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All Seasons

Season 1

  • S01E01 Bono on His Dad's Final Days

    • May 9, 2012
    • YouTube

    "I'd go and usually have a pint of Guinness and a chaser to steady my nerves. Then I'd go to the hospital and I'd sleep beside my father." - Bono. Interview by Anthony Bozza. INTERVIEW NOTES - The Date: October 2001 - The Scene: By phone - The Source: Minidisc recorder - Anthony recorded this interview while writing for Rolling Stone Magazine Executive Producer: David Gerlach | Producer: Shawn Wen Video scribing: Truscribe Music Credits: U2 "Kite" | Scratch Massive "In the Dressing Room" & "For a Departure"

  • S01E02 Surfer Kelly Slater on Problems in his Perfect Life

    • July 13, 2012
    • YouTube

    "My life was getting worse, not better, and it should have been getting better, because I've accomplished all the things I wanted to accomplish." ~Kelly Slater Kelly Slater is a world champion surfer. He's arguably the best of all time. The Michael Jordan of surfing. He has it all. Or does he? During an interview with Josh Baron of Relix magazine, Slater let down his guard and told the real story. He talked about his failings out of the water in his personal life. You'll enjoy the personal conversation. One note: all the music you're about to hear is Kelly Slater playing the guitar and singing songs he wrote. It's not something you always hear during an interview. Interview by Josh Baron, editor-in-chief of Relix magazine Nov. 17, 2008 // The Bowery Hotel, New York // Digital recorder

  • S01E03 Muhammad Ali On Going To Mars

    • September 17, 2012
    • YouTube

    It was the summer of 1966 when a persistent 17-year-old with a high school radio show near Chicago got the interview of lifetime: Muhammad Ali. But only a handful of people ever got to hear this time capsule. Until now. Ali epically riffs about fighting on Mars, traveling through time, and explaining why big talk and boasting got him a shot at a title fight faster than other challengers. "Some of them thought I was crazy," Ali said. "They were frightened of me." Interview by Michael Aisner // Muhammad Ali Fan Club, Chicago 1966 // reel-to-reel tape recorder

  • S01E04 Dave Brubeck on Fighting Communism with Jazz

    • January 10, 2013
    • YouTube

    "If I told you all the stories about what happened to people if they were caught listening to jazz." - Dave Brubeck in 2008 Interviewer: John Dankosky WNPR Music: Dave Brubeck Quartet live at the 2008 Litchfield Jazz Festival

  • S01E05 Larry King on Getting Seduced

    • March 19, 2013
    • YouTube

    "I'm playing these records. The phone rings and I pick it up: 'WAHR'. And this lady's voice--I can still hear her voice--she goes: 'I want you.'" - Larry King Interview by Cal Fussman Esquire writer-at-large Los Angeles, 2001

  • S01E06 Jim Morrison on Why Fat is Beautiful

    • April 2, 2013
    • YouTube

    "What's wrong with being fat? That's what I want to know." - Jim Morrison Interview by Howard Smith TheSmithTapes.com / Villagevoice.com Los Angeles, 1969

  • S01E07 David Foster Wallace on Ambition

    • April 17, 2013
    • YouTube

    "If your fidelity to perfectionism is too high, you never do anything." - David Foster Wallace Interview by Leonard Lopate, WNYC March 4, 1996 Interview originally aired on the Leonard Lopate Show

  • S01E08 Beastie Boys on Being Stupid

    • April 30, 2013
    • YouTube

    "There's a way we talk and it includes profanity. We never figured we'd be arrested for it." - Mike "Mike D" Diamond Interview by Rocci Fisch for ABC News Radio 1985, Washington, D.C. Cassette Tape

  • S01E09 Wilt Chamberlain on Tall Tales

    • May 14, 2013
    • YouTube

    "I think a lot of ladies found me so attractive because I was different." - Wilt Chamberlain Original interview aired in 1992 on "Sports Innerview with Ann Liguori"

  • S01E10 James Brown on Conviction, Respect & Reagan

    • May 28, 2013
    • YouTube

    "Black is not a color; it's an attitude. It's the attitude of independence, respect and dignity." - James Brown Interview by Rocci Fisch 1984. Washington, D.C. Convention Center Originally recorded for ABC News Radio

  • S01E11 Maurice Sendak on Being a Kid

    • June 10, 2013
    • YouTube

    "I still think the same way I thought as a child. I still worry. I'm still frightened... Nothing changes." - Maurice Sendak Interview by Andrew Romano and Ramin Seetodeh 2009. Sendak's home in Connecticut

