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- [00:00]
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Tiffany Hansen
This is all of it. I'm Tiffany Hansen in for Al Alison Stewart. Coming up tomorrow on ALL OF it, Allison will be back and she's talking with Booker Prize winning author George Saunders, who will be here. His new novel Vigil follows a powerful oil executive on the last night of his life, guided into the afterlife by a compassionate spirit. George Saunders will join Allison in studio to discuss plus learn about the lives of New York's Skyler sisters, Angelica, Eliza and Peggy. And that's in the future. However, now it's Prince. In 1985, the music of Prince was everywhere. I can attest it's the year that Prince and the Revolution were in the middle of a of their famous Purple Rain Tour. 98 dates, millions of dollars grossed, and a concert film live from Syracuse that immortalized what fans experienced. That is let's go crazy, of course, from the concert film Prince and and the Revolution Live. That film is being screened tonight at the Schomburg center for Research in Black Culture as part of a series called 100 Years of Black Music. On camera. There will be a panel discussion featuring our next guest, d' Angela Duff. She's an associate vice provost at NYU and a Prince fan. Welcome back to wnyc, d'. Angela.
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D'Angela Duff
Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here.
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Tiffany Hansen
Why did I feel like I was going to cry when I was listening to that? It's like it's so joyful, but also like it was such of an era, it was such of a time.
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D'Angela Duff
Yes, yes.
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Tiffany Hansen
Do you have that reaction sometimes?
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D'Angela Duff
Oh, yes, of course. Because I actually went to that tour. I saw it live at the Omni in Atlanta, Georgia. I think he did five dates and I saw the second night and it was really extraordinary.
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Tiffany Hansen
Yeah. Well, it's worth noting that this event, we're talking about black on screen foundations of Pop from the Blues to Purple Rain begins tonight at 5:30 in person. Tickets to see this film are sold out, but you can still join virtually on the Schomburg YouTube channel for the panel discussion that D' Angelo will be part of. That's one of your Prince stories. Do you have other Prince stories? Everybody. Doesn't everybody have a Prince story?
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D'Angela Duff
Yes, everyone has a Prince story. So actually, I'll tell you one about that Purpurane tour. So my mom took me to Turtles Records in Atlanta and we stood in line Starting around 4am in the morning, and when tickets went on sale at 9am There were so many people there to buy tickets that they crashed in on that store. And the entire storefront window crashed and no one could buy tickets from that location. So my mom rushed me to another location.
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Tiffany Hansen
Way to go, mom.
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Ira Flato
Yes.
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D'Angela Duff
But it was sold out everywhere.
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Tiffany Hansen
Oh, no.
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D'Angela Duff
I was devastated. Tears, all that.
- [04:16]
Tiffany Hansen
Oh, sure, sure, sure.
- [04:18]
D'Angela Duff
But for that Christmas, I opened up this little box and it had Prince socks, the tennis brand. There's a tennis brand called Prince, and it had prints on them. And I was so, so, so excited. Prince socks. But within those print socks were Purple Rain tickets. So my mom was able to find them somewhere. So I went to the Purple Rain tour with my mom and I'm so grateful for that.
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Tiffany Hansen
Yeah, that's a great memory, listeners. First of all, what is your Prince memory? Second of all, talk about your favorite Prince song. We'd love to hear from you. 212-433-9692. You can call us, you can text us at that number. Talk to us about what song it is that really, really stands out for you among all of his great hits. Memories of Prince. 212-433-9692. Call us, text us. You know, I say half jokingly that everybody has a Prince memory, but his it. There's no denying his music spoke to a lot of people from a lot of different backgrounds. Why do you think that was?
- [05:24]
D'Angela Duff
Because he was just so diverse in all of the different genres that he mastered. You know, like, he could play rock, he could play soul, he could play gospel, he could play classical, he could play country. Anything you wanted to hear, Prince could actually play it. And also because he was constantly touring and constantly putting out albums. You know, he almost put out like 39 albums on his own, but he was writing other music for others. You know, obviously you know Chaka Khan's I Feel for you, that song was written by Prince. Sinead o', Connors, Nothing Compares to you, that was written by Prince. The Bengals Manic Monday, that was written by Prince. So Prince, you know, I'm so grateful that he was finally inducted into the Songwriters hall of Fame because he wrote so many songs. And so you can basically, you know, connect to Prince in any way that you like, depending on what genre that you like. And he was a phenomenal live performer. So if you out. Yeah, once you saw him live, there was no turning back. And so I'm so grateful for the Schomburg, for showing Prince and the Revolution live tonight, especially for people who may not have had the privilege of seeing him live, because it is a totally different experience than listening to him, you know, on his albums.
