This American Life with Ira Glass

09/07/22 • 28 min

Are people born podcasters or can the skill be learned? Obviously, it can be learned, but sometimes it's worth taking a look at the people that were clearly born to do it. Ira Glass serves as the director, senior producer, host, administrator, librarian, researcher and (perhaps most importantly) lead visionary for This American Life. To be fair, Ira did put in his time at various newsrooms cutting tape and doing odd jobs, but it very much seems like this was his life's calling.

This American Life is a weekly public radio program and podcast that began in 1995 and now comprises over 780 episodes. The jury is still out as to whether we'd search this one out on a weekly basis, indeed it's a lot to process, but the way they intertwine often three, four or even more seemingly disparate stories into a cohesive unit is pure genius.

Heard by more than 2 million listeners each week on over 500 public radio stations in the U.S., and with another 2.3 million people downloading each episode as a podcast, there are many great lessons in here for any podcaster.

On No Harm In Asking, hosts Eric Byron and Michael Kerr are on a journey to gather insights into why podcasts succeed or fail and to explore the myriad of different patterns, structures, topics, techniques, and personalities that have evolved this industry. Through our podcast, we hope to inspire and encourage the next generation of storytellers and visionaries.

Mike and Eric listened to The Possum Experiment, Ghost in the Machine and Tell Me I’m Fat, all of which are discussed in our review. You can find them here:

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/

They also have a full social media presence on Twitter at @ThisAmerLife and Ira can be found at @iraglass.

Eric also publishes his podcasting journey titled "A Podcasting Journal" on Substack at https://ericbyron.substack.com/

Please check out our sponsors:

Qollab.me - the free to use interview planning, preparation and collaboration tool
https://qollab.me/

Discovery Shark Week
https://www.amazon.com/stores/SharkWeek/page/24092A27-AAC4-45E1-96B2-C4019C4CB766?ref_=ast_bln

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Mike and Eric listened to The Possum Experiment, Ghost in the Machine and Tell Me I’m Fat, all of which are discussed in our review. You can find them here:

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/

They also have a full social media presence on Twitter at @ThisAmerLife and Ira can be found at @iraglass.

Eric also publishes his podcasting journey titled "A Podcasting Journal" on Substack at https://ericbyron.substack.com/

Please check out our sponsors:

Qollab.me - the free to use interview planning, preparation and collaboration tool
https://qollab.me/

Discovery Shark Week
https://www.amazon.com/stores/SharkWeek/page/24092A27-AAC4-45E1-96B2-C4019C4CB766?ref_=ast_bln

Use promotion code: 10SHARKWEEK

Previous Episode

S-Town with Brian Reed

S-Town, a seven "chapter", 6-plus hour podcast was released on March 28, 2017. The podcast was downloaded a record-breaking 10 million times in four days, and had been downloaded over 40 million times just a few months later. This week Mike and Eric review S-Town, along with The Trojan Horse Affair, Brian Reed's follow-up to S-Town. Drawing on both comparisons and contrasts between the 2 series, we attempt to highlight the techniques and styles that makes Brian’s podcasts so ground-breaking and a must-listen for anyone doing podcasts that involve storytelling.

S-Town begins when a middle-aged man, living in an Alabama town he despises, emails Brian and asks him to investigate a murder that he believes has been covered up by the local police. In The Trojan Horse Affair, an unlikely duo chases down the origins of a mysterious letter that caused a national scandal in England.

All 7 chapters of S-Town can be found here:

https://stownpodcast.org/

They also have a full social media presence on Twitter and Instagram at @stownpodcast (although updates seemed to have stopped after they were acquired by the New York Times).

The Trojan Horse Affair is available here:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/podcasts/trojan-horse-affair.html

Check us out on Twitter at @noharmaskingpod.

Eric also publishes his online journey titled "A Podcasting Journal" on Substack at https://ericbyron.substack.com/

Our sponsors:

Qollab.me - the free to use interview planning, preparation and collaboration tool
https://qollab.me/

Discovery Shark Week
https://www.amazon.com/stores/SharkWeek/page/24092A27-AAC4-45E1-96B2-C4019C4CB766?ref_=ast_bln

Next Episode

Crime Junkie with Ashley Flowers

Learning from the best of the best. Crime Junkie has been at or near the top of the charts since 2019. With great power (and profits) comes great responsibility. Join Mike and Eric in a discussion around the ethics of profiting off other people’s painful stories.

Crime Junkie is a weekly true crime podcast dedicated to retelling many of America's most compelling murders. Host Ashley Flowers takes us through the details of a crime she’s been obsessing over that week in a straightforward, easy to follow format with suspense twisted in and few “full body chills”.

Mike and Eric listened to many Crime Junkie episodes for this review, including MISSING: Mekayla Bali, MURDERED: Jenny Lin, Part 1 & 2, MURDERED: Shari Smith & Debra Helmick, SERIAL KILLER: Khalil Wheeler-Weaver and the MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF: Ellen Greenberg with her co-host Brit Prawat (indeed they're easy to listen to). You can find them here:

https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/

They also have a full social media presence on Twitter at @CrimeJunkiePod.

Eric also publishes his podcasting journey titled "A Podcasting Journal" on Substack at https://ericbyron.substack.com/

Please check out our sponsor:

Qollab.me - the free to use interview planning, preparation and collaboration tool
https://qollab.me/