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'Fresh Air' Celebrates 20 Years on NPR

We can hardly believe it ourselves, but somehow Fresh Air has just reached its 20th anniversary as a daily national show. (We were a daily local program in Philadelphia for about 12 years before that.)

To celebrate, our producers have picked memorable moments from the past 20 years that they want to play back for you. Today's show includes classic excerpts from interviews with Dexter Filkins, a reporter embedded with Marines in Iraq; actor Sacha Baron Cohen, who created the comic Kazakh Borat; undercover cop-turned-rapper Eric Davis; and "cutman" F.X. Toole, whose memories of life in the ring were the basis for the movie Million-Dollar Baby.

Also featured: actress and teacher Uta Hagen, comic actor Jon Lovitz, Buddhist teacher and Tibetan leader Tendzin Choegyal (the Dalai Lama's youngest brother), musicians Arthur Alexander and Susannah McCorkle, and more.

Plus, our producers tell you some of the stories behind the stories — how they found guests, why some interviewees are tougher to book than others, and in some cases, what happened after our interviews were broadcast.

Thanks for joining us for this special anniversary show. And don't forget to check out our '20 at 20' celebration: We've collected 20 extraordinary full-length interviews, many not previously available online, on this special anniversary page.

Copyright 2022 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.