- [06:41]
Tiffany Hansen
What. What was the first song you remember hearing?
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D'Angela Duff
The first song that I remember hearing actually is Dirty Mind when I shouldn't have, because I was only 10 or 11, but I didn't know what I was listening to. My aunt had it in her collection and I was listening to it because of the COVID If you know, the Dirty Mind cover is very provocative, but as a 10 or 11 year old, it wasn't about sexuality for me, it was about freedom. I looked at that cover and I could tell this is a guy who can do anything he wants. And so that was really exciting to me as someone who grew up in the south with a lot of rules.
- [07:22]
Tiffany Hansen
The movie that is being shown tonight at the Schomburg is Let's Go Crazy or Sorry, it's Prince and the Revolution Live. We heard let's Go Crazy. Outside of this event, d', Angelo, you have another Prince project that you work on. It's a virtual book club that you call what Did Prince do this week? First thing that popped into my mind was like, what would. What would Prince do? WWE pd. Is it like that or describe it for us?
- [07:51]
D'Angela Duff
No, it's. It's literally wdpdtw. What difference do this week? So we're actually reading two books by Dwayne Tudal. They're part of his Prince in the Studio Sessions series. This. We are actually on our second book. We started in 19. We actually started in 2023 because the first book starts in 1983, like right before Purple Rain, right after and during the 1999 tour. So every week we look to see what Prince is up to. And right now he's in Parade Era, which was his eighth album. He's about to release his second narrative film after Purple rain, which is under the cherry moon. So, yeah, it's in every. And then, you know, sometimes he goes on tour. He's, you know, often, you know, in the studio. So we talk about that every single week on Saturdays at noon.
- [08:45]
Tiffany Hansen
Okay, deangela, I invited our listeners, so let's bring them into this conversation. Is it Ana or Anna? Oh, is it Ana? Ana in Brooklyn. Hi, welcome.
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Ana from Brooklyn
Hi. Thanks so much for taking my call. I am like a bananas Prince fan and have gotten to got to see him several times. But my favorite of those memories is when I was in college here in New York City, a friend of a friend of a friend worked at Radio city music hall and somehow got us tickets to the love symbol for concert that she had there. And we were literally in the third row, like in the pit. They set up just like, you know, singular chairs in those rows ahead of the regular seat. We were kind of on the side. Madonna was like in the middle in our row. And at one point during the show, he put on. Sorry, I keep talking in the present. He put on such a show. And there was one of his backup people was taking Polaroid pictures of him and his dancers and throwing them into the audience. And I actually caught one and was like, over the moon that I had this picture of Prince in my hand. And after the concert, the person who got us the tickets, oh, you know, I think, like, I'll get us copies made. So like, kind of give me, give me the picture. And since they had gotten us the.
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Claire from Brooklyn
Tickets, I was like, okay.
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Ana from Brooklyn
And needless to say, like, that was the last I ever saw it. So.
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Tiffany Hansen
Okay, well, but before that, before that, Ana, it was a good memory. It was a good memory. We have a text here. And thank you so much for that memory, Anna. We appreciate it. And we have a text here. D', Angelo, Brian from Windsor Terrace. So many Prince memories. I was in the third grade when 1999 came out. I distinctly remember sitting in the back of the school bus on a field trip one day and getting the rest of my fellow 8 and 9 year olds chanting, dance, music, sex, romance. I remember making everyone in a bar be quiet when purple rain came on because I needed to hear that song. And I literally went around yelling at people to tell them to shut up. The first. Another text here, First Prince song was wanna be your lover. And I saw him on American Bandstand. Did you see him on American Bandstand? Have you seen clips? Yeah.
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D'Angela Duff
Yes, of course.
