''Fresh Air'' is an American

radio talk show Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews wi ...

broadcast on

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by

WHYY-FM WHYY-FM (90.9 MHz, "91 FM") is a public radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its broadcast tower is located in the city's Roxborough section of the city at () while its studios and offices are located on Independence Ma ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. The show's hosts are

Terry Gross Terry Gross (born February 14, 1951) is an American journalist who is the host and co-executive producer of '' Fresh Air'', an interview-based radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed nationally by NPR. Since joining NP ...

and Tonya Mosley. , the show was syndicated to 624 stations and claimed nearly 5 million listeners. The show is fed live weekdays at 12:00 noon ET. In addition, some stations carry ''Fresh Air Weekend'', a re-programming of highlights of the week's interviews. In 2016, ''Fresh Air'' was the most-downloaded podcast on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

Overview

The show began in 1975 at WHYY (then called WUHY), with Judy Blank as host. In September of that year, Terry Gross took over as presenter and producer; nearly 50 years later she remains its chief presenter. In 1985, WHYY launched a weekly half-hour edition of ''Fresh Air'', which was distributed nationally by NPR. The show began daily national broadcasts in 1987. The show is composed primarily of interviews with prominent figures in various fields, among them entertainment and the arts, culture, journalism, and global current affairs. This main segment is followed by shorter segments, most often comprising coverage and reviews of events and new releases in various cultural and entertainment spheres. The subjects of these shorter segments include

movies A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...

, books,

stage plays A play is a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than mere reading. The creator of a play is known as a playwright. Plays are staged at various levels, ranging f ...

television programs A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via Terrestrial television, over-the-air, Satellite television, satellite, and cable te ...

, as well as recordings of

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, and

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

. The program also features commentary and interviews from a range of regular contributors, including

Maureen Corrigan Maureen Corrigan (born July 30, 1955) is an American author, scholar, and literary critic. She is the book critic on the NPR radio program ''Fresh Air'' and writes for the "Book World" section of ''The Washington Post''. In 2014, she wrote ''So ...

David Bianculli David Bianculli (born 1953 or 1954)Wilk, Tom ''New Jersey Monthly'', (July 12, 2010) is an American TV critic, columnist, radio personality, non-fiction author and university professor. Bianculli has served as the television critic for NPR's ra ...

Dave Davies David Russell Gordon Davies ( '; born 3 February 1947) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the English rock band the Kinks, led by his older brother (and principal writer and singer) ...

Ken Tucker Kenneth Tucker is an American arts, music and television critic, magazine editor, and nonfiction book author. Early life and education Tucker was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York, and raised in Stamford, Connecticut. He earned a ...

Kevin Whitehead Kevin Francis Whitehead (born April 27, 1952) is an American jazz critic and author. Biography Born in New York City, Whitehead studied at Oswego State University in New York, then earned a Masters in American Literature and Culture at Syracuse ...

, John Powers,

Lloyd Schwartz Lloyd Schwartz (born November 29, 1941) is an American poet, and the Frederick S. Troy Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He was the classical music editor of ''The Boston Phoenix'', a publication that is n ...

Geoffrey Nunberg Geoffrey Nunberg (June 1, 1945– August 11, 2020) was an American lexical semantician and author. In 2001, he received the Linguistics, Language, and the Public Interest Award from the Linguistic Society of America for his contributions to Nati ...

Justin Chang Justin Choigee Chang is an American film critic and columnist currently working at ''The New Yorker''. He previously worked for '' Variety'' and for ''Los Angeles Times''. His 2023 reviews at the ''Times'' won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Critici ...

, and Nick Quah. Past contributors include Geoff Nunberg, Milo Miles, and Ed Ward. Tonya Mosley, who co-hosted WBUR's '' Here & Now'', was named co-host of ''Fresh Air'' in 2023. The show was formerly titled "Fresh Air with Terry Gross" but is now simply branded "Fresh Air".

