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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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Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
52:30

How did Tucker Carlson become one of the far right's most influential voices?

Jason Zengerle writes, Carlson had the highest-rated show in the history of cable news. And when he was abruptly fired from Fox in 2023, it was widely assumed he would fade from relevance. He did for many Americans, especially liberals, but he didn't go away. After leaving Fox News in 2023, he debuted a new streaming show on the social media platform then known as Twitter - now X - and launched the Tucker Carlson streaming network. Zengerle writes, the people still paying attention to him now are getting an even more extreme version of him than the one they saw on Fox News.

Interview
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Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
52:30

How a 1984 NYC subway shooting let to the politics of resentment we see today

In Fear and Fury, historian Heather Ann Thompson revisits Bernhard Goetz's shooting of four Black teens — and explains how the incident reshaped criminal justice, national policy and media coverage.

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Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
42:31

Mel Brooks delights in mixing horrible taste with lavish production numbers

Brooks is the subject of a new two-part HBO documentary, Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man! TV critic David Bianculli reviews the documentary, plus we listen back to archival interviews with Brooks.

Interview
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Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
41:53

'The White Hot' asks: If men can go find themselves, why can't women?

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Quiara Alegria Hudes, writer of "In The Heights," "Water By The Spoonful" and the memoir "My Broken Language." She recently published her first novel, "The White Hot"

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Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
52:30

Are ICE agents in Minneapolis breaking the law?

As protestors clash with some 3,000 federal immigration agents in the Twin Cities, we look at the legal issues with law professor Emmanuel Mauleón and Brennan Center for Justice's Elizabeth Goitein.

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Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
52:30

Poet Rachel Eliza Griffiths says she won't let pain be 'the engine that drives the ship'

poet and novelist Rachel Eliza Griffiths. Her new memoir is called "The Flower Bearers." It's in part about the day she married Salman Rushdie, which is also the day her dearest friend suddenly died. Eleven months later, Rushdie was stabbed multiple times and nearly killed while he was being interviewed onstage. She also writes about her mental health issues, her late best friend and her childhood.

Exclusively on
Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
52:30

Martin Luther King Jr. would be inspired by today's activism, author says

Heather McGhee, author of 2021's The Sum of Us, discusses the economic cost of racism, the importance of community organizing and the "zero-sum lie" that progress for some means loss for others.

Interview
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Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
29:00

Remembering jazz singer Rebecca Kilgore

Kilgore, who died Jan. 7, was a talented interpreter of American popular song. We'll remember her by listening back to her in-studio concerts with pianist Dave Frishberg from 1995 and 1999.

Obituary
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Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
41:27

Julian Barnes says he's enjoying himself, but that 'Departure(s)' is his last book

Julian Barnes. His new book, "Departure(s)," is part fiction, part memoir. The memoir portion is about being diagnosed with a rare but treatable blood cancer six years ago. His 80th birthday is Monday. An earlier book, "Levels Of Life," is about grief and the death of his wife of nearly 30 years.

Interview
Exclusively on
Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
52:30

How Marco Rubio shifted from Trump critic to Trump champion

Rubio once called Trump a "con artist." He's now among his most loyal defenders. New Yorker writer Dexter Filkins describes Secretary of State Rubio's character, political transformation and ambition.

Interview

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