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Tiffany Hansen
How was his performance there different from his live performances?
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D'Angela Duff
You know, that's A really great question. It was very early on in his career, you know, we're talking about late 70s, and you could tell that he was nervous as he interfaced with Dick Clark. You know, he didn't really talk a lot to Dick Clark during that part where he was. He would hold up hands, like, how many instruments do you play? He would just hold up hands and then he'll delay his responses. It was a very awkward report.
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Tiffany Hansen
He was shy, though, wasn't he?
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D'Angela Duff
He was. He was shy, yes, he was shy. But, you know, after, you know, like, with everyone, you start somewhere, but then you hone your craft. And he became one of the best live performers ever to have graced the stage. So, you know, he could really command the stage with his presence, but also with his musicianship because he played every instrument. So it was, you know, a joy to see him play guitar. It was a joy to see him on keyboards, a piano. It was a joy to see him on bass guitar or drums. And, you know, it's just such an amazing experience to see him live.
- [12:22]
Tiffany Hansen
We are talking with deangela. Deangela is going to be taking part in an event tonight, a screening at the Schomburg center for Research in Black Culture. It's part of a series called 100 Years of Black Music. On camera. There will also be a panel discussion. And d' Angela Duff, this wonderful Prince aficionado that we are spending our time with here this afternoon, is also an associate vice provost at NYU and self described Prince fam. Listeners, we'd love you in the conversation. D'. Angelo. Let's just go right to Jim Bay in Harlem.
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Jim Bay from Harlem
Hi, how are you doing?
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Tiffany Hansen
Good.
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Jim Bay from Harlem
Great. Great.
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Dash from Hell's Kitchen
Yeah.
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Jim Bay from Harlem
I saw Prince once. Well, not one, but when I saw him first, was that Radio City, and he was going inside the theater to do a concert. And then I realized how small he was. I was, like, on the side, and I had to look down to see him. And then, well, one night after that. Well, many a few years after that, I was covering the American Music Awards, and. And he was. Well, it was in session, and I took a break to go outside and wait around and just kind of, you know, you know, wait a few minutes. And then I also. I see some people coming up the escalator. I'm like, I guess they're, you know, late. And then I realized, this is Prince, and he. He's coming with these guys, like four guys around him. And as he's coming toward the door, I move out the way. And then I went. And I said, look, can I Get a shot. And his bodyguard stepped in front of me and him and he just opened his hands. He says, let him have the shot. And I got the shot. I got this amazing shot of him. A few. I just rattled off a few. And yeah, and that was one of the times that I, you know, actually got to see him up real close. Besides, you know, a concert I actually saw with Shaka when she was doing the Chaka Khan duet with her.
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Tiffany Hansen
Yeah. Lovely, lovely memory. Jim bae, thank you so much for that. And Claire in Brooklyn, you have a memory for us also.
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Claire from Brooklyn
Yes, I do. In 2013, I'm originally from Minneapolis and I went to visit home with my friend Kaheem. And just so happened that the night we got in, Prince was having a pajama party at Paisley park, which my friend Leosha called and told me about. She was like, you gotta go.
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Tiffany Hansen
Infamous, infamous parties. Mm.
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Claire from Brooklyn
I borrowed some pajamas from my uncle and we got in line around 2am if you haven't been. Paisley park is like kind of a big warehouse, almost like airplane hangar event space.
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D'Angela Duff
Not.
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Claire from Brooklyn
And there were no drinks, no nothing but pancakes were being served because I think it was for his Breakfast Can Wait single that was like remixed a thousand times. But nothing happened. Some people left, some people fell asleep on the floor. Until 4:30 in the morning. He comes out in black silk pajamas, his hair is picked out, candles are lit, and he sits down at his grand piano and starts singing Raspberry Beret. And it was magical. And apparently you did an encore at like 6:30 in the morning.
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Renee from Kew Gardens
We left at 6, but yeah.
