Podcast FAQ

this american life podcast host

by Scotty Yundt Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago
image

host Ira Glass

Who is the host of the NPR show This American Life?

6 days agoIra GlassFrom This American Life It is hosted by Ira Glass, produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media, delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange, and has won all of the major broadcasting awards.

How much does Ira Glass make?

By 2020, This American Life reached more than 4.7 million listeners each week. Glass can be heard in all but four episodes. In July 2013, the 500th show was aired. For the 2013 fiscal year, the WBEZ board voted to raise Glass's salary from $170,000 annually to $278,000.

What did Ira Glass do?

Ira Glass, (born March 3, 1959, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.), American television and radio personality who was the popular host of a radio program (begun 1995 and later adapted for television) called This American Life.

How old is Ira Glass?

63 years (March 3, 1959)Ira Glass / Age

Are Ira Glass and Philip Glass related?

It's no coincidence that composer Philip Glass and This American Life host Ira Glass have the same last name: They're second cousins, but they didn't know each other well when the Field Museum in the Chicago asked Ira to interview Philip on stage in 1999.

How much does This American Life pay?

This American Life offers two six-month production fellowships each year, one starting in January and the other in July, based in our office in New York City. This is a paid position. Our fellows earn about $6,250 a month, before taxes. We offer benefits like health insurance and a relocation reimbursement.

How do I get in touch with Ira Glass?

For general requests or requests for Ira Glass, contact Frances Swanson at [email protected]. For business collaboration requests, contact Seth Lind at [email protected].

How tall is Ira Glass?

6′ 2″Ira Glass / Height

How do you tell a story about Ira Glass?

0:385:24Ira Glass on Storytelling, part 1 of 4 YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAnd anecdote is literally just a sequence of actions.MoreAnd anecdote is literally just a sequence of actions.

Who is Ira Glass married to?

Anaheed AlaniIra Glass / Spouse (m. 2005–2018)

How tall is Ira Glass?

6′ 2″Ira Glass / Height

How long has This American Life been on?

If you're brand new to our show, you might start with the list of episodes our host Ira Glass put together called “New to This American Life?” We've been on the air since 1995, so you can also browse through our recommended lists or our entire archive of more than 700 episodes.

Who is Brian from This American Life?

Brian first came to This American Life as an intern, rejoined the staff as a producer in October 2011, and became senior producer in 2015. He has created some of the program's most ambitious stories, including “ The Secret Recordings of Carmen Segarra, ” an investigation into the Federal Reserve that inspired hearings in the U.S. Senate, and “ What Happened at Dos Erres ,” which earned him a Peabody Award and the Dart Award for Excellence in Coverage On Trauma. Brian is also the host and co-creator of our podcast series S-Town .

Where did David come from on American Life?

David came to This American Life from NPR where he was a reporter for 18 years covering science and eventually economics with the Planet Money team. He has a Ph.D. in particle physics.

Who is Miki Meek?

Miki Meek. Senior Producer. Miki Meek interned and freelanced for the show before joining the staff in December 2012. Previously, she worked as an online producer and editor at National Geographic and The New York Times.

Who is Sean Cole?

Sean Cole. Supervising Producer. Sean contributed to the show on and off starting in 1999, and then came on staff in February 2014. He’s also worked as a producer at Radiolab, a regular contributor to Marketplace, and a freelance reporter for lots of other shows and podcasts including Studio 360 and 99% Invisible.

Who is Susan Burton?

Susan Burton. Editor. Susan Burton came to This American Life as a producer in 1999 and rejoined the show in 2016. She's written for The New York Times Magazine and other publications.

What is the show "This American Life" about?

Often This American Life features stories which explore aspects of human nature, such as "Kid Logic", which presented pieces on the reasoning of children.

When was this American life first broadcast?

On May 1, 2008, This American Life was the first major public media program to use digital cinema, distributing a one-hour-long program titled This American Life – Live! to select cinemas. PRI originally conceived of the idea to serve stations around the country. This American Life Live! was presented exclusively in select theatres by National CineMedia 's (NCM) Fathom, in partnership with BY Experience and Chicago Public Radio, and in association with Public Radio International.

What are the stories from the TAL series?

giving the studio two years of "first-look" rights to its hundreds of past and future stories. One film to have apparently emerged from the deal is Unaccompanied Minors, a 2006 film directed by Paul Feig and reportedly based on "In The Event of An Emergency, Put Your Sister in an Upright Position" from "Babysitting". In June 2008, Spike Lee bought the movie rights to Ronald Mallett 's memoir, whose story was featured in the episode "My Brilliant Plan". Potential Warner Bros films from TAL episodes include "Niagara", which explored the town of Niagara Falls, New York, after those who sought to exploit the tourism and hydroelectrical opportunities of the area left; "Wonder Woman" (from the episode "Superpowers"), the story of an adolescent who took steps to become the superhero she dreamed of being, well into adulthood; and "Act V", about the last act of Hamlet as staged by inmates from a maximum security prison as part of Prison Performing Arts Adult Theatre Projects. Paramount Pictures and Broadway Video are in production on Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill, a film based on the TAL story in the episode "My Experimental Phase".

