This American Life

This American Life (1995–present) (TAL) is an American weekly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on public radio stations in the United States and internationally, and is also available as a free, weekly podcast. Primarily a journalistic non-fiction program, it has also featured essays, memoirs, field recordings, short fiction, and found footage.

About

 * The tension between the kind of work they wanted to produce was more and more clear on the show. Gary wanted a free-form, topsy-turvy, didactic, screw-you-and-the-world show, his own leftish kind of Paul Harvey hour; this was evident when he ran The Wild Room alone. Ira wanted a form that was more considered, much more ironic and detached, and somehow at the same time it was more intimate--a show that featured artists and writers. This was clear when he ran The Wild Room alone. Together on the show, their on-air banter was increasingly strained and competitive and not especially compelling.
 * Dolores Wilber, producer for This American Life