Fresh Air

By NPR

What's Fresh Air about?

Fresh Air from WHYY, the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, is one of public radio's most popular programs. Hosted by Terry Gross, the show features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.

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LAST EPISODE

Leaks Reveal Spyware Meant ...

07.29.2021

'Washington Post' reporter Craig Timberg explains how military-grade spyware licensed to governments and police departments has infiltrated the iPhones of journalists, activists and others. "It takes a story like this to help people understand how deeply enmeshed these tiny little ...

Fresh Air episodes:

07.29.2021 Leaks Reveal Spyware Meant To Track Criminals Targeted Activists Instead 'Washington Post' reporter Craig Timberg explains how military-grade spyware licensed to governments and police departments has infiltrated the iPhones of journalists, activists and others. "It takes a story like this to help people understand how deeply enmeshed these tiny little ...
07.28.2021 'Moonlight' Writer Tarell Alvin McCraney After winning an Oscar for co-writing the film 'Moonlight,' McCraney says he received a lot of opportunities, many of which he turned down. "Some of it had to do with waiting for the other shoe to drop," he says. He's ...
07.27.2021 Public Health Expert Dr. Leana Wen On COVID & Mandates Dr. Wen is an emergency physician, CNN Health Analyst and former Baltimore Health Commissioner. We talk about mask and vaccine mandates, the return to school and work, and the Delta variant. "Unfortunately, we're in a situation now where the vaccinated ...
07.26.2021 Jad Abumrad Abumrad is the creator of the hit public radio series RadioLab. The show started off as a series about science-related mysteries, but now it investigates all kinds of stories. The new RadioLab miniseries, 'The Vanishing of Harry Pace,' is about ...
07.24.2021 Best Of: Questlove / Growing Up In A Utopian Community Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson talks about directing the new film 'Summer of Soul,' documenting the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. It features performances by Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson and more, and reflects on the cultural and political changes of the ...
07.23.2021 Hugh Grant On 'The Undoing' Hugh Grant has been nominated for an Emmy for his role in the HBO miniseries 'The Undoing,' in which he played an adulterous doctor suspected of murder. Grant got his start in romcoms, but lately he's been getting darker roles. ...
07.22.2021 How GOP State Legislatures Are Remaking The U.S. Journalist Ron Brownstein says Republican-controlled state legislatures are taking a sharp right turn, in a conscious backlash against unified Democratic control of Congress. These states are not only passing voting rights restrictions, they're passing a torrent of other conservative bills ...
07.21.2021 Questlove On 'Summer of Soul' Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson is coming out of the pandemic a changed man. The co-founder of the Roots and the music director for 'The Tonight Show' did something he never thought he'd do — he bought a farm in upstate New ...
07.20.2021 Reopening The Jeffrey Epstein Investigation Long after Jeffrey Epstein got a lenient sentence for sexual abuse of minors, 'Miami Herald' reporter Julie K. Brown identified 80 women who said they survived his abuse. "There is nothing that was more powerful than the words of the ...
07.19.2021 Growing Up In A Utopian Community Memoirist Akash Kapur was raised in an intentional community in India, then moved to the U.S. at age 16. He's seen the idealism of people trying to remake human society and renounce materialism. He's also seen how idealism and spirituality ...
07.17.2021 Best Of: 'Startup Wife' Author Tahmima Anam / MLB Pitcher C.C. Sabathia Tahmima Anam's new novel is about a married couple, Cyrus and Asha, who found a social media platform that customizes ceremonies and rituals for people who aren't religious. The platform's success turns the husband into a messiah figure — even ...
07.16.2021 Anthony Bourdain, 'Roadrunner' We revisit our 2016 interview with culinary icon Anthony Bourdain. He hosted the CNN series 'Parts Unknown' which took audiences to countries all over the world. He spoke with 'Fresh Air' about his breakout book, 'Kitchen Confidential,' and why he ...
07.15.2021 Our Renewable Energy Future 'New York Times' reporter Ivan Penn unpacks the debate over infrastructure: Do we go big and fund huge wind and solar farms with new transmission lines, or go local, with rooftop solar panels, batteries and micro-grids? Also, Maureen Corrigan reviews ...
07.14.2021 MLB Pitcher C.C. Sabathia The six-time All Star pitched for the Yankees and the Indians over the course of his 19-year career. He also struggled with alcoholism. Sabathia reflects on baseball and sobriety in the memoir, 'Till the End.' Justin Chang shares his favorite ...
07.13.2021 The 'Ugly Truth' About Facebook In their new book, 'New York Times' reporters Cecilia Kang and Sheera Frenkel examine the problems Facebook created and the problems it's facing. We talk about disinformation, hate speech, and how CEO Mark Zuckerberg knew the "Stop the Steal" private ...
