It was only 45 minutes before showtime when Eric J. Kuhn, a freshman at Hamilton College, got the call that one of the guests for his live, hourlong talk-radio program on WHCL-FM was running late. David Boies, a prominent trial lawyer who represented Al Gore during the 2000 postelection fracas, was delayed by at least 15 minutes, and Mr. Kuhn would have to kill some time on the air.

As it turned out, Mr. Boies was never able to call in to the February 9 edition of Kuhn and Company, and the second guest was laid low with the flu.

A novice host might have panicked.

Not Mr. Kuhn, who at 18 has several years of journalistic experience — he first did a show in high school — and has gone toe-to-toe in interviews with Donald Trump, Ed Koch, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, among other notables. He has also learned that being a reporter can be a thankless, tiring profession.

Reached the day after his guest-deprived show — that night he had stayed up until 3 a.m. to help edit Hamilton's student newspaper, The Spectator — Mr. Kuhn says he enjoyed the challenge of losing his two interviewees. By talking to his two co-hosts about current events and sprinkling in some music, he says, he was able to salvage the broadcast.

"Yesterday was the beauty of live television and radio," says Mr. Kuhn. "You have your time and you're on no matter what."

He is an accomplished booker of guests, with the antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan appearing last month and the conservative activist David Horowitz slated on April 20. Mr. Kuhn is also a nimble interviewer. He managed to raise the dander of even a veteran politician like Mr. Koch with aggressive, but polite, questions — catching the former New York City mayor off guard with a query about the recent Palestinian elections.

"You ask the tough questions," Mr. Kuhn says of his interviewing style, "but you ask them with a smile."

Pressed for the secrets of his success, he shares tips with a fellow reporter:

• Pursue guests through the proper channels. Mr. Kuhn describes how he tracked down the MSNBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell by calling her publicist and then e-mailing Ms. Mitchell directly.

• Be persistent. Mr. Kuhn says he called the chief White House photographer every week for at least three months before booking him.

• Ask the question that "everybody thinks you shouldn't ask," but do it courteously and with respect. Adding a dose of humor helps. You don't need to push a guest too far, he says, "because the audience will know" if he is ducking a question.

• Do your homework. He read Ms. Mitchell's new book, Talking Back, before he tried to arrange an interview.

Although his show is popular, Mr. Kuhn understands that he can't please everyone. He received an angry e-mail message from a liberal listener who said he had let Mr. Koch off the hook too easily for endorsing President Bush in the 2004 election.

Mr. Kuhn replied that his job isn't to represent the Democratic Party. That said, he is trying to land one of its biggest stars: "The press person for Hillary Clinton knows who I am."

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Volume 52, Issue 27, Page A4