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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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09:56

Actress Patricia Charbonneau.

Actress Patricia Charbonneau. She now stars in two films: the cop/action film "Shakedown," and the erotic thriller "Call Me," about a writer who responds the wrong way to an obscene phone call. Charbonneau's previous roles include the lesbian who seduces a college professor in "Desert Hearts," an independent film based on a novel by Jane Rule. Charbonneau also has a recurring role as Inger Thornson in the NBC television series "Crime Story."

27:41

David Wise Scores an Interview with the Only C. I. A. Agent to Defect to the KGB.

Journalist David Wise. His new book, The Spy Who Got Away, is the story of Edward Lee Howard, the CIA agent who divulged secrets to the Russians and then eluded an FBI dragnet to flee to the Soviet Union. The book is based on six days of interviews with Howard in Budapest and reveals a CIA coverup of suspicions about Howard's character and the agency's refusal to share the information with the FBI's counterintelligence division. Wise, a former Washington bureau chief for the New York Herald Tribune, has written extensively on espionage.

Interview
05:01

Joan Jett on Being On the Road Since the Age of 15.

Rock musician Joan Jett. Since 1979, Jett has led the group Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and earned the description as "the toughest, grittiest, hardest-working woman in rock and roll." She won praise for her film debut in 1987 when she co-starred with Michael J. Fox in the film "Light of Day." Time magazine's film critic Richard Corliss hailed her "mesmerizing surliness" and said Jett's presence dominated every scene she was in. Joan Jett and the Blackheart's new album is titled "Up Your Alley."

Interview
27:48

Surviving Soviet Imprisonment.

Natan, formerly Anatoly, Sharansky. He was jailed on trumped up treason and spying charges by the KGB and endured nine years of solitary confinement and a starvation diet before an international campaign forced his release two years ago. His account of his ordeal and the subsequent pressures of celebrity are recounted in his book Fear No Evil.

09:42

Dancer and Choreographer Mark Morris.

Dancer and choreographer Mark Morris. Before forming his own company in 1980, Morris performed with a wide assortment of dance troupes, including the Lar Lubovich Dance Company, Laura Dean Dancers, and the Eliot Feld Ballet. He has choreographed for the Boston Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet, and recently completed the choreography for the opera "Nixon in China."

Interview
09:48

Secret Service Investigator Turned Novelist Gerald Petievich.

Author Gerald Petievich. Petievich spent 15 years as a U.S. Secret Service agent. His experiences as a member of the Los Angeles Federal Strike Force against Organized Crime and Racketeering inspired his book To Live and Die In L.A. He later co-wrote the screenplay for William Friedkin's film of the same name. Petievich's new novel is called Shakedown.

Interview
27:58

Third Stream Music with Gunther Schuller.

Composer, arranger, conductor Gunther Schuller. One of the most ardent supporters of new music, Schuller is equally at home with the music of bebop and the big band era as he with the 12-tone classical composers. Schuller is the past head of the New England Conservatory of Music, where he founded the New England Conservatory's Ragtime Band. In the late 40s, when he first cultivated his eclectic approach to music, Schuller held jobs simultaneously with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and with Miles Davis' tuba band.

Interview
27:44

Capturing the Atmosphere of the 1960s.

Writer Geoffrey O'Brien. His new book, Dream Time: Chapters from the Sixties, is an exploration of the phenomena of the 60s, from strobe lights and miniskirts to Be-Ins and Transcendental Meditation. O'Brien attempts to capture the cultural, social and political ferment of the era, as opposed to an objective, historical accounting. O'Brien is also the author of Hard Boiled America," a survey of paperback crime fiction.

Interview

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