Interviewing wasn’t just something Terkel did for his books. For over fifty years, he had a radio show on Chicago’s WFMT station wherein he spoke to luminaries from every discipline and lifestyle. The one constant was Studs. The questions were wide-ranging, thoughtful, and always well researched.

WFMT and the Chicago History Museum are working to digitize over two thousand interviews at the Studs Terkel Radio Archive. Below are a handful of our favorites. 

· Shel Silverstein: On his work, children’s literature and art; Part 2 

· Anna Deavere Smith: On her career, Fires in the Mirror, and Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 

· Edward W. Said: On Palestine, history of and struggles in the Middle East 

· Muhammad Ali: On his book The Greatest: My Own Story 

· John Kenneth Galbraith: On his book The Age of Uncertainty 

· Ralph Ellison: On his career and writing 

· Maya Angelou: On her early life, African American culture and people 

· Gloria Steinem: On the 10th Anniversary of Ms. Magazine 

· Robert Caro: On his book The Power Broker

· Norman Mailer: On his writing, literature, and American life 

· Ralph Nader: On corporate violence and power 

· Marian Anderson: On her career, and how she interprets songs 

· Hunter S. Thompson: On his book Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 

· Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader: On their movie Taxi Driver 

· Margaret Mead: On different cultures, anthropology, and society