UALR Public Radio KUAR/KLRE presents “An Evening with Diane Rehm,” Thursday, Sept. 3, for a reception and dinner with the veteran broadcaster whose daily national radio program, the “Diane Rehm Show,” airs on KUAR FM 89 weekday at 9 a.m.

The event will benefit KUAR/KLRE’s Tower Campaign. Reservations for the 7 p.m. dinner at the Embassy Suites Hotel are $150 per person and can be made online or by calling (501) 569-8485 or (800) 952-2528. Rehm will talk about her experiences with the issues and guests she covers, as well as her thoughts on the future of public radio. She will also take questions from the audience.

For almost 30 years, Diane Rehm has been guiding compelling and lively conversations with policy makers, best-selling authors, news analysts, everyday Americans, and others on her weekday program the “Diane Rehm Show.”  Her ability to lead a civil exchange of ideas on a variety of topics combined with her commitment to involving listeners in her discussions by taking their questions and comments makes her program one of the most popular on public radio.

Rehm is a native Washingtonian and first-generation Arab-American. Her parents did not encourage her to go to college and it was assumed she would become a housewife. She did marry at the age of 19, but her unhappiness caused her to divorce, a separation she says was the first divorce in her family’s Washington-area Arab community.

A short time later, she would meet her second husband, John Rehm, and eventually write a book with him in 2002 called “Toward Commitment: A Dialogue about Marriage,” which focuses on the art of building and maintaining a strong relationship.

Rehm began her radio career in 1973 as a volunteer at WAMU. She became host and producer of two health-oriented programs, and in 1979 was selected to host WAMU’s local morning talk show, “Kaleidoscope,” which was renamed the “Diane Rehm Show” in 1984.

In 1998, Rehm was diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological condition that causes strained, difficult speech. She wondered whether she would be able to continue speaking properly. After finding treatment, she wrote several articles and produced a program about the little-known disorder. The National Council on Communicative Disorders recognized her work with a Communication Award, and the Maryland Speech-Hearing-Language Association honored her with a Media Award. ABC’s “Nightline” host Ted Koppel devoted an entire program to a conversation with her about her disorder.

Rehm wrote about her vocal difficulties and broadcast career in her book “Finding My Voice,” which was published in 2002. The book is also an account of her difficult childhood relationship with her mother, who Rehm said punished her and her sister both corporally and by not talking to them for days or even weeks.

Rehm has become one of public radio’s most familiar and respected voices and has received many personal honors over the years, including being named a Paul H. Nitze Senior Fellow at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and becoming an inductee into the Class of 2004 Hall of Fame by the Washington Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. She was also honored as a fellow by the SPJ, the highest honor the organization bestows on a journalist. In 1999, she was named Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian Magazine.