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

40:40

Garrison Keillor on Men and Masculinity.

Storyteller Garrison Keillor. He's the host and writer of "A Prairie Home Companion" on National Public Radio--a show that "pokes at the heart of American sensibilities and sensitivities." His new book is called "The Book of Guys" (Viking). Keillor has written five other books including the best-seller "Lake Wobegon Days."

Interview
04:16

Jimmie Dale Gilmore Sings "Tonight I Think I'll Go Downtown."

Singer/Songwriter Jimmie Dale Gilmore is in the studio for a concert. His music bears the influence of honky-tonk, Tex-Mex rhythms, and country and western. His spiritual influences include Hinduism and writers such as Aldous Huxley and W. Somerset Maugham. Gilmore is the kind of performer who defies definition, though he has been called the "Shaman of the Sagebrush." Gilmore's been playing music for over 20 years, first with the critically-acclaimed group the Flatlanders, then solo.

22:08

Musician Pete Townsend.

Pete Townsend. In the 1960's he made waves as the lead guitarist in the British rock group The Who. He was world famous for smashing guitars during concerts. Now, years after The Who split up, Townsend is busy with solo projects. "Tommy," the rock opera he wrote for The Who in 1969, is on Broadway. His latest album is called "White City."

Interview
16:41

The "Orphans of Jonestown."

One of the "Orphans of Jonestown,"Stephan Jones. He is one of the surviving sons of Jim Jones, leader of the Peoples Temple in Guyana. Fifteen years ago Jim Jones orchestrated the mass suicide of over 900 people after a California Representative visited the temple, charging Jones with holding people against their will. Now, after the Waco tragedy, Stephan Jones remember the loss. Their were 85 survivors from Jonestown--260 children died.

Interview
21:32

Movie Producer Art Linson.

Movie producer Art Linson. He broke into Hollywood with "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." His other films include "Casualties of War", "The Untouchables," and "This Boy's Life". The New York Times called him an "energetic tough guy film maker with a tendency for the offbeat." Linson grew tired of everyone (including his mother) always asking what he does. So he's written a book about his job called "A Pound of Flesh: Perilous Tales of How to Produce Movies in Hollywood" (Grove Press).

Interview
22:42

Afrikaner Poet, Painter and Dissident Breyten Breytenbach.

Afrikaner poet, painter and dissident Breyten Breytenbach. In 1975, Breytenbach was an anti-apartheid activist in exile. When he made a secret visit to his native South Africa, Breytenbach was arrested, charged for treason, and imprisoned for seven years. In his writing, Breytenbach "alternates outrage at South Africa's governmental policies of apartheid with love for his country and its landscape". Breytenbach's most recent work is "Return to Paradise" (Harcourt Brace).

15:26

An L.A. Probation Officer Works to Reform Gang Members.

Probation officer for Los Angeles County, Jim Galipeau. He works with gangs in Los Angeles, and is currently trying to raise money for a program for older gang members. He'll talk with Terry about the truce between gangs that began last spring, just before the riots; the differences between gangs, between Hispanic and Black gangs, and inner city and suburban gangs; the impact of the riots, and the possibility of riots in the future. Galipeau has been a probation officer for 27 years. He's a Vietnam vet, and when he was a teenager, he was a street fighter and drug addict.

Interview
22:57

Novelist and Screenwriter Richard Price.

Richard Price wrote and produced the movie "Mad Dog and Glory," which stars Robert DeNiro, Bill Murray and Uma Thurman. His most recent novel is the best seller, "Clockers," (published by Houghton Mifflin). Christopher Lehmann-Haupt of The New York Times wrote "the signal achievement of "Clockers' is to make us feel the enormous power of these giants that are drugs, alcoholism, poverty." "Clockers" has just been published in paperback.

Interview
23:14

False Conviction in Pennsylvania.

Ed Ryder and Reverend James McCloskey The story of one man's fight for freedom. Three days after Ryder arrived at Holmesburg prison to do time for theft, he was accused of murdering a prisoner in his cell block. For twenty years, Ryder fought to prove his innocence... the city of Philadelphia rallying behind him. Reverend James McCloskey, who helps prisoners he believes are unjustly convicted get pardons, spearheaded the efforts for Ryder's release. Now Ryder is a free man.

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