07.12.2021 'Startup Wife' Author Satirizes Tech Culture & Sexism Tahmima Anam's new novel is about a married couple, Cyrus and Asha, who found a tech startup. It's a social media platform that customizes ceremonies and rituals for people who aren't religious. The platform's success turns the husband into a ...
07.10.2021 Best Of: Writer Ashley C. Ford / Flight Attendant-Turned-Author T.J. Newman Ashley C. Ford's father was incarcerated when she was too young to remember, and she was 30 when he got out. For many of those years, no one told her what his crime was. When she was in her teens, ...
07.09.2021 Mindy Kaling On 'Never Have I Ever' Kaling's Netflix show, 'Never Have I Ever,' is based on her own experiences as a nerdy, confident teen who pined for a boyfriend. The second season drops next week. She spoke with Terry Gross in 2020 about the series, how ...
07.08.2021 Freeing An Innocent Man From Prison When Yutico Briley was 19 years old, he was sentenced to 60 years in prison for an armed robbery he said he didn't commit. After serving 7 years of his sentence, Briley heard criminal justice reporter Emily Bazelon on 'Fresh ...
07.07.2021 Sex & Censorship In The Gilded Age The Comstock Act, which passed in 1873, virtually outlawed contraception. In 'The Man Who Hated Women,' author Amy Sohn writes about the man behind the law — and the women prosecuted under it. John Powers reviews the detective drama 'Unforgotten' ...
07.06.2021 Former Flight Attendant Shares Stories From The Sky T.J. Newman's new book, 'Falling,' is a thriller about a hijacking on a commercial flight. The pilot is told he must crash the plane or his family on the ground will be killed. We talk with Newman about her book ...
07.05.2021 Bandleader Jon Batiste Batiste is the bandleader of 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.' He joins us from his home piano where he plays music he wrote for the Pixar movie 'Soul' and songs from his album 'We Are.' We'll also hear his ...
07.03.2021 Best Of: Uzo Aduba / Desus & Mero Uzo Aduba's breakout role was as Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren in the Netflix series about a women's prison, 'Orange is the New Black.' Now she stars in the HBO reboot of 'In Treatment,' as therapist Dr. Brooke Taylor. We'll talk ...
07.02.2021 Bruce Springsteen Returns To Broadway "The Boss" spoke with Terry Gross at his New Jersey home studio in 2016 about masculinity, depression, and wishing he was his stage persona. His one-man show, 'Springsteen on Broadway,' returned to Broadway this week. Also, film critic Justin Chang ...
07.01.2021 How A Former Spy Trained Conservatives To Infiltrate Progressive Groups 'NYT' reporter Adam Goldman describes an undercover effort, led by an avid Trump supporter, that trained conservatives in espionage techniques and sent them to dig up dirt on progressives. Some operations were aimed at discrediting perceived enemies of Trump when ...
06.30.2021 Global Sanitation & Transforming The Toilet The United Nations estimates that 4.2 billion people — more than half of the world's population — live without any access to safely managed sanitation. No septic systems. No waste treatment plants. In 'Pipe Dreams,' Chelsea Wald examines the health ...
06.29.2021 Watergate, The Tapes & The Fall Of The Nixon White House Historian and author Michael Dobbs reconstructs how the scandal gradually engulfed more administration officials, with operatives turning on each other — and eventually the president. We'll talk about what led to Nixon's downfall and why there are more tapes of ...
06.28.2021 Uzo Aduba Aduba's breakout role was as Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren in the Netflix series about a women's prison, 'Orange is the New Black.' Now she stars in the HBO reboot of 'In Treatment,' as therapist Dr. Brooke Taylor. We talk about ...
06.26.2021 Best Of: Anthony Ramos / Renée Elise Goldsberry Anthony Ramos says Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway musical 'In the Heights' filled him with hope about a life on the stage: "I felt like I'm watching my cousins and my aunts and uncles on the stage ... like friends that I ...
06.25.2021 The Early Years Of The CIA In his book, 'The Quiet Americans,' author Scott Anderson profiles four daring and resourceful soldiers who became intelligence agents after World War II, when America was strong and respected after defeating Nazi Germany. The CIA then embarked on hundreds of ...
06.24.2021 The Battle Over Teaching Critical Race Theory An NBC News analysis finds at least 165 local and national groups are trying to disrupt or block lessons on critical race theory. NBC reporter Tyler Kingkade explores who is waging this fight, and why. "Opponents are using critical race ...
06.23.2021 Megan Rapinoe The USWNT soccer star and activist spoke with Terry Gross last year about her World Cup wins, being one of the first openly gay players on the national team, and taking a knee in solidarity with Black Lives Matter — ...
06.22.2021 Renée Elise Goldsberry On 'Girls5Eva' & 'Hamilton' The comedy series 'Girls5Eva,' which was just renewed for a second season, follows a 1990s band that reunites after a long stretch of obscurity. Goldsberry was once in a girl group herself. She spoke with Ann Marie Baldonado about women ...
