Fresh Air from WHYY

Schedule

88.5-1

Monday - Thursday

3:00 pm

88.3

Monday - Thursday

3:00 pm

88.5-3

Friday

3:00 pm

Fresh Air opens the window on contemporary arts and issues with guests from worlds as diverse as literature and economics.

Terry Gross hosts this multi-award-winning daily interview and features program. The veteran public radio interviewer is known for her extraordinary ability to engage guests of all dispositions. Every weekday she delights intelligent and curious listeners with revelations on contemporary societal concerns.

Find more information about Fresh Air.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

James Wolcott: 'Lucking Out' In 1970s New York

The Vanity Fair critic was an aspiring writer when he arrived in a turbulent Manhattan in 1972. In his memoir, Lucking Out, he writes about the crime and culture (and pornography) he discovered there.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Fresh Air Weekend: Tom Waits, Bill Nighy

Tom Waits talks to Terry Gross about performing, being a father and writing his haunting melodies. Also, actor Bill Nighy talks about his latest project Page Eight and rock historian Ed Ward reviews The SMiLE Sessions from The Beach Boys.

Friday, November 4, 2011

'Crazy' In Love, And Feeling Every Moment Of It

In Drake Doremus' drama Like Crazy, a young couple is forced to separate when one of them violates the terms of her student visa. Movie critic David Edelstein says the movie is painful and compelling — and reminds him of Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise.

Julius Hemphill's 'Dogon A.D.' Still A Revelation 40 Years On

The out-of-print and much-coveted album combines a dramatically spare sound with a heavy backbeat.

Exploring 'The Hidden Reality' Of Parallel Worlds

It is possible that there are many other universes that exist parallel to our universe. Theoretical physicist Brian Greene, author of The Elegant Universe, explains how that's possible in the new book, The Hidden Reality.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Joan Didion: Crafting An Elegy For Her Daughter

Two years after the death of her husband, Joan Didion suffered the untimely loss of her only daughter. She pieces together her memories of Quintana Roo in her new memoir, Blue Nights.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

The SMiLE Sessions: A Window Into The Beach Boys

SMiLE may be the most famous unreleased album of all time, but it's not really unreleased: Bits and pieces of it wound up on other Beach Boys albums. Now that EMI has assembled a definitive collection of the session tracks, Ed Ward has listened to them — and wonders what the shouting was about.

Interrupting Violence With The Message 'Don't Shoot'

Criminologist David M. Kennedy's strategy for reducing gang violence has dramatically reduced youth homicide rates nationwide. In his new memoir, Don't Shoot, Kennedy outlines how community meetings and interventions have worked to curb youth violence in more than 70 cities.

'Tinker, Tailor': The Greatest Spy Story Ever Told

At its core, John le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy isn't really about espionage, says critic John Powers. The 1974 novel, adapted for the screen in 1979 by the BBC, is actually about secrets and lies and shifting identities — which is to say, a metaphor for our own daily lives.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Tom Waits: The Fresh Air Interview

The darkness of Tom Waits' lyrics is accentuated by the rumble and rasp of his voice, which sounded old even when he was young. On Bad Like Me, Waits reflects on loneliness, life, death and heartbreak. Here, he talks to Terry Gross about performing, being a father and writing his haunting melodies.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Fresh Air Weekend: Michael Shannon, David Carr

Actor Michael Shannnon talks about his role on Boardwalk Empire; David Carr, who writes the Media Equation column for The New York Times, reflects on the future of journalism; and rock critic Ken Tucker reviews a new album from the bank Deer Tick.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Shakespeare, Thompson: Stick To The Print Versions

The lives of writers drive two films opening this week: The Rum Diary, starring Johnny Depp, dramatizes a Hunter S. Thompson novel. Roland Emmerich's Anonymous, meanwhile, examines who wrote Shakespeare's plays. Critic David Edelstein says both films show how hard it is to write about writers.

Scott Spencer: Plot Twists, Where Everything Changes

Many of Spencer's novels feature a turning point — a dreadful, unplanned act committed by one of the characters. In his latest book, Man in the Woods, a carpenter accidentally kills a man, which leads him to question himself and his relationship with God.

'Primetime' TV, Like You've Never Seen It Before

The PBS documentary series America in Primetime, which premieres this weekend, puts TV under the microscope, analyzing various tropes and character archetypes. Critic David Bianculli says it's the smartest TV show about television he's seen in the past two decades.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Deer Tick: Finding 'Divine Providence' Along The Way

Deer Tick has just released its fourth album, Divine Providence. Rock critic Ken Tucker says the album takes the Rhode Island band in a more raw-sounding direction.

Pages

Arts & Culture

NPR

From Classic Toys To New Twists, Kids Go Back To Blocks

NPR's Neda Ulaby investigates a trend in toys that sounds awfully familiar: Manufacturers are finding new ways to get kids interested in playing with blocks, both real and virtual.

Food

NPR

And The Winner Of The World Food Prize Is ... The Man From Monsanto

The prize is sometimes called the "Nobel Prize for food and agriculture." And this year's winners include Monsanto executive Robert Fraley, a pioneer in genetically engineered crops. If there's a single person who personifies the company's controversial role in American agriculture, it's probably Fraley.

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Fresh Air from WHYY

Arts & Culture

From Classic Toys To New Twists, Kids Go Back To Blocks

Food

And The Winner Of The World Food Prize Is ... The Man From Monsanto

Politics

G-8 Nations Pledge To Crack Down On Corporate Tax Evaders

Technology

FBI Director Says Agency Is Using Drones Over The U.S.

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