Ira Glass: Picking Up Where Terkel Left Off

In the mid-1990s, Studs Terkel's broadcasting career was winding down. After five decades of legendary work that exposed the general population to ideas, people, and stories they may never have heard otherwise, the grandfather of socially progressive storytelling on radio hangs up his hat. His hat would not stay put for long.

On November 17, 1995, a young public radio broadcaster in Chicago launched a low-budget human interest, news, and literary show called Your Radio Playhouse. That young public radio broadcaster is Ira Glass and Your Radio Playhouse soon became This American Life. The show originated in a MacArthur Foundation grant bestowed to Chicago Public Radio general manager Torey Malatia, who in turn picked Glass to host based on his quality NPR coverage of the Chicago Public School system. Originally Your Radio Playhouse was intended to be a local showcase for Chicago area poets, writers, and artists. Quickly, the scope of this program surpassed the esteemed literary elite of one of the largest cities in America and began "showcasing" the voices of all Americans, hence the name change to This American Life.

Most of you are probably familiar with This American Life (TAL for brevity's sake). Each episode is based on a central theme and presents a number of stories or "acts" that relate to said theme. The acts vary in closeness to the theme and in format. One episode might contain a field recording, humorous essay, and formal news report all around a central idea. It is syndicated throughout the United States as well as in the United Kingdom and Australia. Millions of listeners to the podcast version of the show consistently keep it at the #1 or #2 most downloaded on the iTunes charts. Needless to say, Ira Glass and the contributors to TAL have a massive following, the like of which have never been seen in public radio.

The significance of Ira Glass's work, aside from the devoted fan-base, is in the unique content and voices that he broadcasts. Like Terkel, Glass covers the entire spectrum of culture and society on TAL. For example, one episode titled "David and Goliath" has an act about industrial economic reform in Cambodia followed by an essay by humorist David Sedaris about people arguing in a big-box store. You can listen to the whole episode here:

Terkel passed the torch to Glass, whether either men know it or not. They are both Jewish Americans, social progressives, radio broadcasters who worked/work in Chicago. They both believe in the power of storytelling and have proven that power through their work. On the November 7, 2011 episode of TAL, days after the passing of Terkel, Glass devoted the entire show to Terkel, reairing some of his best work. Here is a link to that show. From Glass's introduction:

A week ago, Studs Terkel died. He was 96. Oral histories were around before Studs started doing them, but he pretty much redefined them and did them so amazingly well that anybody who comes after can't help but be influenced. When Studs did an interview, it was history, and it was character study, and it was dramatic storytelling, and it was entertainment all rolled up into one. We all stand in his shadow, all of us who pull out tape recorders and talk to people who aren't famous or powerful or newsworthy in the normal sense. Around the country, if you've heard of Studs, it's because of his books-- Division Street, The Good War, Working. But he was a radio man. In Chicago, you could hear him on the radio for most of his career at WMFT, and in the last decade, at the radio station our show comes from, WBEZ. Today, in remembrance, we bring you some of the interviews that he collected for his book about the Great Depression, Hard Times. This historic week, when another Chicagoan made some news, it has really been a pleasure to listen to these voices from the past talking about the sweep of change that this country has gone through. These were first broadcast as a 12-part series back in 1971, though Studs had been gathering these interviews for years, preparing for his book. Anyway, here he is.

I could write for hours about Ira Glass and TAL. I personally have been listening for years and is one of the reasons I am such an advocate for the power of good radio. I started listening as a teenager - socially insensitive and privileged. TAL has been a part of my personal development in life and continues to be. In tandem with my continued education and life experiences, I grow daily and try to be a more understanding, socially progressive person. This is probably the most personal of the posts on this blog just because I believe that Glass and TAL have truly helped me become a better person.

Studs Terkel

In class, we read and discussed the Haymarket affair in Chicago and the long running controversy over it's memorial. One figure who stood out for me in this narrative was Pulitzer prize winning author, political activist, historian, and radio broadcaster Studs Terkel. As a radio fanatic, I knew that Studs is considered a legend in the broadcasting world, but it wasn't until I looked deeper that I realized how important a figure he really is in American culture.

The quote in the above picture captures one of Terkel's missions in life: to preserve and continue the tradition of oral history in America. Oral history is often marginalized as a source by the academic, historical establishment. I know from my own academic training, oral histories can be difficult to access at times and professors are quick to question the legitimacy of such histories. Studs, on the other hand, saw great value in oral histories. In his view, they provide a (literal) voice and perspective to groups usually absent from other forms of history - the marginalized, the oppressed, and the common folk. He wrote a number of famous books about the oral history of significant periods in American history, specifically WWII and the Great Depression. But perhaps his most effective work in preserving and promoting oral history was through his radio show, The Studs Terkel Program, an hour long daily talk show that ran from 1952 to 1997 on 98.7 WFMT Chicago. Above is a recording of his 1968 interview with photographer Diane Arbus about the Great Depression, art, and oral history among other things. He interview EVERYONE on this show. It is quite stunning to look at the list of guests he had. He spoke to such figures as Martin Luther King Jr, Simone De Beauvoir, Maya Angelou, Muhammad Ali, and Bob Dylan. I've spoken before about the access all people have to radio - it is entirely free if you are near the ubiquitous equipment. Therefore, Terkel was discussing civil rights, gay rights, high art, history, and psychology - everything really - and anyone could hear it. He exposed generations to the great movers and shakers in America in a very accessible and unpretentious way. For this reason, I argue that Studs Terkel was an activist using the medium of radio to change the world. There is a great online archive of his show set up by the Chicago History Museum that you can visit here: http://studsterkel.org/ I'll leave you with another example of this man's great work. This is an interview from 1963 with participants on a train ride to Washington D.C. for a civil rights march, titled "This Train": http://kora.matrix.msu.edu/files/43/243/2B-F3-153-63-terkel-a0a1i9-a.mp3

Pictured above is DJ Paul Peters of Pirate Radio Essex, a "pirate" radio station fashioned off the coast of Britain in the 1960s on an abandoned WWII sea-fort. A number of these off-coast stations popped up around the UK during the early 1960s as a way for youth broadcasters to play and say whatever they wanted without the patriarical regulations of the United Kingdom's government. These "pirates" were activists, protesting through the art of radio broadcasting, representing a generation whose voice was not heard via traditional terrestrial radio-waves. This blog will be an examination of activism through radio. Just like the pirate stations of 1960s Britain, every individual, radio station, and movement covered on this site will represent a unique approach to changing the world through broadcasting. All sorts of radio - music, political talk, free-form - will be represented. Often radio is an overlooked or unrealized medium. I believe this to be more true today with the ever increasing presence of digital technology. Most people do not stop to think about the radio yet it is everywhere. For over a century, broadcast radio has been a ubiquitous part of everyday life. How, then, can this omnipresent audible artform affect the way we live? The way we treat each other? The way we think about the world around us?