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Fresh Air

Fresh Air

Fresh Air from WHYY, the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, is one of public radio's most popular programs. Hosted by Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley, the show features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.

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  • 61 episodes
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  • Avg 49 min
  • English

Episodes 61

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  • Today · 50 min

    Best Of: Meshell Ndegeocello / Betty Gilpin

    Singer, songwriter, and bassist Meshell Ndegeocello helped define the sound of neo-soul, blending funk, jazz, and R&B into music that was unmistakably her own. Now, on her new album, Synonym, she's taking familiar duets and turning them into...

  • Yesterday · 48 min

    Platinum songwriter Jimmy Webb

    Hall of Fame songwriter Jimmy Webb talks about writing some of the 1960s songs he’s best known for: “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Wichita Lineman,” and “MacArthur Park.” Now 80, he’s got a new album of unreleased songs titled Yours for the Taking....

  • Wednesday · 48 min

    Election experts share concerns about the midterms

    Ahead of the midterms, we talk with two election experts about President Trump’s efforts to interfere with voting. Richard Hasen, director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project, and Pennsylvania’s lead election official, Al Schmidt. Both are hoping...

  • Monday · 49 min

    Meshell Ndegeocello turns familiar songs inside out

    Grammy-winning singer, bassist, and composer Meshell Ndegeocello helped shape the sound that became known as "neo-soul," but she's spent more than three decades resisting the labels placed on her and her music. Now, on her new album, Synonym, she's...

  • October 17 · 53 min

    Best Of: Mahershala Ali / Writer Yiyun Li

    In his new film, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali plays a devout Muslim father and hit man whose life is upended when he suddenly has to care for his children on his own. The role brings together a lot of what...

  • October 16 · 51 min

    Remembering Eva Marie Saint / 'Interview with the Vampire' turns 50

    The actor Eva Marie Saint died last week at age 102. She won an academy award for her first film role in On the Waterfront opposite Marlon Brando, and in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest she co-starred with Cary Grant. She said Hitchcock didn't...

  • October 15 · 47 min

    Inside the Musk/Bezos space race

    Atlantic staff writer Josh Tyrangiel says Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos each want to colonize the moon, mine its resources and launch thousands more satellites -- but their only real competition is each other. “Ordinarily, we have entrusted the future of...

  • October 14 · 50 min

    Why the Arctic is a new source of global tension

    As polar ice melts in the Arctic, shipping lanes are opening up, making the region a new zone of super-power competition. Writer Rana Foroohar spoke with Dave Davies about the stakes. Her book is in Sea Change. Also, Maureen Corrigan reviews the new...

  • October 13 · 49 min

    After losing her sons, Yiyun Li learned to ‘suffer better’

    If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or texthttps://988lifeline.org/. Li’s teenage sons both died by suicide six years apart, Vincent in 2017 at age 16, and James in 2024 at age 19. Her Pulitzer-Prize winning...

  • October 12 · 50 min

    Mahershala Ali

    In his new action thriller, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, Mahershala Ali plays a devout Muslim father and hit man whose life is upended when he suddenly has to care for his children on his own. The role brings together a lot of what has shaped...

  • October 9 · 49 min

    A John Prine Appreciation

    Prine, who died in 2020, would’ve turned 80 this weekend. A five-day event in and around his native Chicago is underway, including a tribute concert. The beloved folk singer-songwriter spoke with Terry Gross in 2018 about how throat and neck surgery...

  • October 8 · 48 min

    Veteran White House reporter April Ryan’s ‘Blacklash’

    Ryan has spent decades pressing presidents for answers. She talks about access, power, race and how asking questions put her in President Trump's crosshairs. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about her book, Notes on a Blacklash. Also, TV critic David...

  • October 7 · 49 min

    ‘Showbiz!’ entertainer Murray Hill became what he didn’t see

    Murray Hill's character on HBO’s Somebody Somewhere, Fred Rococo, is a soil scientist trans man who hosts a queer cabaret. “[He] is me dialed down to like a 2,” he tells Terry Gross. In real life, Murray has hosted drag king shows, queer cabarets,...

  • October 5 · 50 min

    Michael Douglas

    Michael Douglas is one of the most recognizable actors of our time, but in 1987, many still knew him as Kirk Douglas's son. That year, he starred in Fatal Attraction and Wall Street, and his role as Gordon Gekko won him the Oscar for Best Actor. "When...

  • October 3 · 54 min

    Best Of: Kyle MacLachlan / Inside the ‘romance scam’

    Kyle MacLachlan was just 23 when he auditioned for Lynch's adaptation of Dune. The two would go on to work together on the cult classics Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks. “The worlds that [Lynch] creates are real in his mind — they exist,” he tells Terry...

  • October 2 · 50 min

    Celebrating minimalist composer Steve Reich

    Often called one of the fathers of minimalist music, Reich created a vocabulary that has influenced nearly every form of music: Classical, electronic, jazz, and pop. To commemorate his 90th birthday, there are worldwide performances and festivals in...

  • October 1 · 50 min

    Sheryl Crow

    The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter has a new album, Pick You Up, out Oct. 9. She spoke with Fresh Air guest interviewer Sam Fragoso (https://talkeasypod.com/) about touring with Michael Jackson in her 20s as a back-up singer, depression, and Bob...

Showing 1–20 of 61 episodes