing has always been a passion for Manouse who, growing up in Binghamton, N.Y., would interview his mother at the dinner table using a reel-to-reel tape recorder. At school talent shows, he was always the master of ceremonies.

"I guess I have always liked the role of presenter/ring master," he said.

Manouse graduated with a communication degree from Loyola University in Chicago and got his start in media with NBC news. He then worked in talk radio for six years with Chicago's WLS-AM.

Houston PBS snagged Manouse in 1996, beginning a career of hosting and producing some of Space City's most well-known programs, including Weeknight Edition. Manouse was honored at the past two Dallas Press Club Awards, a seven-state regional competition, for the programs Nature vs. Nature and A Mother's Account: The Stella Byrd Interview.

Manouse beat out Ted Koppel and Oprah Winfrey to secure the only interview granted by Byrd, the mother of Jasper hate crime victim James Byrd Jr. -- a segment he calls one of his greatest achievements.

"It was a great honor (to interview Byrd), and validation that respecting your guests and being honest with an audience can pay off. There have been times when others have tried to change the way I interview to get it to be ‘more sensational,' but time has shown my instincts were right," he said.

Manouse also hosts the Connection, a magazine program that airs every Tuesday on KUHT and covers a range of topics from politics to the arts.

"What I am doing now -- the Connection and InnerVIEWS -- they both fit different parts of my personality, and I am so lucky to get to do both," Manouse said. "Now if we could also still be doing the daily WeekDay (Weeknight Edition's successor), that would fill my need to also be Regis Philbin," he said.

Manouse said he hopes to show as many people as possible that the only thing to fear is not thinking for themselves.

"I don't have to agree with what you choose -- that is your job. I just want to know you have explored both sides of the issue before you decided to take your stand," he said. "There is nothing that will harm our community, our country or our time worse than people simply following what they are told without verifying and exploring both sides of whatever issue."

Watch Manouse interview live music entrepreneur Louis Messina at 10 p.m. today on KUHT, Channel 8. For more information on the program, visit 

www.houstonpbs.org.
 

 Send comments to dcnews@mail.uh.edu