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.
Ursula K. Le Guin (6/30/1991)
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) was one of the United States’ most honored and respected authors. Much loved for her science fiction and fantasy, Ms. Le Guin discussed her book Searoad when she was Studs Terkel’s guest on WFMT in June 1991.
Lynn Harrell, cello (c. 1982)
Tonight, on the Best of Studs Terkel, we return to a treasured archive rebroadcast from early 1982. That’s when Studs welcomed the venerable American cellist Lynn Harrell (1944 – 2020), then at the beginning of a multi-decade international career, for an hour of music and conversation. The hour concludes with a passage from the Beethoven Cello Sonata, Op. 102, No. ...
Mel Brooks (07/02/1968)
In an unparalleled career spanning eight decades, the American comedic actor, writer, and filmmaker, Mel Brooks, has proven himself a tireless iconoclast and the nimblest, most freely associative of wits. Tonight’s archive hour of the past first aired on WFMT in 1968, shortly after the release of The Producers, which Brooks wrote and directed. During this program, Studs discussed the ...
