Skip to main content
Terry Gross at her microphone in 2018

Terry Gross

Terry Gross is the host and an executive producer of Fresh Air, the daily program of interviews and reviews. It is produced at WHYY in Philadelphia, where Gross began hosting the show in 1975, when it was broadcast only locally. She was awarded a National Humanities Medal from President Obama in 2016. Fresh Air with Terry Gross received a Peabody Award in 1994 for its “probing questions, revelatory interviews and unusual insight.” America Women in Radio and Television presented her with a Gracie Award in 1999 in the category of National Network Radio Personality. In 2003, she received the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Edward R. Murrow Award for her “outstanding contributions to public radio” and for advancing the “growth, quality and positive image of radio.” Gross is the author of All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians and Artists, published by Hyperion in 2004. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, and received a bachelor’s degree in English and M.Ed. in communications from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She began her radio career in 1973 at public radio station WBFO in Buffalo, NY.

Sort:

Newest

22:47

Theater and Film Director Elia Kazan

Kazan directed Marlon Brando in "On the Waterfront" and James Dean in "East of Eden." He was a member of the Group Theater and co-founded the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg. Terry interviewed him when his autobiography was published in 1988. (Rebroadcast)

Interview
20:32

Lindy Boggs' Family Life in Politics

The former congresswoman became Louisiana's first woman member of Congress in 1972. She was elected after her husband, then House majority leader Hale Boggs, died in a plane crash. Boggs was an advocate for civil rights and women's issues before her retirement in 1990. She is the mother of NPR and ABC-TV's Cokie Roberts, Washington lobbyist Thomas Hale Boggs, and the late Barbara Sigmund, who was mayor of Princeton, New Jersey. Boggs has new autobiography is called "Washington Through a Purple Veil: Memoirs of a Southern Woman."

Interview
21:16

Motown Founder Berry Gordy

Gordy and his record label made stars out of musicians including Diana Ross and the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson. He has written his autobiography, "To Be Loved: The Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown: An Autobiography."

Interview
22:14

Columnist George Will on America's March to the Right

Will is a conservative commentator and regular contributor to "Newsweek" and "The Washington Post." He has just published a collection of his best essays from the past four years, "The Leveling Wind: Politics, the Culture & Other News 1990-1994." He talks with Terry about last week's elections.

Interview
16:38

The Potential Effects of U.S. Action in Bosnia

Journalist Misha Glenny has been covering the war in former Yugoslavia -- first as correspondent for the BBC and now as an independent journalist. He is the author of the book "The Fall of Yugoslavia: The Third Balkan War." He will talk about the decision of the U.S. to no longer participate in the enforcement of the arms embargo to Bosnia.

Interview
37:40

A Behind-the-Bars Look at Angola Prison

Terry speaks with Wilbert Rideau, an inmate serving a life term at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. He reports on various aspects of life, culture and rehabilitation at the penitentiary. This segment will focus on the issue of literacy, education programs and self-education at Angola. These reports from prison have been arranged in cooperation with prison officials, who administer a number of outreach programs to educate the public about prison policies and rehabilitation efforts. Rideau is an eighth grade dropout and taught himself to write while in prison.

15:41

Temptations Singer Otis Williams

Williams was the founder of The Temptations, whose smooth five-part harmonies and synchronized dance steps made them one of the hottest of Motown's super groups. Their hits included "My Girl," "Just My Imagination," and "Pappa Was a Rolling Stone." We replay Terry's interview with him from 1988.

Interview

Did you know you can create a shareable playlist?

Advertisement

There are more than 22,000 Fresh Air segments.

Let us help you find exactly what you want to hear.
Just play me something
Your Queue

Would you like to make a playlist based on your queue?

Generate & Share View/Edit Your Queue