Fridays at 11:00 pm
Archival gems from historian Studs Terkel’s longstanding WFMT interview program
For 45 years (1952-1997), WFMT was home to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Studs Terkel. Over the years, the guests on his daily radio show ranged from ordinary Chicagoans to international figures: political leaders, writers, performers, social activists, and labor organizers. Studs was remarkable in his depth of knowledge and in his ability to get others to share in spirited and insightful discussion.
Learn more about the Studs Terkel Radio Archive by visiting its website.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo (05/12/1992)
Joseph Shabalala (1940–2020) founded the now-legendary, South African, a cappella vocal ensemble, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, in 1974. In May 1992, Mr. Shabalala and members of the group visited with Studs Terkel on WFMT. They were in Chicago for their first partnership with Steppenwolf Theater Company – Tug Yourgrau’s play the Song of Jacob Zulu, which later garnered a half-dozen Tony ...
David Amram (7/3/1986)
The composer, multi-instrumentalist, and polymath, David Amram, never met a musical language, culture, or instrument he didn’t like. Amram was born in New York City on November 17, 1930, and in his honor, let’s revisit July 1986, and this cherished archive conversation with Studs Terkel.
Vine Deloria, Jr. (01/20/1975)
In 1975, Studs Terkel spoke with Vine Deloria, Jr. (1933–2005), the respected Lakota historian, intellectual, activist, and author.
Paul Badura-Skoda (03/06/1989)
When the Austrian concert pianist Paul Badura Skoda (1927–2019) visited WFMT in 1989, he and Studs Terkel discussed technology, Mozart, and Mr. Badura Skoda’s extraordinary career.
Gloria Steinem (06/17/1982)
Gloria Steinem (1934–1926) – writer, publisher, lecturer, political activist, feminist organizer, and American icon – spoke with Studs Terkel in June 1982. The occasion was the tenth anniversary of Ms. Magazine, which she founded. Ms. Steinem died earlier this year, and we remember her tonight on this edition of the Best of Studs Terkel.
Studs Terkel Celebrates the 45th Anniversary of WFMT (12/10/1996)
Word around WFMT is that Studs Terkel’s title, Free Spirit, was printed on his business cards. His half-century career as a radio host and interviewer on this station began in 1952, when WFMT was just a year old. In 1996, on the eve of WFMT’s 45th anniversary, Studs wove together this hour of music, memory, and tribute.
Kronos Quartet (09/22/1986)
Since 1973, the Kronos Quartet has reimagined the string quartet repertoire by prolifically commissioning, recording, and performing over 1,100 works by a broad spectrum of musical creators. The ensemble’s original members – violinists David Harrington and John Sherba, violist Hank Dutt, and cellist Joan Jeanrenaud – were Studs Terkel’s guests on WFMT in 1986. The program ends with the indelible ...
Christmas Memories (12/22/1961)
Studs Terkel first offered his Christmas Memories program on WFMT in 1961. Since then, this holiday time capsule, comprising a compendium of voices and memories of childhood Christmases, has become a perennial favorite.
Born To Live (07/06/1962)
The Best of Studs Terkel presents Born to Live, a long-time WFMT New Year’s broadcast tradition. Studs produced this program, in 1961, with colleague Jim Unrath (1937–2015). The interweaving of interviews, spoken word, and musical responses to the nuclear age earned Born to Live the Prix Italia, an award Studs described as “the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for radio, ...
Grace Bumbry (11/1/1963)
Grace Bumbry (1937–2023), was a treasured recitalist, opera singer, and devoted mentor, whose international career spanned nearly half a century. As a young mezzo-soprano, Ms. Bumbry garnered the top prize at the 1958 Metropolitan Opera auditions, and luminaries such as Lotte Lehmann and Wieland Wagner became stalwart champions. Studs Terkel welcomed her to WFMT, in 1963, at a time when ...
That Time Studs Terkel Introduced Big Bill Broonzy and Pete Seeger (c. 1954)
Tonight, we remember an auspicious beginning that came to pass during a WFMT radio program. On a cold morning in early 1952, Studs Terkel introduced two musicicians he admired both personally and professionally: the legendary blues artist Big Bill Bronzy (1893–1958) and folk singer Pete Seeger (1919–2014). This historic broadcast is one of the earliest surviving programs Studs made for ...
David Levering Lewis (10/25/1993)
This edition of the Best of Studs Terkel travels back to the year 1993, and the interesting conversation Studs Terkel shared with the professor, cultural historian, and scholar of race relations, David Levering Lewis (1936–). Lewis is a recipient of the 2009 National Humanities Medal, and the author of eleven highly acclaimed books. He is the recipient of two Pulitzer ...
Philip Glass & Allen Ginsberg (04/16/1990)
American composer Philip Glass (1935–) celebrates his 90th birthday on January 31, 2027. And so, tonight on the Best of Studs Terkel, we return to April 1990, and that time Studs spoke with Philip Glass about his operatic music theater piece, “Hydrogen Jukebox.” Also in on that noteworthy conversation was the opera’s librettist, Philip Glass’s friend and collaborator, beat poet ...