06.21.2021 Desus & Mero Desus Nice and The Kid Mero started out doing comedy together on Twitter, then created the 'Bodega Boys' podcast. Their comedy series on Showtime is now in its third season. We talk about growing up in the Bronx in the ...
06.19.2021 Best Of: Julie Lythcott-Haims / How Junk Food Companies Get Us 'Hooked' Former Stanford University undergraduate dean Julie Lythcott-Haims' memoir, 'Real American,' is the story of her coming to terms with her racial identity. Her father was a successful Black physician, her mother a white British woman. She recalls stories from her ...
06.18.2021 The 50th Anniversary Of The Pentagon Papers Fifty years ago this week, 'The New York Times' published the first in a series of articles based on a classified Defense Department study that was leaked to the paper by Daniel Ellsberg. This study came to be known as ...
06.17.2021 Questions Surrounding The COVID-19 Lab-Leak Theory What are the credible questions related to the theory that COVID-19 leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China? President Biden has asked the intelligence community to investigate, but 'Vanity Fair' reporter Katherine Eban says there have been many roadblocks.
06.16.2021 Challenging The Myths Of The Alamo Remember the Alamo? According to Texas lore, it's the site in San Antonio where, in 1836, about 180 Texan rebels died defending the state during Texas' war for independence from Mexico. But in a new book, Bryan Burrough (along with ...
06.15.2021 Writer Ashley C. Ford On Her Memoir 'Somebody's Daughter' For most of Ashley C. Ford's life, her father was incarcerated for rape. This was especially traumatizing for Ford, as she herself is a survivor of sexual assault. Her new bestselling memoir 'Somebody's Daughter' details her evolving relationship with her ...
06.14.2021 Anthony Ramos On 'In The Heights' & 'Hamilton' Anthony Ramos says Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway musical 'In the Heights' filled him with hope about a life on the stage: "I felt like I'm watching my cousins and my aunts and uncles on the stage ... like friends that I ...
06.12.2021 Best Of: Rita Moreno / Daisy Hernández Rita Moreno moved to the U.S. mainland from Puerto Rico as a child. She says her 'West Side Story' role is "the only part I ever remember where I represented Hispanics in a dignified and positive way." Moreno is an ...
06.11.2021 Catching Up With Stephen Colbert / Remembering Clarence Williams III We remember actor Clarence Williams III, best known for playing Linc Hayes, one of three hippie undercover cops on the TV series 'The Mod Squad' from 1968 to 1973. Also, Stephen Colbert begins taping the 'The Late Show' in front ...
06.10.2021 Inside The Ransomware Industry New York Times investigative reporter Michael Schwirtz gained access to the dashboard of DarkSide, a ransomware operation that's pulled in more than $90 million since it began last August. Schwirtz talks about DarkSide's business model, its customer support system to ...
06.09.2021 The Space Race & The Dangerous Early Days Of NASA On the morning of Feb. 20, 1962, about 100,000 spectators gathered in Cape Canaveral, Fla., to witness the launch of the Friendship 7, the United States' first mission to put an astronaut in orbit around the Earth. Historian Jeff Shesol ...
06.08.2021 Race, Sexuality & The Deadly 'Kissing Bug' When Daisy Hernández was 5, her aunt in Colombia came down with a mysterious illness that caused her large intestine to swell. Hernandez details her aunt's story — and her own — in a new memoir.
06.07.2021 Rita Moreno Moreno moved to the U.S. mainland from Puerto Rico as a child. She says her 'West Side Story' role is "the only part I ever remember where I represented Hispanics in a dignified and positive way." We talk about some ...
06.05.2021 Best Of: Exonerated 5 Member / Reckoning With The Legacy Of Slavery In 1990, Yusef Salaam was one of the five boys wrongly convicted in the so-called Central Park jogger case. Salaam spent nearly seven years behind bars and wasn't exonerated until 2002, when a serial rapist confessed to the crime. Salaam ...
06.04.2021 Producing The Philly Sound We hear from songwriter, arranger and producer Thom Bell. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Philadelphia International Records. Among the songs he arranged were Joe Simon's "Drowning in the Sea of Love," and "Back Stabbers" by The O'Jays. Bell ...
06.03.2021 How Russia Used An Overt Agent To Attack Biden In The 2020 Election 'Time' investigative correspondent Simon Shuster says that Andriy Derkach, a seven-term member of the Ukrainian parliament, and widely believed to be a Russian agent, gave misleading information to Rudy Giuliani to discredit Biden during the 2020 campaign. Derkach and Giuliani ...
06.02.2021 The Racist Roots Of The 2nd Amendment Carol Anderson says the Second Amendment was designed to ensure slave owners could quickly crush any rebellion or resistance from those they'd enslaved. "One of the things that I argue throughout this book is that it is just being Black ...

