It has spawned hit spinoffs, bagged a Pulitzer and its evocative, character-led reports now have 5 million fans. Has This American Life grown too big? As the show turns 25, founder Ira Glass reveals what keeps him up at night
Speaking to Ira Glass over Zoom is a slightly befuddling experience. His unique voice and speaking style, intensely conversational with lots of pregnant pauses and rising inflections in unlikely places, is now so recognisable that it is easy to think you’re actually listening to an episode of his show.
We are talking because this month marks 25 years since Glass founded This American Life, the programme his voice has become synonymous with. Initially dreamed up as a storytelling showcase for Chicago audio artists and new writers, it now regularly wins awards – including one Pulitzer – for its in-depth international reporting, and boasts several spinoffs, among them the hit podcast Serial. Glass is one thing that has remained constant, his repeated bits of introductory patter (“Each week on our programme we choose a theme …”) the closest thing public radio has to a catchphrase.
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