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Fresh
Air with Terry Gross,
the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary
arts and issues, is the third most listened to program
on public radio. Produced by WHYY in Philadelphia
and distributed nationally by National Public Radio,
Fresh Air is listened to by nearly 4.5 million
people each week and is heard on more than 450 public
radio stations across the country, as well as in Europe
on the World Radio Network. It airs at 3 p.m. and
7 p.m. on WHYY 91FM.
Its 1994 Peabody Award citation credits Fresh
Air with "probing questions, revelatory
interviews and unusual insights." A variety of
top publications count Gross among the country's leading
interviewers because she gives interviews as much
time as needed, and complements them with comments
from well-known critics and commentators.
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Terry Gross,
who has been host of Fresh Air for nearly
30 years -- the first 12 as a local program -- isn't
afraid to ask tough questions. She sets an atmosphere
in which her guests volunteer the answers rather than
surrender them. "I try to show the connections
between the person’s work and their life that led
to that work," Gross says of her cultural interviews.
It is her trademark meticulous research that lets
her link ideas and experience in ways that help even
the most reticent guest relax.
What often
puts guests at ease is Gross' understanding of their
work, "anyone who agrees to be interviewed must
decide where to draw the line between what is public
and what is private. But that can shift, depending
on who is asking the questions," said Gross.
"“What puts someone on guard isn't necessarily
the fear of being 'found out.' It is sometimes is
just the fear of being misunderstood."
Fresh Air
has also earned the prestigious Edward R. Murrow
Award in 2003. Gross is the author of "All I
Did was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians
and artists," published by Hyperion in 2004.
Gross was born
in Brooklyn, New York, received a bachelor's degree in
English and an M.Ed. in Communications from the State
University of New york (SUNY) at Buffalo. Gross has
been recognized with a 2002 Honorary Doctor of Humanities
from Princeton University, a 1989 Honorary Doctor of Letters
from Drexel University, and a 1993 Distinguished Alumn
Award from SUNY Buffalo.
Selected
quotes from Fresh Air interviews (MS Word document)
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