This American Life

This American Life is a weekly hour-long radio program that is hosted by radio personality Ira Glass, produced by WBEZ Chicago Public Radio, and distributed worldwide by Public Radio International. Since its creation in 1995, it branched out into an online podcast of the radio show, and a TV series (shown above) that, despite its change in medium, is structured very similarly to the radio show. While it is a program that deals entirely in nonfiction, and uses a lot of journalistic practices to get its content, it is not meant to be viewed as a news program.

Each week, a broad and simple theme is chosen. The program is divided into acts, which explore the theme on a deeper level through stories, memoirs, field recordings, and interviews. For example, a recent episode contained the theme "Life After Death", which was explored by stories of people who felt responsible for the deaths of others, even if they were entirely blameless. The first story, or act, was an interview with a man who, at age 14, was certain that his friend's death at his church camp was the result of his meddling with the supernatural. The second act was a memoir authored by a man who accidentally took the life of a girl in a car accident, and how he dealt with the guilt as he grew up, even though it was merely an accident. The last act was a story containing interviews with an Iraq War veteran who suffered severe post-traumatic stress disorder, and his attempts to recover from it even as it causes him to do drastic things. The mood of the theme and even the individual story is rarely set in stone, and even in a short span of time, things can go from moving and sad to ironic and hilarious, showing different, very human sides to the subjects the stories are based around.

Although This American Life is a radio program based on nonfiction and distributed by public radio, it is not a news program. The entries and stories are things that have actually happened, and often have to do with important events, including Hurricane Katrina and the aforementioned Iraq War. But they are not explored in great depth. Instead, the program focuses on the accounts of the individual. And to further separate itself from news programs it makes an explicit effort to air the most outlandish and ridiculous stories it can find. But despite this, the stories are rooted in what is real, and no matter how implausible the story may seem, there is almost always something about them that listeners can relate to.

Ira Glass is the host and overall narrator of the show, but it also draws heavily upon contributors. Many of these contributors have distinguished careers, and the show often helps bring them to the public light. It isn't just journalists, either. White House aides, comedians, columnists, and humorists have all made regular contributions to the show. Some examples include comedian Mike Birbiglia, and John Hodgman, who is perhaps most famous now as the "PC" in the ongoing Mac vs. PC ads made by Apple Computers. John Hodgman's first contribution, which aired on the episode "Superpowers", dealt with his findings on an informal survey that asked whether people preferred the ability to fly and the ability to turn invisible and why the choice was dependent on personality. This story showed that John Hodgman, although a very talented humorist, had a keen insight on the human personality that would not have been shown on a Mac vs. PC ad or on The Daily Show.

Despite all of the input from significant sources, however, the show does its best efforts to efforts to remind us that the stories, no matter how insane they might be, are about real people, and their real decision. In one story, you can find yourself relating to the narrator or the subject of narration in one moment, and then view them as monsters in the next, simply because of a tough choice they may have made. This works the other way around, as well, as the narrator may seem distant and irrational at first, and then someone you can relate to as you explore his character.

Analysis:

Perhaps one of the most outwardly noticeable thing about this show in relation to other public radio shows is how it seems to try to energize itself in order to catch listeners generally younger than the audience of most radio shows. While other prominent radio shows, such as Prairie Home Companion seem to place large value on their "Old Time" fashion and traditions, this show seems exceptionally welcome to new concepts and ideas. On many of their shows, they usually have at least one interviewee or story subject that is in their twenties. And not only that, but most of the contributors are exceptionally sharp on modern banter, slang, and lingo, and put a large amount of it in their presentations.

The music, both in the background and during broadcasting breaks, is also exceptionally modern, containing samples from modern genres such as electronica. When the music isn't entirely modern, it is usually referential and easy to catch for young listeners. Even Ira Glass, the host of the show who has had a career in radio broadcasting for thirty years, sounds like a man barely into his thirties, and is certainly knowledgeable in his pop culture references as well. Given the unusual structure of the program, and the efforts public radio seems to be making to reach a demographic outside of its aging base.