COMCAST’S ON DEMAND GETS A BREATH OF FRESH AIR WITH TERRY GROSS
…WHYY’s award-winning radio show comes to the small screen…
Philadelphia, February 1, 2006 -- WHYY’s nationally acclaimed radio magazine, Fresh Air
with Terry Gross, will be available regionally on Comcast’s ON DEMAND service beginning
February 1, giving digital cable subscribers the option to listen -- and watch -- the Peabody
Award-winning program whenever they choose for no additional charge. With this agreement,
Philadelphia’s leading public broadcast station is bringing host Terry Gross’ prized
conversations with artists, actors, musicians and singers from public radio to a viewer-controlled
television experience for Comcast customers in Greater Philadelphia, Southern New Jersey and
Delaware.
“This groundbreaking project extends WHYY’s mission, which is to use our multiple
communication platforms to connect our community to the world’s richest ideas,” said Bill
Marrazzo, WHYY President and CEO. “By offering selected Fresh Air interviews ON
DEMAND, we’re allowing audiences to explore programs in greater depth through greater
access. This is a unique pairing of audio and visual content, and Fresh Air ON DEMAND
marries Gross’ audio interviews with scrolling pictures of the celebrities and streaming facts
about their lives, work and careers.”
“We continually look to add more value for our customers, and Fresh Air is a radio magazine of
compelling conversations that will be attractive to our customers and representative of our efforts
to provide a diverse array of programming choices,” said Greg Arnold, Comcast regional senior
vice president for Pennsylvania.
The Fresh Air ON DEMAND episodes in February will feature five of Gross’ most compelling
arts interviews from her roster of thousands: late country music legend Johnny Cash; actress and
activist Jane Fonda; iconic singer and pianist Ray Charles; comedian Dan Aykroyd; and actor,
producer and director George Clooney. In March and April, conversations with gangsta rapper
and movie producer Ice Cube; actor Tim Curry; actor, producer and author Gene Wilder;
comedian George Carlin; and screenwriter and director Harold Ramis will also be available.
What defines Fresh Air ON DEMAND is the thought-provoking conversations themselves, the
likes of which only Terry Gross can deliver. Often called the best interviewer in the business,
Gross isn’t afraid to ask tough questions, but she sets an atmosphere in which her guests
volunteer the answers rather than surrender them. It’s this inimitable style that has earned Gross
numerous accolades during her more than 30 years behind the Fresh Air mike, including the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Edward R. Murrow Award in 2003. It’s also made Fresh
Air, produced by WHYY and distributed nationally by National Public Radio, the third most
listened to program on public radio, reaching more than 4.5 million listeners each week on 475
public radio stations.
--more--
FRESH AIR VOD 2-2-2-2
To access Fresh Air with Terry Gross ON DEMAND, select the “Get Local” button from the
“ON DEMAND” main menu, and choose “WHYY.”
Fresh Air can be heard weekdays at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. on WHYY 91FM, and over a live stream
at www.whyy.org. The program is also featured on WHYY’s new HD radio service, providing
listeners with even more opportunities to enjoy arts and informational programming.
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WHYY is what a diverse community has in common. WHYY, through television, radio and
other communications services, makes our region a better place, connecting each of us to the
world’s richest ideas and all of us to each other.
Headquartered in Philadelphia, Comcast Cable is a division of Comcast Corporation, the nation’s
leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications products and services. With 21.4
million cable customers, 8.1 million high-speed Internet customers and 1.2 million voice
customers, Comcast is principally involved in the development, management and operation of
broadband cable networks and in the delivery of programming content.
Comcast’s Eastern Division currently serves more than 5.6 million customers along the New
York to DC corridor, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington,
DC, and Virginia, along with parts of California and Texas. The Eastern Division also founded
and manages CN8, The Comcast Network, one of the nation’s largest and most honored regional
24-hour diversified television networks, seen by more than seven million homes on the East
Coast. The division is based in Oaks, Pennsylvania.
Press Contacts:
Comcast Cable
Suzanne Amarant
(610) 650-1352
Suzanne_Amarant@cable.comcast.com
WHYY
Nessa Forman, (215) 351-1265
Anna Christopher, (215) 351-2066
*The press may download electronic photographs of Terry Gross at whyy.org/pressroom.
TERRY GROSS: ALL SHE DOES IS ASK
“I try to show the connections between the person’s work and their life that led to that work.”
-- Terry Gross, Fresh Air host.
_____________________________________________________________
THE STARS RESPOND
“You know, my father instilled in me that…the car don’t make the man, the clothes don’t make
the man, the jewelry don’t make the man, The man make the man.”
-- Ice Cube, gangsta rapper, movie producer and actor.
“I was on a search -- I wanted to discover woman-ness. I never had a female role model. My
mother killed herself when I was 12, and I was very frightened of what it meant to be a woman
because I thought it meant being a victim and dying.”
-- Jane Fonda, actor, activist and author.
