Accessibility links
Fresh Air 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.

Subscribe to Fresh Air Plus! You'll enjoy bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening - all while you support NPR's mission. Learn more at plus.npr.org/freshair
Fresh Air

Podcast Directory

Fresh Air

From NPR

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.

Subscribe to Fresh Air Plus! You'll enjoy bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening - all while you support NPR's mission. Learn more at plus.npr.org/freshair

Most Recent Episodes

Best Of: How 1982 Sci-Fi Changed The Game / Singer Brittany Howard

In 1982, eight science fiction films were released within eight weeks of each other. Chris Nashawaty, author of The Future Was Now, tells Tonya Mosley how those movies shaped the genre and the movie industry. Plus, Brittany Howard, the former Alabama Shakes singer/guitarist, tells Terry Gross that growing up, she was told repeatedly she didn't look like a lead singer. "It made me sing ... louder and perform just as hard as I could," Howard says. Her new album is What Now.

Best Of: How 1982 Sci-Fi Changed The Game / Singer Brittany Howard

Listen · 48:04
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197973250/1257110579" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Revisiting The Final Months Of WWII

We commemorate the 79th anniversary of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, by revisiting a haunting question: Was the U.S. decision to destroy two Japanese cities with atomic weapons really necessary to end World War II? Author Evan Thomas discusses the motivations of key U.S. leaders, and of Japanese commanders and diplomats. His book is The Road to Surrender.

Revisiting The Final Months Of WWII

Listen · 45:03
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197973248/1257085754" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

'Sing Sing' Offers a Glimpse of Life Behind Bars

Filmmaker Greg Kwedar and formerly incarcerated actor Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin discuss their new film, which centers on the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts program founded at Sing Sing prison. Plus, Justin Chang reviews the film Good One.

'Sing Sing' Offers a Glimpse of Life Behind Bars

Listen · 43:38
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197973207/1256991018" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Black Doctors Consortium Founder Serves Vulnerable Communities

When the pandemic hit, Dr. Ala Stanford set up shop in parking lots, churches and mosques where she provided tests and vaccines to underserved Philadelphia communities like the one she grew up in.

Black Doctors Consortium Founder Serves Vulnerable Communities

Listen · 43:31
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197973188/1256914300" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Migrants Risk It All On The Treacherous Darién Gap

Each year, nearly half a million migrants cross the perilous stretch of jungle between South and Central America. Many face snakes, flash floods, sweltering heat, sexual violence, and death. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Caitlin Dickerson talks to Tonya Mosley about what she saw and the migrants she followed for the September Atlantic cover story.

Migrants Risk It All On The Treacherous Darién Gap

Listen · 44:32
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197973168/1256828534" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

A Brain Surgeon Opens Up About Life In The O.R.

Dr. Theodore Schwartz has been treating neurological illnesses for nearly 30 years. He says being a brain surgeon requires steady hands — and a strong bladder. His new book is Gray Matters.

A Brain Surgeon Opens Up About Life In The O.R.

Listen · 44:41
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197973093/1256772757" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Best Of: Comic Nikki Glaser / 'Hacks' Co-Creator Paul W. Downs

Comic Nikki Glaser talks with Terry Gross about finding the line between offensive and funny, hurt feelings, and why she started making jokes about sex. Her new Emmy-nominated stand-up special on HBO is Someday You'll Die.

Best Of: Comic Nikki Glaser / 'Hacks' Co-Creator Paul W. Downs

Listen · 49:09
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197973091/1256620878" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Remembering Freedom Singer Bernice Johnson Reagon

We go into the Fresh Air archive to remember two remarkable women: Bernice Johnson Reagon was one of the powerful singers who helped galvanize the civil rights movement in the 1960s, as a member of the Freedom Singers quartet. She died July 16 at the age of 81. Also, we remember writer Gail Lumet Buckley, the daughter of singer Lena Horne, who chronicled her family's history from enslavement to becoming a part of the Black bourgeoisie. She died this week at age 86.

Remembering Freedom Singer Bernice Johnson Reagon

Listen · 46:20
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197973089/1256627238" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Brittany Howard On Prince, Break-Up Songs, And Her Haunted House

Grammy-winning singer, guitarist and producer Brittany Howard fronted the band Alabama Shakes before going solo. She talks with Terry Gross about growing up biracial in a small Alabama town, living in a haunted house, and writing break-up songs for her new album, What Now.

Brittany Howard On Prince, Break-Up Songs, And Her Haunted House

Listen · 43:34
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197973070/1256616847" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

The 8 Sci-Fi Movies Of 1982 That Changed Everything

In 1982, eight science fiction films were released within eight weeks of each other: E.T., Tron, Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan, Conan the Barbarian, Blade Runner, Poltergeist, The Thing, and Mad Max: The Road Warrior. Entertainment writer Chris Nashawaty talks to Tonya Mosley about how those movies shaped the genre and the movie industry. His book is The Future Was Now.

The 8 Sci-Fi Movies Of 1982 That Changed Everything

Listen · 43:46
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197972981/1256521921" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Fresh Air

Podcast Directory
or search npr.org