What's Happening at CNN

"When the guest is on, the guest counts more," he says. "I don't know more than the guest. I don't know more science than a scientist or about baseball than a baseball manager.

"You have to listen," he says, noting that he generally starts an interview with notes that are little more than lists of facts. "You have to listen to the answers, which bring the next question. I like to wing it. My natural curiosity drives it."

King also says that, despite the fact that he serves a worldwide audience via CNN, viewers are not foremost in his mind when he's doing a live interview.

"I don't think about the audience," he says. "I know about pacing and when it's going well, but if I start thinking if Phil on his porch in Idaho is going to like this, then I'm thinking for him. I just go on and try to do the best in the hour afforded me."

Because King's show is often used by everyone from politicians to performers to get their message out, he has sometimes been criticized for lobbing softballs at interview subjects, or for merely providing a platform for whatever a celebrity is promoting.

He isn't defensive about the charge.

"No one's ever done the perfect interview, and I'm not going to," he says. "If you've got someone who's been interviewed 7,000 times, you're not likely to change that. I'm not a trickster, I just ask the questions.