“…When I was 17, 16…I’d sing those old Gospel songs for my mother, and she said, ‘Is that
you?’ And I said, ‘Yes ma’am.’ And she came over and put her arms around me and said, ‘God’s
got his hands on you.’”
-- Johnny Cash, late country musician and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer.
“…Prince Charles and Princess Diana were the guests of honor. …Prince Charles said, ‘I think
I’ve seen you on television. Haven’t I seen you on television?’ I said, ‘Yes, actually you’ve seen
me on television.’ But Diana said, ‘You were in the ‘Rocky Horror Show.’ And I said ‘Yes,
ma’am, I was…but I’m sure that you haven’t seen it.’ She said, ‘Oh, yes, it quite completed my
education.”
-- Tim Curry, actor, who first gained fame in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
“The doctor took me by the arm….and, he said, ‘Don’t ever get angry with your mother, ‘cause
you might kill her…Try to make her laugh.’ That was the first time -- and I did. …When your
mother gives you confidence about anything that you do, you carry that confidence with you, and
she made me believe that I could make someone laugh.”
-- Gene Wilder, actor, producer and author.
“I remember asking Rosemary (Clooney, his aunt) why she’s a better singer at 70 than she was at
21. …She said, ‘because I don’t have to prove I can sing anymore.’ That was a good acting
lesson: not having to show off any more.”
-- George Clooney, actor, screenwriter and director.
“People ask me if I was the class clown. I said, ‘no, I wrote for the class clown.’ I have a strange
imagination and some very odd desires, but I don’t have the courage to actually act them out.”
-- Harold Ramis, screenwriter who first gained fame as co-writer of Animal House.
--more-FRESH AIR QUOTES Page 2
“I’ve always loved country music since I was a kid. My Mom would let me stay up past nine
o’clock on a Saturday night to listen to the Grand Ol’ Opry. I was fascinated by it. I know it’s
strange and quite unusual for a black, especially then, but that’s the way it was.”
-- Ray Charles, late singer, pianist, composer, nicknamed “Genius.”
“When I was doing “The Blues Brothers,” I always felt whatever artists we played with or
worked with, they were never paid enough. We always felt a great reverence for Ray Charles,
James Brown, Aretha [Franklin], and never felt that we were their equal, but we felt that we were
really in service to their gift.”
-- Dan Aykroyd, actor, musician, interviewer and author.
“I knew in fifth grade that I was going to be a comedian. I had a plan then. The plan was first
radio ‘cause there was no audience present and you could get away with more. And second step
would be stand-up comedy, and once I was good enough at that, they’d have to let me in the
movies, like Danny Kaye.
-- George Carlin, comedian, actor and author.
Press Contacts:
Comcast Cable
Suzanne Amarant
(610) 650-1352
Suzanne_Amarant@cable.comcast.com
WHYY
Nessa Forman, (215) 351-1265
Anna Christopher, (215) 351-2066
*The press may download electronic photographs of Terry Gross at whyy.org/pressroom.
ABOUT FRESH AIR AND TERRY GROSS
Fresh Air with Terry Gross, the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary
arts and issues, is the third most listened to program on public radio. Produced by WHYY in
Philadelphia and distributed nationally by National Public Radio, Fresh Air is listened to by
nearly 4.5 million people each week and is heard on more than 450 public radio stations across
the country, as well as in Europe on the World Radio Network.
Its 1994 Peabody Award citation credits Fresh Air with “probing questions, revelatory
interviews and unusual insights.” A variety of top publications count Gross among the country's
leading interviewers because she gives interviews as much time as needed, and complements
them with comments from well-known critics and commentators.
Gross, who has been host of Fresh Air for nearly 30 years — the first 12 as a local program —
isn’t afraid to ask tough questions. She sets an atmosphere in which her guests volunteer the
answers rather than surrender them. “I try to show the connections between the person’s work
and their life that led to that work,” Gross says of her cultural interviews. It is her trademark
meticulous research that lets her link ideas and experience in ways that help even the most
reticent guest relax.
What often puts guests at ease is Gross’ understanding of their work. “Anyone who agrees to be
interviewed must decide where to draw the line between what is public and what is private. But
that can shift, depending on who is asking the questions,” said Gross. “What puts someone on
guard isn’t necessarily the fear of being ‘found out.’ It is sometimes is just the fear of being
misunderstood.”
Fresh Air has also earned the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award in 2003. Gross is the author
of “All I Did was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians and Artists,” published by
Hyperion in 2004.
Gross was born in Brooklyn, New York, received a bachelor’s degree in English and an M.Ed. in
Communications from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo. Gross has been
recognized with a 2002 Honorary Doctor of Humanities from Princeton University, a 1989
Honorary Doctor of Letters from Drexel University, and a 1993 Distinguished Alumni Award
form SUNY Buffalo.
PRESS CONTACTS:
Nessa Forman, 215.351.1265
Anna Christopher, 215.351.2066
1/06