“I saw this quote from Michael Cunningham that really described my experience learning to make things. He said, ‘I don’t believe in talent. What I believe in is that there’s a certain kind of person who just gets very interested–in a kind of OCDish way–in the question of how can I make this better?’ And then they just keep reiterating and making the thing better and better. That was my experience of learning to make radio. I was not good, but I was very interested in how to make it have more feeling. How do I make this be magnetic? And then, once This American Life got started, it was the same thing, like, how can we make this better?”
-Ira Glass, episode 414 of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso
Thirty years. Over 850 episodes. Nine Peabodys. One Pulitzer. And yet somehow, three decades in, This American Life (and its creator, Ira Glass) remains as innovative and timely as ever.
We begin with a week in the life of Ira: a typical Monday at This American Life (4:52), the rigorous notes process (6:05), and how the team selects the stories it wants to tell that Sunday (8:23). Then, we unpack Trump’s ongoing threats to slash government funding for public media (14:14), Glass’ formative days as a teenage intern at NPR (19:06), and the radio mentors who shaped his ideas around narrative (27:18).
On the back-half, we discuss how his taste and talent eventually converged (42:03), what makes a good interview (45:37), the guest he most identifies with (1:00:25), the episode he’s most proud of (1:15:31), and, naturally, the future of This American Life (1:20:07).
We’re now on YouTube! Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.
Show-notes:
- Listen to This American Life.
- Hear the featured episodes in full: New Beginnings, Babysitting, and Amusement Park.
- Read the books: Out on the Wire by Jessica Abel, S/Z by Roland Barthes, and On Air by Steve Oney.
- Follow Ira on Instagram and Twitter.
- For more talks, hear our episodes with David Remnick, Jia Tolentino, and Wesley Morris.
- Order your Talk Easy mug in cream and navy or our vinyl record with Fran Lebowitz.
Illustrations by Krishna Shenoi. Reference photograph by Sarah Schneider.
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