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Tiffany Hansen
Holy cow, that's a good one. Okay, Claire, thank you so much for that. We have a text here too. Deangela, There are so many that I can name that I could that bring up so many emot. I'm assuming this is so many Prince memories. I was coming home from a two week long business trip, 3am in the morning, walking down the darkened wallway, Scandalous started playing and I said to myself, I'm home. Love that. Another text. Or when I was 17, the night of the day that I took my SATs, I got to see Prince in the Purple Rain tour with Sheila E. Opening. We sat in the very last row of the Nassau Coliseum and it was the very best, most joyful concert experience. I will never forget it. People like this texter and like Claire, who saw him live really do never forget it. I mean, and also Paisley park, that's just a completely different level.
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D'Angela Duff
Indeed. So every year there's a celebration at Paisley park and if you haven't gone, I highly suggest that you do. And I totally understand. Like, it's really magical there, and it's in Chanhassen, and It is like 65,000 square feet. It has, like, a sound stage, a club, all sorts of things there. And it's like a testament of Prince reinvesting in himself. So, you know, originally he would, like, fly out to LA and record Sunset Sound, but eventually he just started recording at Paisley Park. He built his own studio, which is impressive.
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Tiffany Hansen
I was living in Minneapolis when Prince died, and I can tell you that Paisley park became the epicenter of. Of grief for a lot of people. And I. And I want to talk more about that, but we're going to take a quick break here. We are talking with d' Angela Duff. She's an associate vice provost at NYU and a Prince fan. We're talking about Prince because his. The film Prince and the Revolution Live is being screened tonight at the Schomburg center for Research in Black Culture. It's part of a series called 100 Years of Black Music. On camera. We're going to talk more about Prince, and I promise we will get to more music coming up. This is all of it. I'm Tiffany Hansen in for Alison Stewart. Stay with us. This is all of it on wnyc. We're talking about Prince and specifically the concert film Prince and the Revolution Live, which is being screened tonight at the Schomburg. We're talking about the film with d' Angela Duff. She's an associate vice provost at nyu, a Prince fan, and she's going to be taking part in a panel discussion tonight. 1985, Deangela, this concert film, Prince and the Revolution Live, was released in 1985 following the Purple Rain tour. It was filmed in Syracuse. I just want to play before we start talking a little bit about that era and specifically that tour. Let's hear a little bit of music because we can't keep talking about it without hearing music.
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Audience/Chorus
Everybody, it's all right. Purple Rain. Purple Rain. You know what you're singing about, Raise your hand. Purple Rain. It's gonna be all right. He say it's gonna be all right. He say it's gonna.
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Tiffany Hansen
I know everybody's gonna be mad at me because I'm starting to talk over that, but I can't help it. And also, I'm just gonna chime in and say, d', Angela, the only correct answer to what is the best super bowl halftime show is Prince. There are no other answers. That song in the Rain. Come on. But this. This is from Prince and The Revolution Live, 1985. So just give us a sense of, like, I know I was there, but for folks who weren't living in that time, what was it like then for Prince fans?
- [20:09]
D'Angela Duff
Oh, it was a very exciting time because Prince was constantly touring. Like you said before, there were 98 tour dates for Purpuraine alone. He did a similar run for his previous album, 1999. But what was really exciting about the Purple Rain tour is that Sheila E. Opened for Prince on this tour and it was her first time as a solo act, and she was also phenomenal. So seeing a combination of Sheila E. Who would go on to be in Prince's own band eventually for Silent Times was really, really special. Obviously, you know, most of the tour always started off with let's go crazy like it did, you know, in the film. So it was such an amazing way to open a set. And then obviously he couldn't leave without playing Purple Rain. But then he would often play Windows Cry, which was his first number one hit. And the video for that was just incredible. So if you haven't seen Princess Windows Cry video, I highly, highly suggest it. And there's this really powerful moment in the film for me when he does one of his songs called Irresistible alongside another song called Possessed. Neither of them are on albums, but possesses actually in the Purple Rain album. And Irresistible B is like a B side to let's Pretend we're married on from 1999. So it's really great to see him perform songs from previous previous albums. But the bulk of the songs are from the Purple Rain album for this particular tour. And it's just like seeing the band on stage. The revolution. We can't talk about, you know, Purple Rain era without talking about the revolution. You have Wendy and Lisa, who are incredible. Wendy was on, you know, the guitar and Lisa was on keyboards. And then the other keyboardist, Dr. Fink. You got Bobby Z on the drums and you have Brown Mark on bass. It was just a stellar lineup to support friends.
