Never were Studs Terkel’s legendary gregariousness, curiosity, and generosity more evident on-air than when a comedian, comic actor, or humorist stopped by the studio.
Timuel Black, who died on October 13, 2021 at age 102, lived a truly extraordinary life. Hear an excerpt of a 2013 WFMT interview with the influential historian, activist, veteran, and teacher.
Beyer talks to WFMT about her introduction to folk music at Chicago’s Symphony Center, formative memories of Steve Goodman and Studs Terkel, and what to expect as she takes the reins of ‘The Midnight Special.’
Our picture of the past is often incomplete: though long on the frontlines in the fight for racial justice, women’s stories have often been left out of history. Here are nine conversations with women to enrich our understanding.
John Prine, who began his career in Chicago, exhibited the ability to wring every possible meaning from a word to expose the joy, sorrow, frailty, and strength of the human condition.
Over his almost 50-year career at WFMT, Studs Terkel continually amplified the voices of working people — the nurses, teachers, factory workers, cab drivers, custodians, air traffic controllers, and countless others.
“Among the eminent broadcast journalists of his generation, Studs Terkel may well stand alone in his consistent compassion for lesbian and gay people and curiosity about their lives.” Here are just a few testaments to that compassion.
Studs Terkel was known for a lot of things-his Pulitzer Prize-winning oral histories, his seemingly boundless appetite for life, and even his penchant for cigars. One of Studs’ less well-remembered legacies, however, is his tremendous admiration for the art of dance.
On May 16, 2018, what would have been Studs’s 106th birthday, listeners will have more access to this incredible gold mine of materials than ever before.
Over the last sixty years, the Old Town School of Folk Music has grown from humble beginnings to become the largest nonprofit community arts school in the United States.
WFMT’s long-time resident “free spirit” Studs Terkel died near a decade ago, on Halloween in 2008, but he just made his Carnegie Hall debut. What brought about this feat of artistic time travel?
“Even though I lived in a Southern community where segregation and discrimination were part of our everyday lives, I always dreamed of a day when these conditions would not exist.”
