AirGo

Zayd Ayers Dohrn is the child of AirGo alums and lifelong radicals Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn (yes, we've interviewed his parents too lol). You may remember him as the creator of the podcast Mother Country Radicals.

Born underground, Zayd lived in fugitivity with his parents. All his life, they said his birth marked a clean break with violent revolutionary struggle, but in his new memoir, he discovers that story wasn’t entirely true. 

We talk about the messiness and murkiness he uncovered as he dug deeper into his story, the contradictions he grew up in, and what it means to openly and honestly interrogate where and who you come from.


SHOW NOTES
Buy Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young: A Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground - https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324089315

Listen to Mother Country Radicals - https://crooked.com/podcast-series/mother-country-radicals/

Check out our convo with Bill Ayers - https://airgoradio.com/airgo/2026/2/12/ep-386-bill-ayers-legendary-leftist-and-teacher-for-liberation-returns

Listen to our episode with Bernardine Dohrn - https://airgoradio.com/airgo/2023/6/8/ep-322-bernardine-dohrn

Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio
bsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.social

Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events

Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] 

CREDITS
Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger 
Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío Santos
Video Post-Production Producer - Troi Valles
Lead Editor - Troi Valles
Digital Media Producer - Troi Valles
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker

Hey AirGo fam! We've got a new project we're hyped to share with you about a really big story happening right here in Chicago. Quantum Entanglements is a new multimedia investigative feature from Respair about South Side Chicago communities fighting for self-determination in response to potentially being poisoned, pushed out, and policed by an impending 9-billion dollar quantum computer on the shores of Lake Michigan. You can also check out the video version here: https://www.youtube.com/@respairmedia, and share the podcast with your people here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/respair-presents-quantum-entanglements/id1721426761

Over the four decades since the US Steel South Works steel mill shut its doors, the land it sat on has remained undeveloped as the surrounding communities heal from the physical, environmental, economic, and social wounds left behind by this industrial behemoth. 

Now, a coalition of public and private power players from all levels of government and different sectors of industry is preparing to break ground on a "Quantum Campus"–a multi-billion dollar sprawling facility of next-generation technology and surveillance that could both release poisonous contamination and dismantle digital privacy around the globe. 

As the next industrial revolution descends on a community still reeling from the destruction of deindustrialization, we talk with organizers and neighbors living alongside the site about how they're building power, demanding answers, making sense of the area’s history, and fighting for the ability to determine the future of their neighborhoods, livelihoods, and relationships to the land on which they live.

Check out the video version here: https://www.youtube.com/@respairmedia

Share the podcast with your people here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/respair-presents-quantum-entanglements/id1721426761

Get the Quantum Entanglements Listening Guide here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19sgxkK8Uf45YpsgjuGECzzuij4sBBoC8/view?usp=sharing

Quantum Entanglements was recorded at Chicago Beyond and Kit Studios here in Chicago. 
Find all of our work at http://respairmedia.com. 

CREDITS
Cohosts & Executive Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger. 
Video Post-Production Supervisor - Troi Valles
Lead Video Editor - Troi Valles
Multimedia Producer - Troi Valles 
Associate Audio Editors - Cin Pimentel & Rocio Santos  
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker
Additional Reporting - Kamari Patrick
Artwork - Areanna Eggleston & Danbee Kim

MUSIC
Dubstep Next Left (feat. Tom Wilkinson) - Asthmatic Astronaut
Funk Heaven - Ketsa
China Town - Audiobinger
Contemplate Jat - Katrah Quey
Agua - Katrah Quey
Sleeper Agent - Tab Anitek
Outer Orbit - Revolution Void
Dragon Drop - Darkstorm Diabolik
Glass Harp - dustmotes
Ascension (Leaving Earth Pt. 1) - Mr. Smith

Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio
bsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.social

Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events

Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] 

CREDITS
Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger 
Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío Santos
Video Post-Production Producer - Troi Valles
Lead Editor - Troi Valles
Digital Media Producer - Troi Valles
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker

Hey AirGo fam! Here's the trailer for a new project, dropping this Thursday 6/18/26, that we're hyped to share with you!

Quantum Entanglements is a new multimedia investigative feature from Respair about South Side Chicago communities fighting for self-determination in response to potentially being poisoned, pushed out, and policed by an impending 9-billion dollar quantum computer on the shores of Lake Michigan. You can also check out the video version here: https://www.youtube.com/@respairmedia, and share the podcast with your people here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/respair-presents-quantum-entanglements/id1721426761

Over the four decades since the US Steel South Works steel mill shut its doors, the land it sat on has remained undeveloped as the surrounding communities heal from the physical, environmental, economic, and social wounds left behind by this industrial behemoth. 

