AirGo

You should listen to Jhon Myquale. The emcee found his way to Chicago a couple years back, and has quietly been putting in work with folks across the city. He's put out a string of dope tracks this year, and is poised to break through. He brings his thoughts and some bars to AirGo. Recorded live 11/17/16 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago Music from this week's show: wavs - @JhonMyquale Summer '04 - @JhonM...

On days like these, we need the proper vibes dealt more than ever. Drea Smith is a singer, songwriter, and member of the Medicine Woman collective with AirGo alumnae Via Rosa, Ravyn Lenae, and Jean Deaux. The elder statesperson of the crew, Drea has traveled the country as the singer for indie pop band He Say She Say and duo Pyyramids. She drops by AirGo to help figure out what the hell we do now....

Singer, poet, and activist TASHA shines. A Chicago native, she has recently released her fiercely warm Divine Love EP. She's also on the staff of Black Youth Project-100, serving as assistant to BYP National Director Charlene Carruthers. TASHA's brother is old-school AirGo alum Ethos, who was featured on the sixth episode of the show. Recorded live 11/3/16 Music from this week's show: Ocean Floor...

Help save WHPK here: https://www.facebook.com/SaveWHPK The University of Chicago administration has recently announced that personnel of WHPK 88.5FM will no longer have access to the station premises outside of the regular hours of the Reynolds Club, the on-campus building in which the station is housed. This change has cut out a third of our programming and ends a tradition of 24/7 broadcasting t...

Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib loves his city like Chicagoans love Chicago. He writes Columbus, Ohio with care and love, as a poet, essayist, and journalist with MTV. His new book of poems, "The Crown Ain't Worth Much," is raw as hell, and available now. Recorded 10/15/16 in Chicago, IL Music from this week's show: Piece of What - @RJD2 Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio bsky.app/profile/respairmedi...

José Olivarez talks about Chicago the way Kanye talks about Kanye. Originally from Calumet City, a southern burb of Chicago, he's a product of the Young Chicago Authors community and former staff member of the organization. He has since moved to New York, where he is the Program Director of youth poetry organization Urban Word NYC. He's the cohost of interview podcast The Poetry Gods, and isn't a...

Daniel Kyri is an actor and space-builder who is the cofounder of The Dojo, a radically inclusive performance, art, and community space in Pilsen. Built in principles of communal accountability and free expression, the Dojo has carved a beautiful, slapdash space for the city's turnup. In addition to his work at the Dojo, Daniel has acted on stages across the city, including The Second City and Chi...

Monica Trinidad's work as a visual artist and organizer has been pivotal in shaping the ways art and activism cocreate in this moment, movement, and city. The co-founder of For The People Artists Collective, she has illustrated how communal art-making is necessary for our fights and for our spirits. Recorded 9/16/16 Music from this week's show: Casanova- @lostclubmusic Complejo de Salvador Blanco...

Page May is one of the city's strongest voices in the fight for Black liberation. She is a cofounder of Assata's Daughters, and has been leading in different ways across the city, from the podium to the classroom to the streets. The day after the actions responding to Laquan McDonald's murder last November, she and Damon sat down on AirGo to process and heal together. She joins us again for a conv...

Once upon a time, way back on Episode 4, Nate Marshall came to the WHPK studio and everything went wrong. Damon was out of town, Daniel forgot an Aux cable, and the room was sweltering. An hour later, Daniel screamed obscenities when he discovered that the episode hadn't even recorded, and their conversation was lost to the AirGo ages. A year later, the BreakBeat Poet, rapper, and educator swings...

Melissa DuPrey is dope. You could say that about a lot of the people we've had on the show, but it's indubitably true with Melissa. She's an actress, comedian, and activist who is a native of the city's Humboldt Park neighborhood. She's also the General Manager of Free Street Theater, the amazing youth theater organization that has been a home for AirGo alumni Ricardo Gamboa and Sol Patches. Recor...

Why are your house, block, and city the way that they are? Daniel Kay Hertz has some ideas, and he's excited to share them with you. Hertz is an urban planner and Chicagoan who breaks down and reshapes housing and transportation policy in ways that illuminate how this city works, and often doesn't work. Get your crash course with the sexiest AirGo episode of all time. Recorded 8/25/16 in Chicago,...

