Airgo

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 discovers that story wasn’t entirely true. We talk about the messiness and murkiness he uncovered as he dug deeper into his story, the contradictions he grew up in, and what it means to openly and honestly interrogate where and who you come from.SHOW NOTESBuy Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young: A Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground - https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324089315Listen to Mother Country Radicals - https://crooked.com/podcast-series/mother-country-radicals/Check out our convo with Bill Ayers - https://airgoradio.com/airgo/2026/2/12/ep-386-bill-ayers-legendary-leftist-and-teacher-for-liberation

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 shores of Lake Michigan. You can also check out the video version here: https://www.youtube.com/@respairmedia, and share the podcast with your people here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/respair-presents-quantum-entanglements/id1721426761Over the four decades since the US Steel South Works steel mill shut its doors, the land it sat on has remained undeveloped as the surrounding communities heal from the physical, environmental, economic, and social wounds left behind by this industrial behemoth. Now, a coalition of public and private power players from all levels of government and different sectors of industry is

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 Lake Michigan. You can also check out the video version here: https://www.youtube.com/@respairmedia, and share the podcast with your people here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/respair-presents-quantum-entanglements/id1721426761Over the four decades since the US Steel South Works steel mill shut its doors, the land it sat on has remained undeveloped as the surrounding communities heal from the physical, environmental, economic, and social wounds left behind by this industrial behemoth. Now, a coalition of public and private power players from all levels of government and different sectors of industry is prepar

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. Rossana returns to AirGo to talk about how this power base has been constructed brick-by-brick, the billionaire meddlers in Chicago's politics, and how she and so many others built new capacity for liberation in the face of ICE's so-called "Midway Blitz" last year.SHOW NOTESListen to Rossana on AirGo in 2020 - https://airgoradio.com/airgo/2020/4/15/episode-233-on-the-line-with-ald-rossana-rodriguezAnd again in 2023 - https://airgoradio.com/airgo/2023/3/3/ep-318-rossana-rodriguez-returnsConnect with her office - https://33rdward.org/Link with the 33rd Ward Working Families IPO - https://www.workingfamilies33.org/Follow Ai

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.com/airgoradiobsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.socialFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - contact@respairmedia.com CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosVideo Post-Production Producer - Troi VallesLead Editor - Troi VallesDigital Media Producer - Troi VallesEngagement Producer - Rivka Yeker

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, Chance the Rapper, Mayor Brandon Johnson, Deante Kyle, and many more. Yet they'd never told the origin story of their show and work together–until now!We break down how being a digital native can shape your worldview, what it means to wrestle with masculinity as you come of age, and much more. Get into it!SHOW NOTESTune in to the JAAM - https://www.youtube.com/@TheJAAMPod Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradiobsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.socialFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - contact@respairmedia.com CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and

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 David A. Moran unpack complex social issues and topics while building relationships with artists, activists, community organizers, educators, social entrepreneurs, and others working towards a better world. Together, BrownTown holds space to listen, learn, and liberate, all while sippin’ on sumpin’ good. Salud! Visit SoapBoxPO.com/Podcast; follow @BourbonnBrownTown on Facebook/Instagram, @BourbonnBrwnTwn on Twitter; and @SoapBoxPO on all social media.Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradiobsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.socialFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up -

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 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lebanese snipers, Guantanamo Bay, the US-Mexican border, Pennsylvania prisoners, New York cabbies, Greek refugee camps, and the ravages of hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. We dig in with her about her new best-selling book Here Where We Live is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund. Once the most influential Jewish political force in eastern Europe, the Bund was secular, socialist, and uncompromisingly anti-Zionist. The Bundists fought for dignity and equality, not in an imagined homeland in Palestine but “here where we live.” Molly shares how this story lives in her lineage, the unsexy

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 mentors that have poured into her, and her brief stay at the center of Chicago's hip hop renaissance in the early 2010s.SHOW NOTESPre-order aja's new album The Color of Rain, out 5/22/26! - https://drinksumwtr.lnk.to/aja-monet-the-color-of-rainFollow aja - https://www.instagram.com/ajamonetFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradiobsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.socialFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - contact@respairmedia.com CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosVideo Post-P

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 Englewood native Heavy Crownz. On this thoughtful and vibrant album, Heavy finds pathways into his world that are accessible and resonant whether you grew up on his block or not. He talks with the guys about how he defines "the trenches," the social codes and beauty of the ball courts, and the healing power of getting your hands in the soil. Join the party with us!SHOW NOTESListen to Trench Baby Turned Farmer – https://heavycrownz.fanlink.tv/trenchbabyturnedfarmer?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bioFollow Heavy Crownz - https://www.instagram.com/heavycrownz/Subscribe to the episode on Youtube

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 Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During this Crisis (and the Next), which became a bible and handbook for so many during the 2020 uprising. His newest book and podcast, Love in a Fucked-Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell, Together, is a vibrant "call to action and a practical manifesto for how to combat cultural scripts and take our relationships into our own hands, preparing us for the work of changing the world." He comes through to talk about the mythologies we carry with us, the value of conflict, and the beautiful sexiness of messy connection.SHOW NOTESBuy Love in a Fucked-Up World - h

