This American Life

This American Life is an American nonfiction radio program hosted by Ira Glass. Each episode gathers reported stories around a weekly theme, blending journalism with personal narrative and documentary storytelling.

Ira Glass: Ira Glass is an American radio journalist and the host and producer of This American Life. His hosting and editorial voice shape the program’s interviews, narration, and story selection.
WBEZ: WBEZ is a public radio station based in Chicago, Illinois. The station launched This American Life in 1995 and remains its production home.
Podcast: A podcast is a series of digital audio or video episodes distributed for on-demand listening or viewing. The program became an early model for podcast distribution and audio storytelling.
Podcasting boom: The podcasting boom is the rapid growth in podcast audiences, production, and investment during the 2010s. The program’s established audience and downloadable archive helped popularize narrative podcasts.
Sarah Koenig: Sarah Koenig is an American journalist and podcast producer who reported and edited for This American Life. Her reporting for the program preceded her creation and hosting of Serial.
Narrative journalism: Narrative journalism reports factual events using techniques such as scenes, characters, and suspense. The program turns reported material into stories with scenes and narrative arcs.
Chicago Public Media: Chicago Public Media is a nonprofit organization that operates public media services in Chicago. It produces and distributes the program through its public-media organization.
Podcasting: Podcasting is the production and distribution of episodic audio or video for on-demand consumption. Its downloadable episodes helped establish public-radio storytelling in the podcast medium.
The Giant Pool of Money: The Giant Pool of Money is a 2008 This American Life episode explaining the U.S. mortgage crisis. This widely praised episode showed how the program could make complex financial systems intelligible.
Alex Blumberg: Alex Blumberg is an American journalist and podcast entrepreneur who produced stories for This American Life. His work on the show informed his later development of independent podcast companies.

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