David Edelstein David Edelstein (born 1959) is a freelance American film critic who has been the principal film critic for ''Slate'' and ''New York'' magazine, among others, and has appeared regularly on NPR's ''Fresh Air'' and ''CBS Sunday Morning'' programs. O ...

was let go from his position as film critic for the show on November 27, 2018, for comments made in the wake of

Bernardo Bertolucci Bernardo Bertolucci ( ; ; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved inte ...

's death. The executive producer of ''Fresh Air'' is Danny Miller. The program is produced and edited by Amy Salit, Phyllis Myers, Ann Marie Baldonado, Sam Briger, Lauren Krenzel, Heidi Saman, Therese Madden, Seth Kelley, Thea Chaloner, and Susan Nyakundi. The show is directed by Roberta Shorrock. Audrey Bentham is the engineer. Molly Seavy-Nesper is the producer of Digital Media.

Background

The program's interviews are pre-recorded and edited, not broadcast live. As with many such radio programs, guests are often not in the studio during recording, and often speak remotely from a local affiliate station, or a home studio. When pressing news requires, the show has gone live, such as during the

Soviet coup attempt of 1991 The 1991 Soviet coup attempt, also known as the August Coup, was a failed attempt by hardliners of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) to forcibly seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev, who was Soviet President and ...

, and in the aftermath of the

Boston Marathon bombing The Boston Marathon bombing, sometimes referred to as simply the Boston bombing, was an Islamist domestic terrorist attack that took place during the 117th annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarna ...

on April 19, 2013. ''Fresh Air'' interviews are generally first aired on the Monday through Thursday shows. The Friday shows are rebroadcasts of past interviews. The show's theme song, a jazz piece called "Fresh Air", was composed for the program by

Joel Forrester Joel Forrester (born May 2, 1946) is an American jazz composer and pianist. He composed the theme song to NPR's ''Fresh Air'', performed by The Microscopic Septet which Forrester founded in 1980 and led with saxophonist Phillip Johnston. A docu ...

of The Microscopic Septet.

Controversial interviews

In February 2002, when Gross interviewed

Gene Simmons Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; ; born August 25, 1949) also known by his stage persona "The Demon", is an Israeli-born American musician. He was the bassist and co-lead singer of the hard rock band Kiss (band), Kiss, which he co-founded wit ...

Kiss A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...

, Simmons discussed his sexual experimentation with women of all age groups and propositioned Gross in demonstration; according to NPR's website, Simmons withheld permission to supply transcripts or audio of the interview on their website. In July 2010, ''Fresh Air'' was removed from

Mississippi Public Broadcasting Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB) is the public broadcasting network serving the U.S. state of Mississippi. It is owned by the Mississippi Authority for Educational Television (MAET), an agency of the state government that holds the licens ...

radio because of "recurring inappropriate content", shortly after the broadcast of an interview with comedian Louis C.K. in which he discussed his sex life. By mid-2011, it had returned to the state network's evening line-up.

Awards

In 1993, NPR, ''Fresh Air'', and Gross were presented with the

George Foster Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in ...

with praise for her "probing questions, revelatory interviews, and unusual insights". The show was inducted into the

National Radio Hall of Fame The Radio Hall of Fame, formerly the National Radio Hall of Fame, is an American organization created by the Emerson Radio Corporation in 1988. Three years later, Bruce DuMont, founder, president, and CEO of the Museum of Broadcast Communicati ...

in 2012. The show also won an institutional Peabody in 2022. In 2004, Gross published a book of her favorite interviews from the show under the title ''All I Did Was Ask''. In 2016, Gross received the

National Humanities Medal The National Humanities Medal is an American award that annually recognizes several individuals, groups, or institutions for work that has "deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens' engagement with the humani ...

from

President Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. Ob ...

, "For her artful probing of the human experience. Her patient, persistent questioning in thousands of interviews over four decades has pushed public figures to reveal personal motivations behind extraordinary lives—revealing simple truths that affirm our common humanity."

References

External links