Now, a coalition of public and private power players from all levels of government and different sectors of industry is preparing to break ground on a "Quantum Campus"–a multi-billion dollar sprawling facility of next-generation technology and surveillance that could both release poisonous contamination and dismantle digital privacy around the globe. 

As the next industrial revolution descends on a community still reeling from the destruction of deindustrialization, we talk with organizers and neighbors living alongside the site about how they're building power, demanding answers, making sense of the area’s history, and fighting for the ability to determine the future of their neighborhoods, livelihoods, and relationships to the land on which they live.

Check out the video version here: https://www.youtube.com/@respairmedia

Share the podcast with your people here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/respair-presents-quantum-entanglements/id1721426761

Get the Quantum Entanglements Listening Guide here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19sgxkK8Uf45YpsgjuGECzzuij4sBBoC8/view?usp=sharing

Quantum Entanglements was recorded at Chicago Beyond and Kit Studios here in Chicago. 
Find all of our work at http://respairmedia.com. 

CREDITS
Cohosts & Executive Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger. 
Video Post-Production Supervisor - Troi Valles
Lead Video Editor - Troi Valles
Multimedia Producer - Troi Valles 
Associate Audio Editors - Cin Pimentel & Rocio Santos  
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker
Additional Reporting - Kamari Patrick
Artwork - Areanna Eggleston & Danbee Kim

MUSIC
Dubstep Next Left (feat. Tom Wilkinson) - Asthmatic Astronaut

Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio
bsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.social

Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events

Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] 

CREDITS
Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger 
Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío Santos
Video Post-Production Producer - Troi Valles
Lead Editor - Troi Valles
Digital Media Producer - Troi Valles
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker

If you live in the 33rd Ward on the Northwest Side of Chicago, you already know the political magic that's been built by this Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez and her comrades. For everyone else, it's pivotal to see how a group of grassroots socialist-leaning organizers have built power from the streets to the House of Representatives, while still doing the job of meeting people's everyday needs. Rossana returns to AirGo to talk about how this power base has been constructed brick-by-brick, the billionaire meddlers in Chicago's politics, and how she and so many others built new capacity for liberation in the face of ICE's so-called "Midway Blitz" last year.

SHOW NOTES
Listen to Rossana on AirGo in 2020 - https://airgoradio.com/airgo/2020/4/15/episode-233-on-the-line-with-ald-rossana-rodriguez

And again in 2023 - https://airgoradio.com/airgo/2023/3/3/ep-318-rossana-rodriguez-returns

Connect with her office - https://33rdward.org/

Link with the 33rd Ward Working Families IPO - https://www.workingfamilies33.org/

Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio
bsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.social

Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events

Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] 

CREDITS
Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger 
Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío Santos
Video Post-Production Producer - Troi Valles
Lead Editor - Troi Valles
Digital Media Producer - Troi Valles
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker

On this episode the guys check in about living in a time of decay, dissonance, and maybe World War 3? They also dig deep into the new Louis Theroux docuseries Inside the Manosphere, and get into it about whether masculinity is savalgeable or whether we should scrap the whole concept to help humanity. Plus, some real topical takes about how good the movie Casablanca is.

Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio
bsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.social

Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events

Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] 

CREDITS
Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger 
Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío Santos
Video Post-Production Producer - Troi Valles
Lead Editor - Troi Valles
Digital Media Producer - Troi Valles
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker

We have the privilege of welcoming four youthful hope-givers and fellow Chicago podcasters to the AirGo stu–JJ, Allen, Abee, and Matt of hit show the JAAM Podcast. In a little over a year, the guys have built a vibrant and very successful show sharing a razor-sharp voice and perspective on what's happening in our city, the news cycle, and beyond. Their show has welcomed guests like Hasan Piker, Chance the Rapper, Mayor Brandon Johnson, Deante Kyle, and many more. Yet they'd never told the origin story of their show and work together–until now!

We break down how being a digital native can shape your worldview, what it means to wrestle with masculinity as you come of age, and much more. Get into it!