  • S01E12 Louis Armstrong on His Chops

    • June 25, 2013
    • YouTube

    "You've got to be good or as bad as the devil. ... Even if we had two, three days off I still had to blow that horn a few hours to keep up the chops." - Louis Armstrong Interview by Michael Aisner and James R. Stein 1964. Ravinia near Chicago Originally aired on WNTH - Winnetka, Illinois

  • S01E13 Farrah Fawcett on Stiletto Power

    • July 9, 2013
    • YouTube

    "I've got on these stiletto heels aimed for his face." - Farrah Fawcett Interview by Lawrence Grobel 1994, Hollywood

  • S01E14 Fidel Castro: The Lost Interview

    • July 23, 2013
    • YouTube

    "If this Revolution falls, what we will have here in Cuba is a hell. Hell itself." - Fidel Castro Interview by Clark Hewitt Galloway 1959, Havana

  • S01E15 Janis Joplin on Rejection

    • September 23, 2013
    • YouTube

    "In my insides, it really hurts if someone doesn't like me. It's silly." - Janis Joplin. Howard Smith interviewed Janis Joplin by phone on September 30, 1970. This turned out to be the last interview Janis ever did. She died on October 4, 1970. Howard was writing for the Village Voice.

  • S01E16 Ray Charles on Singing True

    • October 8, 2013
    • YouTube

    "If somebody don't like something that I do, that's his or her prerogative. Just like it's mine." - Ray Charles. Joe Smith interviewed Ray Charles on June 3, 1987 during the writing of Off the Record–his oral history of rock and roll.

  • SPECIAL 0x1 Tim Gunn on His FBI Agent Father

    • October 18, 2013
    • YouTube

    "My father was J. Edgar Hoover's speechwriter. ... I was not the son he wanted to have." - Tim Gunn. Interview by Danielle Sacks, Fast Company Magazine, Spring 2008

  • S01E17 Kurt Cobain on Identity

    • October 22, 2013
    • YouTube

    "I even thought that I was gay. I thought that might be the solution to my problem." - Kurt Cobain Interview by Jon Savage July 22, 1993. Cassette Tape

  • S01E18 Jerry Garcia on The Acid Tests

    • November 5, 2013
    • YouTube

    "When we fell in with the Acid Tests we a started having the most fun we had ever had." - Jerry Garcia Interview by Joe Smith May 23, 1988 Cassette Tape

  • S01E19 Grace Kelly on JFK

    • November 19, 2013
    • YouTube

    "He turned to me suddenly and asked: 'Is that a Givenchy you're wearing?' And I said, 'why how clever of you, Mr. President. However did you know?'" - Grace Kelly Interview by Paul Gallico / JFK Archives June 19, 1965 Palace of the Principality, Monaco Reel-to-reel

  • S01E20 Tupac Shakur on Life and Death

    • December 3, 2013
    • YouTube

    "If I was white I would have been like John Wayne... I feel like a tragic hero in a Shakespeare play" - Tupac Shakur Interview by Benjamin Svetkey March 1994 Microcassette recorder Related profile appeared in Entertainment Weekly

  • S01E21 John Updike on Family Affairs

    • December 17, 2013
    • YouTube

    "There is the fear that you somehow neglected to say what was really yours to say" - John Updike Interview by John Freeman Spring 2002 Microcassette recorder

  • S01E22 Barry White on Making Love

    • January 7, 2014
    • YouTube

    "When a man is making love, the last thing he thinks about is war" - Barry White Interview by Joe Smith April 3, 1987, Los Angeles Tape recorder

  • S01E23 Carol Burnett on Finding Home

    • January 21, 2014
    • YouTube

    "When I looked in his eyes, he was there. He was home... I had a dad." - Carol Burnett Interview by Leonard Lopate August 19, 2003, WNYC Studios Original interview aired on the Leonard Lopate Show

  • S01E24 Stan Getz on Wasted Years

    • February 18, 2014
    • YouTube

    "I've done some dastardly things, but what can I do except make amends and apologize?" - Stan Getz Interview by Joe Smith August 7, 1987, Los Angeles Tape recorder

  • S01E25 Heath Ledger on Role Playing

    • March 4, 2014
    • YouTube

    "My nervous energy is usually the easiest form of energy to tap into" - Heath Ledger Interview by Christine Spines Fall 2005, Cassette Tape Her profile ran in Entertainment Weekly

  • S01E26 Johnny Cash on The Gospel

    • April 8, 2014
    • YouTube

    "I just hope and pray I can die with my boots on" - Johnny Cash, 1996 Interview by Barney Hoskyns

  • S01E27 John Lennon and Yoko Ono on Love

    • April 22, 2014
    • YouTube

    "It's all true, folks: all you need is love." - John Lennon, 1969 Interviews by Howard Smith

  • S01E28 Gene Wilder on The Truth

    • May 6, 2014
    • YouTube

    "On stage or in the movies I could do whatever I wanted to. I was free." - Gene Wilder, March 2007 Conversation with Ms. magazine founding editor Letty Cottin Pogrebin

  • S01E29 David Bowie on Stardust

    • May 20, 2014
    • YouTube

    "I never really felt like a rock singer or a rock star. I always felt a little bit out of my element" - David Bowie Interview by Joe Smith

  • S01E30 Philip Seymour Hoffman on Happiness

    • June 3, 2014
    • YouTube

    "Learning how to die is therefore learning how to live" - Philip Seymour Hoffman Conversation with Simon Critchley recorded live at the Rubin Museum of Art on Dec 22, 2012

  • S01E31 Meryl Streep on Beauty

    • June 24, 2014
    • YouTube

    "It's very humbling to imagine somebody else's really life and their pain ... It's my drug" - Meryl Streep Interview by Christine Spines, 2008

  • S01E32 Jimi Hendrix on The Experience

    • August 26, 2014
    • YouTube

    "When things get too heavy just call me helium--the lightest known gas to man." - Jimi Hendrix in his final interview

  • S01E33 Michael Jackson on Godliness

    • September 16, 2014
    • YouTube

    "My singing… i'll just say it simple as possible: it's just godly." - Michael Jackson in January 1980

  • S01E34 Bette Davis on The Sexes

    • September 30, 2014
    • YouTube

    "I think men have got to change an awful lot. They still prefer the little woman." - Bette Davis in 1963

  • S01E35 Liberace on Peacocking

    • October 14, 2014
    • YouTube

    "Anyone that dares begrudge what I have today, just better get off their duff and do something about it" - Liberace in 1968 as told to Jay Kent Hackleman

  • S01E36 Maya Angelou on Con Men

    • October 28, 2014
    • YouTube

    "The only way you can be a mark is if you want something for nothing. If you're greedy, you're set up." - Maya Angelou, as told to Studs Terkel in 1970

  • S01E37 Wayne Coyne on Living With Death

    • November 11, 2014
    • YouTube

    "I'm pouring my guts out so they can feel like your guts at the same time." - Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips in 2002

  • S01E38 Robin Williams on Masks

    • December 2, 2014
    • YouTube

    "Comedy is there to basically show us we fart, we laugh. To make us realize we still are part animal.... So you don't take yourself seriously and destroy the species." - Robin Williams in 1991, as told to Lawrence Grobel

  • S01E39 Tom Robbins on Jitterbugs

    • December 16, 2014
    • YouTube

    "If I knew how it was going to end, I probably wouldn't write it." - Tom Robbins in 1994, as told to Tod Mesirow

  • S01E40 Elliott Smith on Freaks

    • January 20, 2015
    • YouTube

    "A lot of people are kind of depressed. I'm happy some of the time, and some of the time I'm not." - Elliott Smith in 1998, as told to Barney Hoskyns

  • S01E41 B.B. King on The Blues

    • February 3, 2015
    • YouTube

    "I don't like to feel that I owe anything. I like to feel that I pay my own way, no free lunch." - B.B. King on September 5, 1986, as told to Joe Smith

  • S01E42 Lou Reed on Guns & Ammo

    • February 17, 2015
    • YouTube

    "I write a song called 'Heroin', you would have thought that I murdered the Pope or something" - Lou Reed on March 20, 1987, as told to Joe Smith

  • S01E43 Dolly Parton on Getting Dirty

    • April 14, 2015
    • YouTube

    "Mama just always said, 'you be what you are and you don't have to worry about nothing'" - Dolly Parton as told to Lawrence Grobel on March 13, 1978

  • S01E44 Ray Bradbury on Madmen

    • April 28, 2015
    • YouTube

    "Nobody else is going to give a damn what you're doing, so you need a few other people like yourself" - Ray Bradbury as told to two college kids on road trip in 1972

  • S01E45 John Coltrane on Giant Steps

    • May 12, 2015
    • YouTube

    "I want to be the force which is truly for good." - John Coltrane in 1966, as told Frank Kofsky

  • S01E46 Joni Mitchell on Illusions

    • May 26, 2015
    • YouTube

    "I didn’t like the sound of people gasping at the mere mention of my name. It horrified me." - Joni Mitchell in 1986, as told to Joe Smith

  • S01E47 Ayn Rand on Love and Happiness

    • June 9, 2015
    • YouTube

    " I have no faith at all. I only hold convictions." - Ayn Rand on February 25, 1959, as told to Mike Wallace

  • S01E48 Roger Ebert on Ego

    • June 23, 2015
    • YouTube

    "I have innate confidence that I am right. Partially out of conviction and partially as a pose." - Roger Ebert in 1990

  • S01E49 Dustin Hoffman in 1971 on Duplicity and Famosity

    • July 14, 2015
    • YouTube

    "I did as much as I could do at that time in my life ... I tried as hard as I could and I couldn't do better" - Dustin Hoffman in 1971

  • S01E50 Hunter S. Thompson on Outlaws

    • July 28, 2015
    • YouTube

    “I keep my mouth shut now. I’ve turned into a professional coward.” - Hunter S. Thompson in 1967

  • S01E51 Tom Waits on Everything and Nothing

    • September 29, 2015
    • YouTube

    "I don’t know what the ‘big time’ is" - Tom Waits in 1988. Tom Waits had just released the concert film, Big Time, when he was interviewed by Chris Roberts in September 1988. The interview was recorded on cassette tape at a recording studio; you can hear various tunes playing in the background. We found the interview in the Rock’s Backpages archive.

  • S01E52 Patty Hearst on Reasonable Doubt

    • October 13, 2015
    • YouTube

    "I'm sorry, I‘m a coward. I didn’t want to die." - Patty Hearst in 1982 in the first interview she gave after getting out of prison

  • S01E53 Bill Murray on Being Obnoxious

    • October 27, 2015
    • YouTube

    "I‘m just an obnoxious guy who can make it appear charming, that’s what they pay me to do" - Bill Murray in October 1988

  • S01E54 Kurt Vonnegut on Man-Eating Lampreys

    • November 10, 2015
    • YouTube

    "Nothing means anything" - Kurt Vonnegut on November 8, 1970

  • S01E55 Nina Simone on Shock

    • December 1, 2015
    • YouTube

    "I feel more alive now than I ever have in my life. I have a chance to live, as I've dreamed." - Nina Simone in July, 1968

  • S01E56 Garrison Keillor on Humor

    • December 15, 2015
    • YouTube

    “My family was shocked when I came home with a volume of Hemingway … There was a price to be paid for being interested in fiction.” - Garrison Keillor in 1994 In this new episode we have a conversation with a true storyteller, the humorist, Garrison Keillor. This interview was recorded in front a live audience back in November of 1994 at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. On stage that night was Keillor, the host of A Praire Home Companion, and George Plimpton, the famed editor of the Paris Review. The thread of their conversation that night was: the qualities of humor. It’s been awhile since we dug into the archives of talks recorded at the 92Y over the years. What we loved about this conversation was something we hadn’t really thought about before: What is the obligation of humor? Enjoy

  • S01E57 Sally Ride on Dumb Questions

    • February 2, 2016
    • YouTube

    “I wish that there had been another woman on my flight. I think it would have been a lot easier.” - Sally Ride in 1983. Interviewed by Gloria Steinem. Hear more outtakes from the interview @ http://blankonblank.org/sally-ride This episode marks the return of our special series, The Experimenters. We’re uncovering lost interviews with the icons of science, technology, and innovation - people who helped make the world we live in today. And some guest animators are bringing these conversations to life. One of those people is Sally Ride. These days, just about every space mission has women on it. It’s just not a big deal. But in 1983, it was very much a big deal - that’s the year Sally Ride became the first American woman in space. Back in 1963, Russia sent Valentina Tereshkova as the first woman to fly to outer space. But it took two more decades for the Americans to follow suit. At the time, journalist and icon of the feminist movement Gloria Steinem had an ABC interview series, called ‘In Conversation with…” As part of that program she interviewed Sally Ride - and we found the tape in Smith College’s archive dedicated to the life and work of Steinem - The Gloria Steinem Papers, part of the Sophia Smith Collection. Now at the time of this interview, as far as the public - and it turns out the press - were concerned, space was for clean-cut alpha males with names like Buzz. Then Sally Ride came along. Additional support from PRX and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

  • S01E58 Frank Lloyd Wright on Arrogance

    • February 16, 2016
    • YouTube

    “Any man who really has faith in himself will be dubbed arrogant by his fellows” - Frank Lloyd Wright in 1957, as told to Mike Wallace If you’ve ever been to Illinois, you’ll know all about the defining features of its landscape - namely, that it’s pretty much flat. But architect Frank Lloyd Wright did something new when he made buildings that somehow became one with the prairie. Long, low lines, and interiors that brought the light and space of the outside in. With the same approach, he built homes in the woods around waterfalls, on high bluffs that take in the stretch and space of the land below. If you’ve ever visited one of his houses, you’ll know how they manage to make you understand more about exactly where you live. As part of our special series, The Experimenters, where we’re uncovering interviews with the icons of science, technology, and innovation, we found this 1957 interview with Frank Lloyd Wright. It’s part of a collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin celebrating The Mike Wallace Interview, a TV program that ran back in the late ‘50s. Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs and style seem very nice, very clean now, but at the time, he was a controversial personality. And like most famous architects, his work was as much hated as respected. And that’s what Mike Wallace wanted to talk about. Here’s the tape. Additional support from PRX and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

  • S01E59 Temple Grandin On Her Search Engine

    • March 1, 2016
    • YouTube

    ""Everything in my mind works like a search engine set for the image function."" - Temple Grandin in 2008, from an oral history at Colorado State University Hear more interview outtakes and learn more about Temple Grandin @ http://blankonblank.org/temple-grandin You’ve probably heard the story that Einstein - whose name is synonymous with genius - didn’t seem destined for much when he was a small child. He was years behind other children when it came to learning to talk, he did horribly in school. It seems that Einstein’s brain just worked differently than most other people’s. And many people these days are saying that Einstein was probably autistic - one of them is Temple Grandin. Temple Grandin is a professor of animal sciences who’s worked in the meat industry to invent kinder ways to lead cattle to slaughter. She’s also autistic - the high-functioning version known as Asperger’s Syndrome. Autism, in case you don’t know, is a brain disorder that tends to affect people’s social skills, like the ability to read facial expressions and body language, but it can also mean extraordinary talent in math, music and the visual arts. Temple Grandin has become something of a celebrity of autism. She’s written books, given TED talks, and she’s been around the world to speak on the subject. Claire Danes has even played her in a movie about her life. As part of our special series, The Experimenters--where we uncover interviews with the icons of science, technology, and innovation…-- we found this interview in the holdings of Colorado State University, where Temple teaches. In this conversation, Temple’s at her best, explaining for the rest of us what it’s really like to have an autistic brain and how Einstein’s not the only genius who could have been dismissed for being different. Additional support from PRX and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

  • S01E60 Jane Goodall on Instinct

    • March 11, 2016
    • YouTube

    "Animals were my passion from even before I could speak apparently. When I was about 10, 11 I fell in love with Tarzan" - Jane Goodall, as told to Ira Flatow in 2002 Hear more interview outtakes and learn more about Jane Goodall http://blankonblank.org/jane-goodall Jane Goodall is so nice, so good, it’s intimidating. She seems like almost a kind of mythic figure. She made groundbreaking discoveries about the behavior of chimpanzees when she was only in her 20s, and without any formal training or degree. Even now, she’s always on the go, speaking up for the rights of animals, campaigning for conservation, and working slavishly on her environmental education program. She’s a role model for young girls to get into science. With all that, it’s sometimes been hard for me to imagine her as one of us ordinary humans. Which is why this interview we came across by veteran public radio science journalist Ira Flatow was just so great. Ira talked with Jane Goodall for his long-running Science Friday program back in 2002, and in that conversation, you can hear a Jane who’s full of formidable conviction, yes - but she’s also humble, vulnerable and best of all even actually fun. This is another episode from our special series, The Experimenters, where we uncover interviews with the icons of science, technology, and innovation. Support for this series comes from PRX and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

  • S01E61 Dame Stephanie Shirley on Survival Code

    • March 15, 2016
    • YouTube

    "I have to make my life worth saving, and each day you spend as if it would be your last" - Dame Stephanie Shirley in 2010 from an oral history at the British Library Computers had their start as a way to turn over the tedium of complicated, repetitive, mathematical calculations to someone else. Sort of the, um, ‘women’s work’ of mathematics and in fact women were often the ones doing the grunt work in the days developing the first computers and the code-writing that would become computer software. They just didn’t tend to get the credit. As a young woman in 1950’s Britain with a talent for math, Stephanie Shirley, found herself in an ever-evolving field of information technology - building computers and writing code, working in places where the world's first programmable electronic computer was invented, exciting stuff. But at work, she found she was often the only woman in the room. "When I first walked in there, about 200, you know, handsome, intelligent men turned round and looked at this new female that had sort of turned up. [laughs] So, and that, you know, took, it was, it was quite, you know, you were... It was almost scary to go into a big place like that, 100, not quite 100 per cent but ninety-nine per cent men." - Shirley said. And this had its limitations. So she decided to strike out on her own and by doing so she came up with a whole new way to work in the computing industry - a way that allowed women to thrive. As part of our special series, The Experimenters -- uncovering interviews with the icons of science, technology, and innovation -- we found this interview with British IT pioneer and businesswoman Stephanie Shirley in the British Library’s collection of Oral Histories. She explains how from the start, her home-based computer software company was uniquely women-friendly: Additional support from PRX and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

  • S01E62 Buckminster Fuller on The Geodesic Life

    • March 22, 2016
    • YouTube

    "I must reorganize the environment of man by which then greater numbers of men can prosper." - Buckminster Fuller in 1965, as told to Studs Terkel Buckminster Fuller was kicked out of college, and booted by Harvard not once, but twice. As a young man trying out jobs, he best liked working with his hands, and was more at home with mill workers, meat-packers and sailors, than professors. Fuller’s most famous for his Geodesic Dome - think Disney’s Epcot Center. You could call him an inventor-philospher-engineer-architect-artist - but he was outside category, really - and he wanted to ‘do a lot with a little.' All to make the world a better place. The tape we found told us he also had his own deeper, more personal reasons for what he did. Fuller spoke with Studs Terkel for Studs’ Chicago radio show twice. Once in studio in 1970, and the other five years earlier. That’s when he and Studs rode around in a station wagon through the rapidly gentrifiying neighborhood Lincoln Park - see if you can hear the hum of the moving car. A conversation with Fuller was like running through a hedge maze - he spoke in fragments, these big ideas endlessly around the corner from others, warm and charismatic the whole way. Studs is firmly there, both holding the reigns and along for the ride - addressing him with all due respect. But as you’ll hear, Buckminster Fuller wasn’t too big on formalities. Support for this series comes from PRX and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

  • S01E63 Richard Feynman on What It Means

    • March 25, 2016
    • YouTube

    "The key was somehow to know what was important and what was not important, what was exciting, because I can’t learn everything." - Richard Feynman in 1966 Richard Feynman sat down for several hours of interviews in Altadena, California in June 1966. The conversations covered his life, thoughts on physics, and more. We uncovered this oral history at the American Institute of Physics.

  • S01E64 Carl Sagan on Extraterrestrials

    • March 29, 2016
    • YouTube

    "A literal reading of the Bible simply is a mistake; I mean it’s just wrong" - Carl Sagan on October 4, 1985, as told to Studs Terkel. We found this conversation between Studs Terkel and Carl Sagan in the WFMT Studs Terkel Radio Archive. Following “Contact,” the book he wrote with wife Ann Druyan - and the major motion picture that followed it -- Carl Sagan spoke with Studs all about our continuing search for intelligent life out there, including how, for a long time, Hollywood just got it wrong. Here’s the tape.

  • S01E65 Martin Scorsese on Framing

    • April 12, 2016
    • YouTube

    "Sometimes when it all comes together ... you become the film you’re making." - Martin Scorsese in 1990, as told to T.J. English. In this new episode we have a previously unheard conversation with legendary director, Martin Scorsese, on how he's framed his movies and his life. The early foray into making a movie as a kid, toying with becoming a priest, and where his parents fit into all this. And wouldn't you like to see a Scorsese Western? Enjoy!

  • S01E66 Patti Smith in 1976 on Getting Bleeped

    • April 26, 2016
    • YouTube

    “When people say fuckin‘ shit, they don‘t think of a big turd, or two people makin‘ it anymore” - Patti Smith in May 1976, as told to Mick Gold In the spring of 1976, Patti Smith made her debut in London. She wasn't even 30, yet. We're going inside her hotel, the Portobello, a Bohemian place popular with the fashion biz and musicians. Several journalists are inside the room asking Patti questions. For nearly two hours Patti holds court on her love of the French poet Rimbuad that spawned her creative path while still a young woman in New Jersey, her publicized relationship with Bob Dylan once she arrived on the scene, and her ability to dip into her unconscious pretty much anytime she wanted to. It's vintage Patti Smith, unvarnished and unfiltered. We get to be flies on the wall that day.

  • S01E67 Cher on Kitsch

    • May 10, 2016
    • YouTube

    “I’m a cookie-decorating mom. I don’t bake them. I decorate them.“ - Cher in 1999, as told to Benjamin Svetkey. On a spring afternoon, Svetkey drove to Cher's house in Malibu for an interview. Her assistant led him up to her bedroom where she was dressed in leopard print and resting on a leopard print bedspread. Cher was open, honest, and forthcoming about the ups and downs of fame, being a mom, her gay following, the camp element of her persona, and how Sonny Bono changed her life. It's vintage Cher. Enjoy.

  • S01E68 Rod Serling on Kamikazes

    • May 24, 2016
    • YouTube

    ”The most unfettered imagination belongs to young people, and they don’t walk through life; they fly” - Rod Serling in 1963. If you've never seen the Twilight Zone, you're missing what might be one of the smartest and most thought-provoking television series of all-time. On the surface, it mimicked ordinary life. The pace was ordinary until challenges to the deepest fears and uncertainties that lurk inside the mind took hold. The series ran from 1959-64 and was created by Rod Serling. The show was mesmerizing audiences across the U.S. when he was interviewed for Australian radio by Binny Lum. We came across this conversation in Australia's National Film and Sound Archive and it's one of those delightful back and forths that makes you stop and listen. Serling jumps into the conversation, there's little apprehension, and suddenly he takes you on a journey thinking about your own past and childhood, and the ultimate realization that "you simply cannot go home again."

  • S01E69 Frank Zappa on Fads

    • June 7, 2016
    • YouTube

    "I don‘t think that there‘s a girl around that would fit in with what we do" - Frank Zappa on June 6, 1971, as told to Howard Smith. Frank Zappa had a few opinions. Surly? Matter-of-fact? Misunderstood? We'll let you decide as we present this rarely heard interview with Zappa recorded in his hotel room. Zappa has a few things to say about women's lib ("a fad"), on LA vs "depressing" New York, why America is a nation of people being told what to do, and why women couldn't hack it in his band. Sit back and enjoy.

  • S01E70 Bob Dylan at 20 on Freak Shows

    • June 28, 2016
    • YouTube

    “I'm never going to become rich and famous” - Bob Dylan in 1962. This interview originally aired on WBAI FM in New York City in February of 1962. Dylan was 20 at the time and it was his first appearance on the Folksingers Choice radio show. This recording was uncovered from the Pacifica Radio Archives. After the animated section of this episode is an excerpt of Dylan talking about his songwriting process from another of Pacifica’s interviews, which was also recorded in 1962.

  • S01E71 Nora Ephron on Crazy Salad

    • July 12, 2016
    • YouTube

    "It’s okay being a woman now. I like it. Try it some time.” - Nora Ephron. This interview by Studs Terkel with Nora Ephron was recorded on July 28, 1975 and comes from the remarkable WFMT Studs Terkel Radio Archive.

  • S01E72 Marlene Dietrich on Sex Symbols

    • July 26, 2016
    • YouTube

    "I have never used my body. I have played roles where the legs were used and the body was used but in life, I have never done that" - Marlene Dietrich. Interview by Jay Kent Hackleman recorded in 1969 for Houston radio station, KHRH. Dietrich was in midst of one of her many cabaret tours. “Ms. Dietrich agreed to our interview on the condition that it could be done in a dressing room at the theater,” Hackleman recalled. “I certainly had no problem with that and she gave the entire interview reclining on a chaise longue and somehow that seemed absolutely appropriate.” Hackleman’s granddaughter, Liss LaFleur, graciously allowed us to bring this lost tape to life.

  • S01E73 Aldous Huxley on Technodictators

    • September 13, 2016
    • YouTube

    "If you want to preserve your power indefinitely, you have to get the consent of the ruled" - Aldous Huxley. In this remarkable interview, Huxley foretells a future when telegenic presidential hopefuls use television to rise to power, technology takes over, drugs grab hold, and frightful dictatorships rule us all. The interview originally aired on Wallace’s television show, The Mike Wallace Interview, on May 18, 1958. Aldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World, was 63 when he sat down for this interview. He died in 1963.

  • S01E74 Stevie Wonder on Keys of Life

    • September 27, 2016
    • YouTube

    "If God didn't want me to sing it, he wouldn't have given me the talent to do it“ - Stevie Wonder in 2005. Barney Hoskyns recorded this interview with Stevie Wonder on March 26, 2005.

  • S01E75 Ronald Reagan on Oatmeal Meat

    • October 11, 2016
    • YouTube

    “How did I get over being poor? I got a job as a sports announcer and it led to everything else.“ - Ronald Reagan. Interview by Bill Moyers recorded on April 30, 1979 - six months before Reagan announced his run for president and nearly two years before he was sworn into office as the 40th President of the United States. This interview comes to us from WNET and Bill Moyers Journal.

  • S01E76 Jimmy Carter on Power and God

    • November 1, 2016
    • YouTube

    “Although I have prayed a good bit, and do, I've never asked God to let me be President.“ This conversation was recorded on May 6, 1976, six months before Jimmy Carter was elected President and comes to us from WNET and Bill Moyers Journal.

  • S01E77 Leonard Cohen on Moonlight

    • November 15, 2016
    • YouTube

    “I don’t feel any compulsion just to stand under the spotlight night after night unless I have something to say“ This interview by Kathleen Kendel was recorded on December 4, 1974 when Leonard Cohen appeared on WBAI FM in New York City. We uncovered this interview in the Pacifica Radio Archives.

  • S01E78 Francis Ford Coppola on Solitude

    • November 29, 2016
    • YouTube

    ”Death is on the back of everyone’s minds whether they want to admit it or not.” This interview was recorded on July 28, 1996 when Francis Ford Coppola was promoting the film, Jack, starring Robin Williams.

  • S01E79 Stephen King on Childhood

    • December 13, 2016
    • YouTube

    “We think in a different way as children. We tend to think around corners instead of in straight lines.“ Conversation recorded on October 22, 1989 and originally aired on the Public Radio Book Show. It comes to us courtesy of WAMC Northeast Public Radio and the New York State Writers Institute.

