AirGo

avery r. young has a talent that demands the biggest stage–after decades creating brilliant art and dedicatedly pouring into the young artists of Chicago, he finally got the stage he deserves. The city's inaugural poet laureate, avery recently premiered his original opera Safronia  at Chicago's Lyric Opera House. The opera will be playing at the Court Theatre in Spring 2027. He rejoins the show ab...

Rich Wallace is a solid dude and brilliant organizer who has built EAT Chicago, a non-profit, community-led organization founded by and for post-incarcerated people, to build social and economic equity for Black workers engaged in the informal economy. He talks about his winding path to this revolutionary work, the joyous days as a member of legendary Chicago rap crew BBU, how to keep the work gro...

No matter how politically focused AirGo gets, our roots are always in Chicago's music and arts community. As the scene shifts and new artists emerge, we try to keep an ear on who is making good music in our city, a task that's MUCH easier because of the excellent curation and coverage the Real Ones crew provides. A Chicago music discovery platform that produces events, hosts interviews, and covers...

Tonika Lewis Johnson is about real repair. The photographer, social practice artist, and Macarthur genius grant recipient has spent the last decade building innovative, rooted projects that connect Chicagoans across racial divides, make legible the histories of structural violence, and create new versions of what healing can look like. She joins the guys to talk about how her art has moved from do...

How do most people learn about the world these days? And how do we, as a movement, make sure we're in their ears, gaze, and algorithm? Conscious Lee is an educator, facilitator, and content creator who has built a platform around direct, rooted critique of our culture. His work is rooted in transforming through consciousness-raising, using dialogue to uncover what needs to change. We talk about Bl...

The histories of our city shape our lives as Chicagoans, whether we know it or not. City stalwart and self-taught historian Dilla has made a life and livelihood peeling back the layers of Chicago and showing us how dope and impactful the city has been around the world. He sheds light on the roots of his curiosity, what he discovered through doing his genetic ancestry testing, and some of the best...

AirGo fam, check out this brand-new podcast from our friends over at the Court Theatre. Court Theatre’s Spotlight Reading series celebrates its 10th anniversary from August 7–22, 2026, with A Century of Black Progress, a festival exploring the past, present, and future of Black storytelling through the lens of Chicago's cultural ecosystem. Get an up-close look at the inspiration, process, and crea...

Do you ever feel daunted by the impending doom of climate collapse and social discombobulation? Relatable? Us too. That's why we were so glad to have Mikaela Loach on the show. Mikaela is a British climate justice activist, author and media personality. She has authored two books: "It's Not That Radical: Climate Action to Transform Our World" and "Climate is Just the Start," a companion for kids w...

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is in the stu! A three-time AirGo guest (rarefied air) and longtime progressive presence in our city, Mayor Johnson reflects with the guys about how centering his values in the midst of the migrant crisis has made so much other good work possible, the lessons he's learned from the seat of power, and the ways his day-to-day policies are rooted in a politic of repair. W...

Zayd Ayers Dohrn is the child of AirGo alums and lifelong radicals Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn (yes, we've interviewed his parents too lol). You may remember him as the creator of the podcast Mother Country Radicals. Born underground, Zayd lived in fugitivity with his parents. All his life, they said his birth marked a clean break with violent revolutionary struggle, but in his new memoir, he...

Hey AirGo fam! We've got a new project we're hyped to share with you about a really big story happening right here in Chicago. Quantum Entanglements is a new multimedia investigative feature from Respair about South Side Chicago communities fighting for self-determination in response to potentially being poisoned, pushed out, and policed by an impending 9-billion dollar quantum computer on the sho...

Hey AirGo fam! Here's the trailer for a new project, dropping this Thursday 6/18/26, that we're hyped to share with you! Quantum Entanglements is a new multimedia investigative feature from Respair about South Side Chicago communities fighting for self-determination in response to potentially being poisoned, pushed out, and policed by an impending 9-billion dollar quantum computer on the shores of...

If you live in the 33rd Ward on the Northwest Side of Chicago, you already know the political magic that's been built by this Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez and her comrades. For everyone else, it's pivotal to see how a group of grassroots socialist-leaning organizers have built power from the streets to the House of Representatives, while still doing the job of meeting people's everyday needs. Ross...