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Tiffany Hansen
We are going to have Allison's conversation with Wendy and Lisa as soon as we're done here. DeAngelis. Amazing. I know. So everybody has to stay tuned for that. Meantime, let's bring another caller into our conversation. Renee and Kew Gardens. Hi, Renee. Hi.
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Renee from Kew Gardens
I. My best and favorite Prince memory, and I have a few, is the time I broke the law and took my underage minor Rotten baby sister to see Prince at the bott. This was the Dirty Mind tour and she was 12 or 13 and she had not seen anything like it. And I mean, to tell you, it was epic. Such a small venue. It was really, really intimate. It was amazing. It was truly amazing. And then I have the distinction of having seen the premiere of Purple Rain in New York and LA on a Tuesday here in New York and a Thursday at Grauman's Chinese in la.
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Tiffany Hansen
Renee, great memories. Thank you so much for that. Let's hear from Dash in Hell's Kitchen.
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Dash from Hell's Kitchen
Hi. I love this conversation. I love hearing everybody's Prince stories and how they overlap. And I'm jealous of everybody else's print stories that are right. Especially seeing him at the bottom line. Mine is. I mean, I have so many. But I saw the Purple Rain tour when I was 10 years old in 1984 because my parents took my brother and me to see him. 1999 was the first vinyl I ever bought, and so that made me a fan for life. And when I came to New York, I moved to New York to go to NYU in 1922. And that was the year of the Video City show that was previously talked about. And I waited out overnight for tickets in the West Village at Discarama with one friend in the freezing cold. And I was robbed. But I stayed online and I got my tickets and appreciate the dedication.
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Tiffany Hansen
Yeah.
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Dash from Hell's Kitchen
Yes, yes. Got the flu. All the things. It was all worth it.
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Tiffany Hansen
Nice.
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Dash from Hell's Kitchen
But I also want to let everybody know who doesn't. There's a wonderful online radio station that plays all Prince and Prince adjacent music. It comes out of Minneapolis from their radio station, the Current. And if you tell your smart speaker to play Purple Current radio, you can listen to great unreleased prints and other artists like the Family and the Time and anything.
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Tiffany Hansen
Yeah, I appreciate the shout out for that. I used to work at Minnesota Public Radio where the current comes out. And so I absolutely know what you're talking about there. It is worth checking out, especially for Prince fans. Before we let you go here, d', Angela, we mentioned Minneapolis. You can't think about Prince without thinking about Minneapolis and the Minneapolis sound. So just describe for us what the Minneapolis sound was.
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D'Angela Duff
Yes, the Minneapolis sound, to be honest, for me, is Prince. But it was. It's tied to the use of the Linndrum, which was a drum machine that Prince is well known for. Also prints using keyboards as horns instead of real horns. And like during the mid-80s, during the Purpuraine period, 1999 period is when, you know, journalists started using, using that term, the Minneapolis sound. But there were others like Jam and Lewis and Jesse Johnson, you know, all in the Minneapolis scene and who are tied to that Minneapolis sound. But essentially it is Prince. All right.
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Tiffany Hansen
We've been talking with NYU associate vice provost and Prince fan d' Angela Du. She is a panelist at the Schomburg tonight for an event called Black on Screen Foundations of Pop, from the Blues to Purple Rain. Inperson tickets sold out. You can still join virtually on the Sean Berg's YouTube channel starting at 5:30. D', Angela, thank you. And I think we should go out on 1999. Why not? Well, you can't talk about Prince without talking about Wendy and Lisa, as d' Angela and I were saying. Well, coming up, we're going to have excerpts from a conversation that they had with Allison. Stay with us. That's coming up after a quick break.
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Audience/Chorus
Anybody want to say? Come on.
- [27:33]
Ira Flato
I'm Ira Flato, host of Science Friday. For over 30 years, our team has been reporting high quality news about science, technology and medicine, news you won't get anywhere else. And now that political news is 24 7, our audience is turning to us to know about the really important stuff in their lives. Cancer, climate change, genetic engineering, childhood diseases. Our sponsors know the value of science and health news. For more sponsorship information, visit sponsorship.wnyc.org.