Ira Glass: Falling in Love with that Voice
Falling in love with that voice
SundayNews
September 28, 2003
By MaryAlice Bitts
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ira Glass is a boyish 44. At times, he speaks haltingly, like a man years younger than his age. And he giggles, infectiously. In him, these are winning traits, which is a good thing, since his success, in part, depends on his being winning. Well, that and a cultishly good show.
Glass is the host/producer of "This American Life,'' a radio show heard locally on WITF at 4 p.m. Sundays. It presents essays, found tapes, interviews, documentary pieces and short stories read by the authors (Spaulding Gray, Gay Talese and regulars like David Sedaris) loosely based on a theme ("Sinatra," "Fiascos," "Jobs That Take Over Your life," "The Allure of the Mean Friend," "Do-gooders" or "Poultry," which featured a chicken kibbutz) .
The result is a wide breadth of views framed each week by Glass' wry segues, quirky insights and gently probing interviews that have won the highest honors for broadcasting and journalistic excellence, the Peabody, duPont-Columbia and Robert F. Kennedy awards.
The program he is presenting live at 7 p.m. Saturday at Millersville University is titled, "Lies, Sissies and Fiascoes: Notes on Making a New Kind of Radio."
To radioheads, Glass is the guru of the hipster literati, and the stats prove it: 1.4 million listeners tune in to "TAL" on 400 public radio stations nationwide. Even when "TAL" holds fund-raising drives, it garners unheard-of ratings, and the pledge phones ring cheerily.
That's because, says Lancaster fan Joanna Underhill, 35, Glass puts the "fun" into "fund." Underhill, who was living in Chicago just before "TAL's'' 1995 premiere, first heard Glass during a fund-raising drive for Chicago's WBEZ. "He made it sound like such a good time. I thought: 'Now there's a man I want to send my money to!'" she said.
"I think radio is better if the person telling the story seems like an actual person," said Glass. "Because whether you like them or don't like them, you have some feeling about them, and that makes them more interesting to listen to."
That tactic gels with Lancaster's Mark Sandblade, 28: "I can relate to him. He seems like the kind of guy I went to college with - and didn't study with."
Sandblade's girlfriend, Kristin Jones, 29: "Ira speaks in his natural voice, not in this special radio voice like some radio announcers do. You can't imagine Kasey Kasem talking to his kids or his pets in his radio voice. But you can imagine Ira sounding the same in a coffee shop, or in your living room. It's very appealing."
Glass' voice is unaffected, indeed, and the effect is startling. We hear him swallowing saliva He admits to slurring his words; holding pauses one moment, rushing a phrase the next.
"I don't have much of a voice for radio," he said. So why has an unofficial Sunday News poll confirmed the New York Observer's proclamation that Glass is the "Romeo of National Public Radio"? (Our vote was 12-1).
Glass has heard this line of thought before. "It has nothing to do with the actual merit of my voice!" he protested. "I think this means they are feeling good about my voice in the same way you can love an ugly baby.
"Or, like, when you start to fall in love with somebody, how they look better and better to you. [laughs] You can't believe how unbelievably cute they seem to have gotten over the weeks since you've fallen in love with them."
What his fans truly respond to is his programming taste.
City resident and avid David Sedaris fan Derrick Reider, 37, would surely agree. Reider began to tape episodes two years ago, first to capture Sedaris' contributions. He now passes the tapes around to friends.
"It's always an entertaining, thought-provoking show. Some of the more recent shows put a different slant on stories you hear in the press, and that's interesting. It really is stuff you can't hear anywhere else," Reider said.
We can relate
After a breakup with a girlfriend, Reider said, he consulted the show's Web archive for inspirational stories. "I like the stories about people who've been through something and have gone through some kind of change. It's kind of made me think about my life and some of the things that might seem kind of mundane and how special they can be."
Sandblade agrees: "[Glass] does a great job finding the story, of letting the story speak for itself, and the stories always have something to do with your life. I always find myself saying, "Yes! That's exactly how it is!"
Glass, who studied semiotics in college - learning how to create well-crafted compelling stories - as he simultaneously worked as a tape-cutter as a National Public Radio intern, now synthesizes his college lessons in his professional life.
And for a kid who, he claims, had "no cherished childhood books whatsoever - all I remember reading is the 'Star Trek' novelizations and 'The Making of 2001: A Space Odyssey''' - Glass has done pretty darned well.
Timing helps
He seems to have not only hit on the right philosophy, that of presenting a slice of real America to Americans, but he comes at the right time, too.
In an age when a large portion of the public is tiring of the Mylar sheen over Ben and J. Lo and unreal reality programming, Glass offers something very different, and it works.
"I put this show together with five other people. We all grew up in the suburbs. I don't think our taste is so special, so if the five of us agree on it, pretty much anyone will like it.