  • S01E80 Oliver Sacks on Ripe Bananas

    • January 24, 2017
    • YouTube

    ”I’m very interested in how people adapt to extremes” This interview was recorded on July 28, 1996 for the Cover-to-Cover radio show on WGBH-FM in Boston.

  • S01E81 George Washington Carver on Ego and Self

    • February 7, 2017
    • YouTube

    "You can’t get very far in life if you don’t get away from Self" - George Washington Carver in 1939. The famed scientist and inventor best known for the amazing work he did with peanuts -- he cooked up over 100 uses for peanuts incluing plastics and gasoline -- gave this rare interview four years before he died in 1943. It's an inspiring story about the importance of scientific discovery and putting ego aside in the search for facts and the truth.

  • S01E82 Jacques Cousteau on Atlantis and Cognac

    • February 21, 2017
    • YouTube

    "We're going to investigate every single one of these hypotheses, and we'll tell you what we think is the truth about it" - Jacques Cousteau in 1978 Interview by Roy Leonard on WGN Radio, from the Roy Leonard Audio Archive Jacques Cousteau, the world famous oceanographer and undersea explorer who invented the Aqua-Lung, dared to go where no one had gone before. He followed his passion to both protect and better understand our world's oceans and the creatures that inhabited them. Cousteau was 65 at the time of this recording but he was still diving and hungry for more exploration and adventure. Here's his story.

  • S01E83 Alfred Hitchcock on Dead Bodies

    • March 7, 2017
    • YouTube

    "If I did a story or a musical about Cinderella, they would be waiting for the body to turn up" - Alfred Hitchcock in 1957. Interview by Colin Edwards from the http://PacificaRadioArchives.org. The master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, sat down for a short interview on the set of a film tentatively titled, From Amongst The Dead. The film would be released in early 1958 as Vertigo, the classic starring jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak. In this interview, we go inside the mind of a master storyteller with a penchant for fear.

  • S01E84 George Michael on Freedom

    • March 21, 2017
    • YouTube

    "I’m more experienced sexually than I was as an 18 year old. So maybe it’s time for that to start reflecting in the music." - George Michael on November 10, 1986, as told to Joe Smith. George Michael was 23 when he sat for this interview, which has never been broadcast before. He had just embarked on his solo career after leaving Wham!. During the conversation, George Michael talks about his sexuality and shedding his pop-ballad persona ala Careless Whisper. He sounds confident in striking out on his own and sees a clear path to super stardom, but he openly talks about the fear that lurks within that fame might be his demise. He reflects on the power of his fame, as he recalls the historice trip Wham! took to play in communist-China in 1985.

  • S01E85 Charles Bukowski's Crappy Life

    • April 6, 2017
    • YouTube

    "I'm such a spoiled old toad ... I was blessed with a crappy life" - Charles Bukowski in 1993. One afternoon, Bukowski sat down to record the audio version of his classic, Run With the Hunted. The session took place in his home with his wife by his side. These are the outtakes.

  • S01E86 Clint Eastwood's Pussy Generation

    • May 10, 2017
    • YouTube

    "We're living in sort of a more pussy generation now" - Clint Eastwood in 2009, as told to Cal Fussman.

  • S01E87 Sting's Name Change

    • May 11, 2017
    • YouTube

    "Your parents name you, but they don’t really know who you are. Your friends name you... I was very Stingian" - Sting in 2009, as told to Cal Fussman.

  • S01E88 George Clooney's Uncle Chick

    • May 12, 2017
    • YouTube

    "It was part of our family business that you had to be able to tell a story" - George Clooney in 2011, as told to Cal Fussman.

  • S01E89 Johnny Depp Breaks Stuff

    • May 16, 2017
    • YouTube

    "I was in a bad mood and I assaulted a hotel room. I broke a lot of stuff and it felt good." - Johnny Depp in 2009, as told to Cal Fussman.

  • S01E90 Kevin Costner's Ding Dongs

    • May 18, 2017
    • YouTube

    "If you weren't as good as the next guy then work longer. Work faster. ... Sometimes shit needs to get done" - Kevin Costner in 2012, as told to Cal Fussman

Additional Specials

  • SPECIAL 0x2 Charles Bukowski's Crappy Life

    • June 30, 2014
    • YouTube

    "I'm such a spoiled old toad ... I was blessed with a crappy life" - Charles Bukowski in 1993 One afternoon, Bukowski sat down to record the audio version of his classic, Run With the Hunted. The session took place in his home with his wife by his side. These are the outtakes. Produced by http://quotedstudios.org and http://www.harperaudioclassics.com in 2014 Executive Producer David Gerlach Director/Animator Drew Christie Audio Producer Amy Drozdowska