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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.

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14:18

The Effects of Agent Orange.

Vietnam War veteran Michael Milne joins the show to discuss the health problems he believes were caused by his exposure to Agent Orange while working for the U. S. military. He also discusses his court case and the organizations he believed knew the dangers of Agent Orange.

Interview
47:54

Madeline Cartwright and Philadelphia Public Schools.

Madeline Cartwright worked as a teacher in Philadelphia public schools from 1959 to 1978, before moving into administration. Currently she is the principal at Blaine Elementary School, in the Strawberry Mansion section of Philadelphia, and she has spent the last five years transforming Blaine from a typical low-income school into a community that sparkles. Cartwright's staff has nominated her for the John N. Patterson Award for Excellence in Public Education. Cartwright joins the show to discuss the problems that are facing Philadelphia schools and her approach to solving them.

56:27

Bishop Desmond Tutu's Struggle Against South African Apartheid.

Bishop Desmond Tutu is an Anglican parish priest in Soweto, South Africa. Tutu is the General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches, and is one of the most prominent figures in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Tutu is seen as a moderate, and does not endorse violence. He travels extensively to mobilize support for the cause. His passport has been revoked twice.

Interview
49:48

Fred Friendly on Television News.

Fred Friendly joined CBS television in 1950, and eventually became president of CBS news. Friendly worked extensively with famed journalist Edward R. Murrow. He resigned from CBS in protest after executives went against his decision to telecast the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on Vietnam, and instead aired reruns. After leaving CBS, Friendly became one of the architects of public television. Friendly is currently a professor at the Columbia School of Journalism, and his written several books about history and the Constitution.

Interview
01:00:18

Bringing the Tuba to the Forefront.

Tuba player, composer, and arranger Howard Johnson has worked with jazz and rock legends. Johnson organized the band for the television show "Saturday Night Live," which he played for from 1975 to 1980. Johnson was won the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences "Most Valuable Tuba Player," for the last three years. Johnson also plays baritone saxophone and trumpet. He joins the show to discuss why he was drawn to the tuba, growing up in the South, and his career in jazz and rock.

Interview
44:24

What You Need to Know About Religious Programming on Television.

Stewart Hoover is a research scholar at the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania who specializes in the impact of communications technology on culture. In recent years, many have deemed religious television programming controversial. Many mainline church leaders fear the effect such programming will have on local churches. Hoover, along with George Gerbner, Larry Gross, Michael Morgan, and Nancy Signorielli, has just conducted a study on religious television programming.

Interview
51:52

Confessions from Chuck Barris's "Dangerous" Mind.

Chuck Barris is the creator and producer of over a dozen television game shows, including "The Gong Show," "The Newlywed Game," and "The Dating Game." He gained his reputation as the "manic" host of "The Gong Show." Barris has written a semi-autobiographical novel "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," in which a game show host named Chuck Barris also secretly works as a C. I. A. agent. Barris claims to have had an opportunity to work for the organization, but that he turned it down.

Interview
55:18

Women Changing Power.

Bella Abzug's political career began as a student at Hunter College. After graduating, she attended Columbia Law School, and began to practice law. She is a founding member of Women Strike for Peace and served as the national political director for ten years. Abzug was elected to Congress in 1970, where she was the co-founder of the National Women's Political Caucus. Abzug is currently the president of Women USA, a group working to get-out-the-vote among women.

Interview
53:37

Hankus Netsky Shares His Favorite Klezmer Music.

Hankus Netsky is the founder and leader of the Klezmer Conservatory Band. Klezmer mixes traditional Yiddish and Israeli music with American influences. Netsky joins the show to discuss the history of the genre and to share 78-records of klezmer music from the 1920s.

Interview

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