Ira Glass
Sarah Benson
May 9, 2007
Early days
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Born in Baltimore, 1959
Father was a radio
producer
Studied semiotics at
Brown University
Interned at NPR
A career in radio
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Tape cutter, reporter, producer
Morning Edition
Talk of the Nation
All Things Considered
Bad at radio (at first)
This American Life
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Premiered Nov. 17, 1995
On WBEZ Chicago
Consisted of interviews, firstperson stories, written short
stories all related to new
theme each week
Usually in 3 or 4 “acts”
Glass hosted and produced
each show
First season cost $243,000
So what’s the show about?
YouTube - This American Life with Ira Glass: It's A Wrap Montage
Glass makes radio hip
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By 1996, aired on 509 stations
1.7 million listeners per week
Won Peabody Award in 1996
Glass is the “hipster know-it-all”
behind radio’s rebirth
Attracts younger audience
Glass brings in $$$ for NPR
Notable voices on TAL
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David Sedaris
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Discovered by Glass
Formerly a Christmas elf
Now a well-established
writer, satirist
Quirky voice, writing style
Notable voices on TAL
Sarah Vowell
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Oklahoma native
Part Cherokee Indian
A new kind of radio voice?
Injects satire into history
Glass becomes a cult hero
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Revamped “the story”
Informal radio voice
Innovative use of music
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Tackling heavy issues
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Guantanamo Bay
Civilian casualties in Iraq
The existence of hell
Radio in the 21st Century
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Free weekly podcast
Myspace
Facebook
ThisAmericanLife.org
New audience?
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And, of course…
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The television show
Ira’s contribution to radio
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Introduced public radio to
new audience
Made radio more personal,
informal
Took the medium into the
21st century
Expanded into other
mediums successfully
And became {almost} a
household name doing it.
Works cited
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Biography information: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_glass
This American Life info/history: www.thisamericanlife.org
Ira Glass on This American Life: Mother Jones.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1998/08/glass.html?welcome=true
New York Times Magazine Interview with Glass
http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/041199sella.html
NPR interview about Glass’s early days: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5066122
Ira Glass’s manifesto (about telling a good story, early days in radio, radio in general)
http://www.transom.org/guests/review/200406.review.glass1.html
Time Magazine’s David Mamet says Glass is reinventing radio
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/americasbest/pro.iglass.html
The A.V. club interview: About Glass, the “best radio host on the air”
http://www.avclub.com/content/node/22575
Chicago Life article all about the TAL TV show:
http://chicagolife.net/content/media/Ira_Glass_Goes_Electric