Feature

Aural Pleasures

By Nina Willdorf

Move over, Ira Glass! Yes, every sensitive young woman and her gay brother has a crush on the host of "This American Life." ("You'll find yourself in a parking lot in the dark listening to Ira, and you feel like you're making out with him!" gushes Molly Hamill, 25.) But he's not the only NPR heartthrob in town.

Terry Gross

Host of "Fresh Air"

Fan base: Tweedy types.
What they say: Larry, a fiftysomething professor: "I want to run away with her, at least for a long, cozy weekend of conversation!"
What she says: "There is something seductive about the interview process. People might be thinking how nice it would be to have someone who listened that completely."

Silvia Poggioli

Senior European correspondent

Fan base: Foreign-policy wonks with wanderlust.
What they say: Jeff Ousborne, 31: "I always imagine her in some café discussing Ezra Pound, then dashing off to Sarajevo. The way she says her name is so worldly."
What she says: "Radio does foster an intimacy in which listeners develop their own special rapport with the reporter."

Soterios Johnson

Host of NPR's "Morning Edition" on WNYC

Fan base:The curious (what sort of name is Soterios anyway?).
What they say: Lauren Becker, 25: "He's on when you're half-awake, half-asleep. Sometimes I find myself dreaming about him."
What he says: "Wow. I'm flattered. My listeners are often in bed or in the shower. You can't get much more intimate than that." (P.S. He's Greek.)

Click and Clack

Tom and Ray Magliozzi, co-hosts of "Car Talk"

Fan base: White-collar folks with blue-collar fantasies.
What they say: Ellen, a nonprofit exec: "Terry Gross is terrific, but it's the 'Car Talk' guys that I'm mad for!"
What they say: Tom: "We're on radio. People can't see what we look like. If we were on TV, you wouldn't be doing this story."