On this episode the guys check in about living in a time of decay, dissonance, and maybe World War 3? They also dig deep into the new Louis Theroux docuseries  Inside the Manosphere,  and get into it about whether masculinity is savalgeable or whether we should scrap the whole concept to help humanity. Plus, some real topical takes about how good the movie Casablanca is. Follow AirGo - instagram.c...

We have the privilege of welcoming four youthful hope-givers and fellow Chicago podcasters to the AirGo stu–JJ, Allen, Abee, and Matt of hit show the JAAM Podcast. In a little over a year, the guys have built a vibrant and very successful show sharing a razor-sharp voice and perspective on what's happening in our city, the news cycle, and beyond. Their show has welcomed guests like Hasan Piker, Ch...

Our good friends and collaborators over at Soapbox Productions & Organizing host a podcast that we think y'all should get in tune with! Bourbon 'n BrownTown is a conversation-based podcast that fosters radically imaginative dialogues on media, culture, politics, and our various social movements through a liberatory lens. With a Chicago focus, filmmakers and movement workers Caullen Hudson and...

What do we do with the stories we're given? Do we accept them, or dig for the truth? Molly Crabapple is a visual artist, writer, and aesthetic fixture of radical social movements for the last decade-plus. Molly got her start as the house artist for New York’s most notorious nightclub. She became a journalist sketching the frontlines of Occupy Wall Street, before covering, with words and art, the R...

The guys have the privilege of hopping on the line with brilliant poet, artist, and cultural organizer aja monet. A longtime guiding light of the poetry and spoken word community, aja's debut album, when the poems do what they do , was nominated for a Grammy Best Spoken Word Poetry Album in 2024. She joins the show to talk about leading the way toward Black cultural solidarity with Palestine, the...

From time to time, a Chicago artist drops a new project that the AirGo crew is vibing with–when that happens, we get them in the mix for a special listening party episode! Using a few of the project's tracks as jumping off points for the conversation, we dive deep into process, creativity, and growth. We're excited to hop into Trench Baby Turned Farmer, the new project from artist, farmer, and Eng...

Over the years, we've seen time and time again that healthy relationship are the glue that keeps our movements together. But it can be so hard, surprisingly hard, to build and maintain healthy relationships while struggling for a better world. Dean Spade is a longtime organizer and advocate for queer and trans liberation based in racial and economic justice. You may remember the name from his book...

When we listen to the remarkable hip hop that emerged from Chicago over the last fifteen years, it may not always be clear just how many hands had central roles in shaping the vibrant sound and community that pushed the limits of artistry and industry and crafted some of the best music of the 21st century. Renzell has been at the keys, on the boards, and on the ground as a collaborator and visiona...

The guys are in a new studio with an old friend and mentor, the legendary Bill Ayers! A lifelong force for collective liberation, Bill was a cofounder of militant leftist group the Weather Underground, which was formed in opposition to U.S. imperialism in Vietnam and racial injustice. After living underground for years to avoid FBI arrest, he has been an engaged scholar and a peace and social just...

AirGo is joined by Sarah Oberholtzer, a filmmaker, educator, community organizer, and Respair collaborator who has just put some excellent art into the world. Sarah is the creator of We Call Each Other, a heartfelt short film about a community moving through drought and environmental racism. Weaving nonfiction recorded audio into a scripted story, it features characters who lean on one another to...

Dame and Kiss hop back into the AirGo studio to kick off a new year of conversations. They break down how it feels to have Daniel's high school BFF and AirGo alum Zohran Mamdani ascend to the NYC mayoral seat, the remarkable organizing that took place across Chicago in the face of ICE and CBP kidnappings this fall, and the athletic exploits of two thirty-something rec leaguers (on the basketball c...

We're hyped to share this interview that's part of a brand-new travel show we've created called One Million Experiments: In the Field! Check out the full episode here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckhn1KILcis Nurtured in the lineage of visionary organizers Jimmy and Grace Lee Boggs, Dame and Kiss connect with today’s reimaginers who are building possibilities and keeping the Boggs’ memory aliv...