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Aaron Copland (c. 1961)

March 6, 2026, 11:00 pm

Aaron Copland, 1962 (Photo: CBS Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1900, Aaron Copland devoted his life as a twentieth-century composer to fostering, developing, and establishing distinctive American music. Studs Terkel welcomed him to the WFMT studios for a very interesting conversation in 1961.

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Meet the Host

Studs Terkel (1912-2008) radically redefined the concept of radio interviews. For 45 years starting in 1952, WFMT was his homebase. His daily radio show was a pillar of WFMT’s programming, with its eclectic and astute mix of music and conversation. Studs juxtaposed interviews with the many of the 20th century’s most significant figures with the voices of uncelebrated, working people from Chicago. As a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Studs helped established oral history as a popular and socially ambitious literary genre. Some of his titles include: Division Street, Hard Times, Working, Race and And They All Sang (Adventures of an Eclectic Disc Jockey). Studs was also a recipient of the National Book Award.

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Aaron Copland (c. 1961)