On this week's episode, we celebrate our Associate Producer Chris Cannon, who has been holding it down as a member of the AirGo staff all summer. As he prepares to go back to college, we share his thoughts on working with the show, as well as an audio piece that he co-produced this past semester about street harassment. Get @neonpajama's new book "Paper Wind": http://dustyintl.com/paper-wind-by-be...

Diamond Sharp is a poet and essayist from Oak Park, whose words and presence celebrate the melancholy and the shadows we all carry in a way rarely seen in artist communities, organizing rooms, and simply in the world overall. A member of BYP-1oo and an editor for Rookie Mag, Diamond swings by AirGo Studio B (Daniel's house) for this week's episode while the station is getting fixed up. Recorded We...

When the world acts, AirGo creates and transforms, so this week's episode is a little different. Rather than lifting up one particular Strong Young Voices, Episode 53 brings together shorter conversations with several folks around Freedom Square, the now week-long occupation led by the Let Us Breathe Collective across from the infamous CPD torture site Homan Square. Listen, stop by the ongoing 24/...

Sonia Denis is a standup comic who has been tearing up stages across the city. A member of the cast for The Second City's Afrofuturism show, Sonia gracefully and gleefully dances the fine line between confessional and silliness. She hops on the show to talk standup, the city's comedy scene, and more. Recorded live 7/21/16 at WHPK 88.5FM Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio bsky.app/profile/resp...

Jasmine Sanders is a writer from the South Side of the city. Her work explores generations of family, and is remarkably and thoroughly grounded in the streets, stories, and histories of place in a way that the "internet writing" world often is unable to accomplish. She's been published in Rookie Mag and Buzzfeed, and has a twitter name more stellar than most. Recorded live 7/14/16 at WHPK 88.5FM M...

Pidgeon Pagonis is an intersex activist and artist whose work, art, and joy, centers "their community’s human right to bodily autonomy and justice." From Chicago, Pidgeon facilitates workshops, discussions, and presentations around the world about the medical violence and stigmatization for intersex folks. They are a shining, unrelentingly positive face and voice in the city, encouraging and empow...

A couple weeks ago, when we put on We 'Go Vol 2: A Chicago Showcase and Celebration, we were fortunate enough to have the good folks over at Postloudness come through and record the show in its entirety. On this week's episode we share the audio from the exciting, soul-restoring evening, including performances by AirGo alumni E'mon Lauren, Fati Asghar, Kevin Coval, @defcee, @LAVanGogh, @deathViaLo...

When Avery R. Young gets going, joy starts shining, and it's next to impossible to stop it–not that you would want to. A Cave Canem fellow, he is a fixture of Chicago's creative community, and has been reshaping language and community in new, remarkable ways on stages and in classrooms for years. Combining song, poetry, and interviews about race and politics, his most recent project "booker t. sol...

Dorothy Holmes has found her way into the movement through the most terrible of circumstances–her son, Ronald "Ronnieman" Johnson was murdered by CPD officer George Hernandez on October 12th, 2014. Dorothy has emerged as an organizer and activist, coupling the fight for justice with a loving campaign to provide resources, support, and love to others who have had to face violence as she has. She jo...

Come to We 'Go: A Chicago Showcase and Celebration, on Friday 6/17! Free and all ages. https://www.facebook.com/events/913429428756200/ Vanessa Sanchez is the Director of Yollocalli Arts Reach, a remarkable organization and branch of the National Museum of Mexican Art that works with youth, primarily in the city's Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods. In a city full of of nonprofit efforts that...

Tweak Harris is an MC and activist whose forceful bars and warm smile have been central to the movement across Chicago, especially in the victorious fight for a trauma center on the South Side of the city. Coming off an electrifying performance at the magnificent "Ain't No Mothership: An Expedition of She" event last month, Tweak comes by the studio to talk about her new music and more. Recorded l...

Sol Patches is an actor, rapper, poet, organizer, and gender abolitionist from Chicago. Under the guidance of AirGo alum Ricardo Gamboa and Coya Paz at the Free Street Theater, Patches has tackled roles on stage and screen, including Louder Than a Bomb as a member of the Goodman Theater team and in Pronouns, a new film that has been accepted to the Tribeca Film Festival. They are also an activist...

Shani Crowe is an interdisciplinary artist from the South Side of Chicago. Her newest exhibition, Braids, is a series of portraits of Black women whose hair has been braided and styled into "a variety of original looks and wearable works of art." She joins Damon and Daniel to talk about the project, her lineage as a visual artist, and more. Recorded live 5/19/16 at WHPK88.5FM in Chicago Music on t...