© 2026 WRVO Public Media
NPR News for Central New York
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Fresh Air Weekend: Jon Bon Jovi; Novelist Leigh Bardugo

Jon Bon Jovi, shown here in 2011, says the band's 1986 hit "Livin' on a Prayer" has "touched more lives than I could have ever dreamt."
David Bergman
/
Hulu
Jon Bon Jovi, shown here in 2011, says the band's 1986 hit "Livin' on a Prayer" has "touched more lives than I could have ever dreamt."

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

'I can only give the best': Bon Jovi on vocal surgery and the road to recovery: A few years ago, Jon Bon Jovi stopped performing due to a vocal cord injury. The Hulu docuseries Thank You, Goodnight offers a career retrospective, plus a view of his surgery and return to the stage.

This collection may be the closest we'll ever come to a Dickinson autobiography: The Letters of Emily Dickinson collects 1,304 letters, starting with one she wrote at age 11. Her singular voice comes into its own in the letters of the 1860s, which often blur into poems.

Fantasy writer Leigh Bardugo on magic, miracles and her version of hell: Bardugo is best known for her YA Shadow and Bone series. Her adult novel, The Familiar, centers on a young woman in 16th century Spain who must hide her identity as a Jew who converted to Catholicism.

You can listen to the original interviews and review here:

'I can only give the best': Bon Jovi on vocal surgery and the road to recovery

This collection may be the closest we'll ever come to a Dickinson autobiography

Fantasy writer Leigh Bardugo on magic, miracles and her version of hell

Copyright 2024 Fresh Air

WRVO is now well into its second year without federal funding. Through it all, our mission has stayed the same: serving central and upstate New York with trusted journalism, vital local coverage, and the diverse programming that informs and connects our communities. Listeners like you are what keep journalists on the ground, asking the hard questions that matter to our region.

Stand with public media and make your gift today. You'll be supporting more than yourself. You'll be supporting everyone who depends on WRVO as a trusted resource and civic cornerstone in central and upstate New York.