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 visionary force for a lot of this music, and has now stepped into his role as a spacemaker and mentor at his wonderful recording spot StudioShapes. He breaks down the importance of an artistic home; his favorite collabs with artists like Mick Jenkins, Noname, Via Rosa, and theMIND; and the sacrifices artists and creators have to make to build strong bonds with each other.SHOW NOTESGet in tune with StudioShapes - https://www.studioshapeschicago.com/Follow Renzell on IG - https://www.instagram.com/renzell.wav/?hl=enFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradiobsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.socialFind us live! - www.respairmedia

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 justice activist who has written extensively about social justice and freedom, democracy and education, the cultural contexts of schooling, and teaching as an essentially intellectual, ethical, and political enterprise. He's also the host of podcast Under the Tree: a Seminar on Freedom, which Dame and Kiss helped him build, and a loving mentor to Chicago's movement community. He comes through to talk about the heightened contradictions of this political moment, the ways the Weather Underground lives on in popular culture, the pride he feels for his children's achievements, and much more.SHOW NOTESSubscribe to Under the T

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 build safety and repair without relying on prisons or police. Built through a collaborative abolitionist writers room, the project is a great example of what it looks like to make new political realities legible. Sarah and the guys talk about the evolution of the project, how we need your support to make the second installment of the series come to fruition, and the relationship between faith and abolition.Watch this episode on our Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4faVtfSDtJwSHOW NOTESWatch We Call Each Other - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqZ6G7OcvE4Donate to make the next installment of the series a rea

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 court and the softball diamond, respectively). Lock in for another year of interviews reshaping culture for the liberatory and creative!Watch this episode on our Youtube! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49Skz4hd7GQFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradiobsky.app/profile/respairmedia.bsky.socialFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - contact@respairmedia.com CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosVideo Post-Production Producer - Troi VallesLead Editor - Troi VallesDigital Media Prod

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=ckhn1KILcisNurtured 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 alive.You can check out the video version of this extended interview on our Youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@respairmediaOne Million Experiments: In the Field is a travel show about how people create safety without policing and prisons. Since the 2020 uprising, One Million Experiments has been in the lab with organizers from across this land talking about what keeps us safe and inviting you to participate in the joyous work of liberation. Now, five years after uprising, hosts Damon and Daniel get out of the lab and into the field to make tangible and irresistible community-built strategies for safety that exist

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=ki3rwqOQlRsIn Seattle we cover the remarkable story of a duo, bound by deadly violence, who chose healing through transformative justice. You can check out the video version of this extended interview on our Youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@respairmediaOne Million Experiments: In the Field is a travel show about how people create safety without policing and prisons. Since the 2020 uprising, One Million Experiments has been in the lab with organizers from across this land talking about what keeps us safe and inviting you to participate in the joyous work of liberation. Now, five years after uprising, hosts Damon and Daniel get out of the lab and into the field to make tangible and irresistible community-built strategies for safety that exist all around us, and serve as an antidote to the despair created

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://youtu.be/0uDzr1_II5Q?si=dPc_QkfadDjYL42EFrom the back room of Noname’s Book Club HQ to the soil of an urban farm, the guys learn about the importance of failure as a necessary step in growing abolition. You can listen to the audio version of our extended interview with Ali Anderson of Feed Black Futures here, and check out the video version on Youtube.One Million Experiments: In the Field is a travel show about how people create safety without policing and prisons. Since the 2020 uprising, One Million Experiments has been in the lab with organizers from across this land talking about what keeps us safe and inviting you to participate in the joyous work of liberation. Now, five years after uprising, hosts Damon and Daniel get out of the lab and into the field to make tangible and irresistible community-built strategies for safety that e

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=-gB2PJ9Nq68On the second episode we head to Kiss's childhood stomping grounds in the Bronx to explore how, when organizing for freedom, small sometimes equals strong.You can hear our extended interview with the Friendly Fridge founders Selma and Sara as well as Black Trans Travel Fund founder Devin Lowe here, and check out the video version on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf9-hUSYLNI),One Million Experiments: In the Field is a travel show about how people create safety without policing and prisons. Since the 2020 uprising, One Million Experiments has been in the lab with organizers from across this land talking about what keeps us safe and inviting you to participate in the joyous work of liberation. Now, five years after uprising, hosts Damon and Daniel get out of the lab and into the field to make

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=VuKv7ozCYrAOn the first episode we head to Minneapolis, the center of the 2020 uprising, to explore what has grown from the ashes of righteous anger. In the episode we talk with poet Danez Smith and organizer Kandace Montgomery–you can hear the extended interview here, and check out the video version on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rvfBbG8ix4).One Million Experiments: In the Field is a travel show about how people create safety without policing and prisons. Since the 2020 uprising, One Million Experiments has been in the lab with organizers from across this land talking about what keeps us safe and inviting you to participate in the joyous work of liberation. Now, five years after uprising, hosts Damon and Daniel get out of the lab and into the field to make tangible and irresistible community-built