Ira Glass on Three Decades of ‘This American Life’ Magic

Thirty years. Over 850 episodes (thisamericanlife.org/archive). Nine Peabodys (thisamericanlife.org/about/announcements/peabo…). One Pulitzer (thisamericanlife.org/704/transcript). 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 (45:36), 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).
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