What is the TAL radio show?

This American Life. This American Life ( TAL) is an American weekly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internationally, and is also available as a free weekly podcast.

How many acts are in a program?

On occasion, an entire program will consist of a single act. Each act is produced by a combination of staff and freelance contributors. Programs usually begin with a short program identification by host Ira Glass who then introduces a prologue related to the theme which precedes act one.

What was the first news program to win the Pulitzer Prize for Audio Reporting?

In 2020, This American Life became the first news program to win the Pulitzer Prize for Audio Reporting. The winning work was "The Out Crowd", the 688th episode with "revelatory, intimate journalism that illuminates the personal impact of the Trump Administration’s ' Remain in Mexico ' policy".

How many times has This American Life been on the road?

This American Life has taken the radio show on the road three times since 2000; material recorded on each of the three tours has been edited into an episode which aired on the radio shortly after the tour. Other episodes include segments recorded live.

Who hosts this American life?

Another 2.5 million people download the weekly podcast. It is hosted by Ira Glass, produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media, delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange, ...

What is American life podcast?

Listen on Apple Podcasts. This American Life is a weekly public radio show, heard by 2.2 million people on more than 500 stations. Another 2.5 million people download the weekly podcast. It is hosted by Ira Glass, produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media, delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange, ...

Essential

The pandemic forced jobs to change, but then the workers changed, too.

Sisters

Sisters build worlds together, worlds that are just for them. Stories about the bonds between sisters and how they get broken and fixed—or not.

The Daily

An ode to life's daily practices, and what you learn from doing a thing every single day.

The Campus Tour Has Been Cancelled

How the pandemic has thrown college admissions process into a kind of slow-motion chaos.

Warriors in the Garden

Three men come together to protest the murder of George Floyd. They are unified and impressive, but over time, these three friends end up in very different places.

Lights, Camera, Christmas!

Stories of people going to great lengths to throw a special Christmas for their families.

Twenty-Five

To commemorate our show’s 25th year, we have a program about people who were born the year our show went on the air.

image

Overview

History

In the early 1990s, Glass co-hosted, with Gary Covino, a Friday-night show in Chicago called The Wild Room. However, he was looking for new opportunities in radio, and had been sending grant proposals to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for two years when, in 1995, the MacArthur Foundation approached Torey Malatia, general manager of Chicago Public Radio. They offered him US$150,000 to make a show featuring local Chicago writers and performance artists. Malati…

Format

Each week's show has a theme, explored in several "acts". On occasion, an entire program will consist of a single act. Each act is produced by a combination of staff and freelance contributors. Programs usually begin with a short program identification by host Ira Glass who then introduces a prologue related to the theme which precedes act one. This prologue will then lead into the presentation of the theme for that week's show. After the introduction of the theme, Glass then i…

Production

In a 2014 interview, Glass revealed the software and equipment used to make the show. The staff records interviews using Marantz PMD661 digital recorders and Audio Technica AT835b shotgun microphones. After each recording session (whether a single interview or day of recording) he uses a story structuring technique he learned from print journalist Paul Tough. He jots or types all the most memorable moments from the tape, then has the recording transcribed and makes not…

Music

Episodes of TAL are accompanied by music. Some songs are used between acts and are credited in the episode guide for the show. Other songs are used as thematic background music for stories and are not credited. Jonathan Menjivar is a producer and music supervisor at the show.
"Over the years, we've used hundreds of songs under our stories—and in some stories, we use a number of different songs in different sections. We tried to answer these emails for awhile [sic?]…

Reception

The show received positive reviews from the beginning. Marc Fisher with American Journalism Review drew attention to how the program's production style elicits "a sense of ease, informality and direct, unfiltered access", and "the effect is liberating". After remarking that producing so many stories each episode is "labor intensive," David Stewart with Current said it is "remarkable th…

Adaptations

Discussions of a television adaptation of TAL date back to at least 1999. However, the show's creative team was unsure of what the show would "look like" and, with so much money on the line, turned down offers. In January 2006, Showtime announced it had greenlit six episodes of a new series based on TAL. The announcement noted that each half-hour episode would "be hosted by Ira Glass and [...] explore a single theme or topic through the unique juxtaposition of first-person …

Cultural impact

Marc Fisher with American Journalism Review wrote, in a 1999 article on the show, that "in ways small but clear, as inspiration if not direct model, This American Life is at the vanguard of a shift in American journalism." In the book Sound Streams—A Cultural History of Radio-Internet Convergence, author Andrew Bottomley calls the show "the archetype of the modern US feature-documentary mode."

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9