How Ira Glass Gets People to Talk

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 20: Radio personality Ira Glass attends 72nd Annual George Foster Peabody Awards at The Waldorf=Astoria on May 20, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Ben Gabbe/Getty Images)

Photo by Ben Gabbe/Getty Images

The public radio show This American Life is at once old school and ahead of its time. A weekly hourlong program divided into acts, the show?s stock and trade are character-driven stories that are long on surprising plot twists.?

On its face, a weekly radio documentary program might seem like a holdover from a bygone media era bound inevitably for extinction. But as This American Life founder and host Ira Glass likes to point out, the show?s personal conversational style is perfectly suited to the Internet age. Which may explain why the show, now in its 18^th year, has added nearly 1 million weekly listeners online through podcasts and streaming to go along with a base radio audience of about 1.8 million.

As This American Life prepares to put out its 500^th episode, Glass sat down with Slate?s Jacob Weisberg to talk about evolution of the program and how he approaches its most critical ingredient, the interview.

In the days ahead, look out for more of our interview with Glass, including some of his favorite highlights from This Amerian Life and how podcasting has helped reinvigorate the program.

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/video/conversations_with_slate/2013/06/ira_glass_interview_to_mark_this_american_s_life_500th_episode_host_sits.html

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