For his program Speaking Freely, Edwin Newman conducted more than 250 hour-long interviews with leading figures of the day between 1967 and 1976. Among interviewees were director Ingmar Bergman, zoologist Konrad Lorenz, classical guitarist Andrés Segovia, founder of Transcendental Meditation Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, boxer Muhammad Ali, and the first prime minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion. The series was broadcast on Sunday mornings by local New York station WNBC, and syndicated to other stations.

Ayn Rand was a guest on this show in 1972