Ed Randall: Master of Interviews

By Deven Del Piore

Recently I went to see an interview at STAC between Ed Randall, who does radio and TV shows on baseball, and Rob Manfred. Manfred is a part of the Major League Baseball drug system. He was one of three men who gave Alex Rodriguez his suspension for enhancing his play by taking steroids.

I noticed Ed Randall writing things down after almost everything that Manfred said. Every fact, good quote, or important number was taken down in order to set up another question. This led to something else that was noticeable. Randall would ask the right questions at the right time. He would say one after the other like he was having a normal conversation with the man, but he was thinking of those questions on the spot, which I found astounding.

The flow that Randall had in his interview was impeccable. Without a solid flow in an interview, it can go in all sorts of different directions. You ask one wrong question at the wrong time, and next thing you know you’re completely off topic and are digging yourself a ditch. I learned that having good flow and asking the right questions will make your interview that much better, maybe even better than Ed Randall’s.