Older episodes

Fresh Air

What's Fresh Air about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Fresh Air episodes:

Leaks Reveal Spyware Meant To Track Criminals Targeted Activists Instead

'Moonlight' Writer Tarell Alvin McCraney

Public Health Expert Dr. Leana Wen On COVID & Mandates

Jad Abumrad

Best Of: Questlove / Growing Up In A Utopian Community

Hugh Grant On 'The Undoing'

How GOP State Legislatures Are Remaking The U.S.

Questlove On 'Summer of Soul'

Reopening The Jeffrey Epstein Investigation

Growing Up In A Utopian Community

Best Of: 'Startup Wife' Author Tahmima Anam / MLB Pitcher C.C. Sabathia

Anthony Bourdain, 'Roadrunner'

Our Renewable Energy Future

MLB Pitcher C.C. Sabathia

The 'Ugly Truth' About Facebook

'Startup Wife' Author Satirizes Tech Culture & Sexism

Best Of: Writer Ashley C. Ford / Flight Attendant-Turned-Author T.J. Newman

Mindy Kaling On 'Never Have I Ever'

Freeing An Innocent Man From Prison

Sex & Censorship In The Gilded Age

Former Flight Attendant Shares Stories From The Sky

Bandleader Jon Batiste

Best Of: Uzo Aduba / Desus & Mero

Bruce Springsteen Returns To Broadway

How A Former Spy Trained Conservatives To Infiltrate Progressive Groups

Global Sanitation & Transforming The Toilet

Watergate, The Tapes & The Fall Of The Nixon White House

Uzo Aduba

Best Of: Anthony Ramos / Renée Elise Goldsberry

The Early Years Of The CIA

The Battle Over Teaching Critical Race Theory

Megan Rapinoe

Renée Elise Goldsberry On 'Girls5Eva' & 'Hamilton'

Desus & Mero

Best Of: Julie Lythcott-Haims / How Junk Food Companies Get Us 'Hooked'

The 50th Anniversary Of The Pentagon Papers

Questions Surrounding The COVID-19 Lab-Leak Theory

Challenging The Myths Of The Alamo

Writer Ashley C. Ford On Her Memoir 'Somebody's Daughter'

Anthony Ramos On 'In The Heights' & 'Hamilton'

Best Of: Rita Moreno / Daisy Hernández

Catching Up With Stephen Colbert / Remembering Clarence Williams III

Inside The Ransomware Industry

The Space Race & The Dangerous Early Days Of NASA

Race, Sexuality & The Deadly 'Kissing Bug'

Rita Moreno

Best Of: Exonerated 5 Member / Reckoning With The Legacy Of Slavery

Producing The Philly Sound

How Russia Used An Overt Agent To Attack Biden In The 2020 Election

The Racist Roots Of The 2nd Amendment

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