Comcast's ON DEMAND Gets a Breath of Fresh Air With Terry Gross

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, Jan. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- 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.

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 http://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.

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.

Source: WHYY

CONTACT: Suzanne Amarant of Comcast Cable, +1-610-650-1352,
Suzanne_Amarant@cable.comcast.com; or Nessa Forman, +1-215-351-1265, Anna
Christopher, +1-215-351-2066, both of WHYY

Web site: http://www.whyy.org/

NOTE TO EDITORS: The press may download electronic photographs of Terry Gross at http://www.whyy.org/pressroom.

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