SHOW NOTES
Tune in to the JAAM - https://www.youtube.com/@TheJAAMPod 

Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio
bsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.social

Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events

Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] 

CREDITS
Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger 
Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío Santos
Video Post-Production Producer - Troi Valles
Lead Editor - Troi Valles
Digital Media Producer - Troi Valles
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker

Our good friends and collaborators over at Soapbox Productions & Organizing host a podcast that we think y'all should get in tune with! Bourbon 'n BrownTown is a conversation-based podcast that fosters radically imaginative dialogues on media, culture, politics, and our various social movements through a liberatory lens. With a Chicago focus, filmmakers and movement workers Caullen Hudson and David A. Moran unpack complex social issues and topics while building relationships with artists, activists, community organizers, educators, social entrepreneurs, and others working towards a better world. Together, BrownTown holds space to listen, learn, and liberate, all while sippin’ on sumpin’ good. Salud! 

Visit SoapBoxPO.com/Podcast; follow @BourbonnBrownTown on Facebook/Instagram, @BourbonnBrwnTwn on Twitter; and @SoapBoxPO on all social media.

Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio
bsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.social

Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events

Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] 

CREDITS
Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger 
Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío Santos
Video Post-Production Producer - Troi Valles
Lead Editor - Troi Valles
Digital Media Producer - Troi Valles
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker

What do we do with the stories we're given? Do we accept them, or dig for the truth? Molly Crabapple is a visual artist, writer, and aesthetic fixture of radical social movements for the last decade-plus. Molly got her start as the house artist for New York’s most notorious nightclub. She became a journalist sketching the frontlines of Occupy Wall Street, before covering, with words and art, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lebanese snipers, Guantanamo Bay, the US-Mexican border, Pennsylvania prisoners, New York cabbies, Greek refugee camps, and the ravages of hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. We dig in with her about her new best-selling book Here Where We Live is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund. Once the most influential Jewish political force in eastern Europe, the Bund was secular, socialist, and uncompromisingly anti-Zionist. The Bundists fought for dignity and equality, not in an imagined homeland in Palestine but “here where we live.” Molly shares how this story lives in her lineage, the unsexy but beautiful work of a decade in the archives, and what this story teaches us about the fraught but necessary work of building coalition as we fight for a better world.

SHOW NOTES

Buy Here Where We Live is Our Country - https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/646320/here-where-we-live-is-our-country-by-molly-crabapple/

Watch The Years of Repair - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m8YACFJlMg

Catch Molly live in Chicago 4/23 - https://www.instagram.com/p/DXFh5pkGabl/?img_index=1

Follow Molly - https://www.instagram.com/mollycrabapple/

Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio
bsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.social

Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events

Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] 

CREDITS
Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger 
Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío Santos
Video Post-Production Producer - Troi Valles
Lead Editor - Troi Valles
Digital Media Producer - Troi Valles
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker

The guys have the privilege of hopping on the line with brilliant poet, artist, and cultural organizer aja monet. A longtime guiding light of the poetry and spoken word community, aja's debut album, when the poems do what they do, was nominated for a Grammy Best Spoken Word Poetry Album in 2024. She joins the show to talk about leading the way toward Black cultural solidarity with Palestine, the mentors that have poured into her, and her brief stay at the center of Chicago's hip hop renaissance in the early 2010s.

SHOW NOTES
Pre-order aja's new album The Color of Rain, out 5/22/26! - https://drinksumwtr.lnk.to/aja-monet-the-color-of-rain

Follow aja - https://www.instagram.com/ajamonet

Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio
bsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.social

Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events

Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] 

CREDITS
Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger 
Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío Santos
Video Post-Production Producer - Troi Valles
Lead Editor - Troi Valles
Digital Media Producer - Troi Valles
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker

From time to time, a Chicago artist drops a new project that the AirGo crew is vibing with–when that happens, we get them in the mix for a special listening party episode! Using a few of the project's tracks as jumping off points for the conversation, we dive deep into process, creativity, and growth. We're excited to hop into Trench Baby Turned Farmer, the new project from artist, farmer, and Englewood native Heavy Crownz. On this thoughtful and vibrant album, Heavy finds pathways into his world that are accessible and resonant whether you grew up on his block or not. He talks with the guys about how he defines "the trenches," the social codes and beauty of the ball courts, and the healing power of getting your hands in the soil. Join the party with us!

SHOW NOTES
Listen to Trench Baby Turned Farmer – https://heavycrownz.fanlink.tv/trenchbabyturnedfarmer?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio

Follow Heavy Crownz - https://www.instagram.com/heavycrownz/

Subscribe to the episode on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@respairmedia

Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio
bsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.social

Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events

Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] 

CREDITS
Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger 
Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío Santos
Video Post-Production Producer - Troi Valles
Lead Editor - Troi Valles
Digital Media Producer - Troi Valles
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker