Journalist Tonya Mosley named new cohost of NPR’s ‘Fresh Air’

For the first time in its more-than four decades on air, popular Philadelphia-based NPR talk show Fresh Air with Terry Gross is adding a cohost.

Tonya Mosley, a correspondent and former host of the Boston-based news radio show Here & Now, has been named cohost of WHYY’s Fresh Air, the station announced Wednesday. She will begin with the revered public radio program on May 1, a spokesperson said.

Mosley — who is also the creator and host of the award-winning Truth Be Told podcast, which explores Black liberation through multiple lenses — has been a regular contributing interviewer on Fresh Air since 2021, speaking with actors Brooke Shields, Halle Berry, Michelle Yeoh, comedian Robin Thede, among others.

Meanwhile, Gross, a fixture of the show since 1975, is not going anywhere and will remain on as Fresh Air’s executive producer and host, said WHYY CEO and President Bill Marrazzo.

» READ MORE: 'Fresh Air,' fresh forever: 30 years as national show, new digital archive

“Fresh Air listeners will be pleased to learn that Terry Gross’ role remains unchanged,” Marazzo said in a statement. “At the same time, we are adding another top-notch interviewer and host who brings her own distinctive voice and expertise to the program.”

In a statement, Gross said she is “thrilled,” and that Mosley’s “wide range of knowledge and experience, her warm inviting presence, and her ability to make a deep connection with guests, make her a perfect fit for our show.”

Mosley, a Detroit native, began her career as a television anchor, producer and correspondent, working in markets across the country, including Boston, Detroit, Louisville, Kentucky, and Seattle. Before joining Here & Now, Mosley served as a host and the Silicon Valley bureau chief for the NPR-affiliate KQED in San Francisco. She has also worked as a senior education reporter and host for WBUR, and television correspondent for Al Jazeera America.

Mosley has won several awards for her journalism, including a 2016 Emmy award for her PBS series Beyond Ferguson, and a Washington State Association for Justice award for her reporting on conflicting reports from Seattle police in a murder investigation. Her public radio series, Black in Seattle, was commended by the National Association for Black Journalist, the Radio Television Digital News Association, and won an Edward R. Murrow Award.

In 2015, Mosley was awarded the John S. Knight Fellowship at Stanford University, where she cocreated a curriculum for journalists on the implications of implicit bias, and cowrote an experimental study on the effects of protest coverage.

Mosley, in a statement, called her new gig and the opportunity to work alongside Gross “a tremendous honor.”

“Terry’s ‘driveway moments’ have been like a beacon throughout my career,” Mosley said. “She has inspired me to use my deep curiosity to help us make sense of ourselves and each other. Fresh Air is unmatched in its ability to remind us of our humanity, and this opportunity to continue the work alongside Terry and the Fresh Air team is a dream come true.”

» READ MORE: Terry Gross and ‘Fresh Air’ team win Peabody award

In 2022, Gross and Fresh Air won the Peabody’s Institutional Award, which honors institutions for “their enduring body of work and their iconic impact on both the media landscape and the public imagination.”

Gross began with Fresh Air in 1975, when the show was a local, daily interview and music program. In 1985, NPR began distributing a weekly half-hour version of the show nationwide. Two years later, Fresh Air grew again to a daily, one-hour nationally-distributed program. Today, the show is still produced from Philadelphia’s WHYY — a station beset by turmoil and turnover in recent years — and garners nearly 5 million radio listeners and 4 million podcast downloads each week, according to NPR.