"We won't do Elvis imitators, fire-eaters, that sort of thing. What we're interested in is something where the story unfolds like a little movie for the radio, a little movie without pictures. For that to be compelling, just like in the movies, it has to be a surprising situation, but it also has to be somebody you can empathize with. Otherwise, it's just not fun."
"For all of the hours of stories that are being pumped out of the newspapers and magazines and radio and televisions, so much of it is about stuff that is so fake," he said. "A lot of it is about famous people. Just to have stories about normal people, but that also are fun to listen to, is great."
Go to the Top
SundayNews
September 28, 2003
By MaryAlice Bitts
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ira Glass is a boyish 44. At times, he speaks haltingly, like a man years younger than his age. And he giggles, infectiously. In him, these are winning traits, which is a good thing, since his success, in part, depends on his being winning. Well, that and a cultishly good show.
Glass is the host/producer of "This American Life,'' a radio show heard locally on WITF at 4 p.m. Sundays. It presents essays, found tapes, interviews, documentary pieces and short stories read by the authors (Spaulding Gray, Gay Talese and regulars like David Sedaris) loosely based on a theme ("Sinatra," "Fiascos," "Jobs That Take Over Your life," "The Allure of the Mean Friend," "Do-gooders" or "Poultry," which featured a chicken kibbutz) .
The result is a wide breadth of views framed each week by Glass' wry segues, quirky insights and gently probing interviews that have won the highest honors for broadcasting and journalistic excellence, the Peabody, duPont-Columbia and Robert F. Kennedy awards.
The program he is presenting live at 7 p.m. Saturday at Millersville University is titled, "Lies, Sissies and Fiascoes: Notes on Making a New Kind of Radio."
To radioheads, Glass is the guru of the hipster literati, and the stats prove it: 1.4 million listeners tune in to "TAL" on 400 public radio stations nationwide. Even when "TAL" holds fund-raising drives, it garners unheard-of ratings, and the pledge phones ring cheerily.
That's because, says Lancaster fan Joanna Underhill, 35, Glass puts the "fun" into "fund." Underhill, who was living in Chicago just before "TAL's'' 1995 premiere, first heard Glass during a fund-raising drive for Chicago's WBEZ. "He made it sound like such a good time. I thought: 'Now there's a man I want to send my money to!'" she said.
"I think radio is better if the person telling the story seems like an actual person," said Glass. "Because whether you like them or don't like them, you have some feeling about them, and that makes them more interesting to listen to."
That tactic gels with Lancaster's Mark Sandblade, 28: "I can relate to him. He seems like the kind of guy I went to college with - and didn't study with."
Sandblade's girlfriend, Kristin Jones, 29: "Ira speaks in his natural voice, not in this special radio voice like some radio announcers do. You can't imagine Kasey Kasem talking to his kids or his pets in his radio voice. But you can imagine Ira sounding the same in a coffee shop, or in your living room. It's very appealing."
Glass' voice is unaffected, indeed, and the effect is startling. We hear him swallowing saliva He admits to slurring his words; holding pauses one moment, rushing a phrase the next.
"I don't have much of a voice for radio," he said. So why has an unofficial Sunday News poll confirmed the New York Observer's proclamation that Glass is the "Romeo of National Public Radio"? (Our vote was 12-1).
Glass has heard this line of thought before. "It has nothing to do with the actual merit of my voice!" he protested. "I think this means they are feeling good about my voice in the same way you can love an ugly baby.
"Or, like, when you start to fall in love with somebody, how they look better and better to you. [laughs] You can't believe how unbelievably cute they seem to have gotten over the weeks since you've fallen in love with them."
What his fans truly respond to is his programming taste.
City resident and avid David Sedaris fan Derrick Reider, 37, would surely agree. Reider began to tape episodes two years ago, first to capture Sedaris' contributions. He now passes the tapes around to friends.
"It's always an entertaining, thought-provoking show. Some of the more recent shows put a different slant on stories you hear in the press, and that's interesting. It really is stuff you can't hear anywhere else," Reider said.
We can relate
After a breakup with a girlfriend, Reider said, he consulted the show's Web archive for inspirational stories. "I like the stories about people who've been through something and have gone through some kind of change. It's kind of made me think about my life and some of the things that might seem kind of mundane and how special they can be."
Sandblade agrees: "[Glass] does a great job finding the story, of letting the story speak for itself, and the stories always have something to do with your life. I always find myself saying, "Yes! That's exactly how it is!"
Glass, who studied semiotics in college - learning how to create well-crafted compelling stories - as he simultaneously worked as a tape-cutter as a National Public Radio intern, now synthesizes his college lessons in his professional life.
And for a kid who, he claims, had "no cherished childhood books whatsoever - all I remember reading is the 'Star Trek' novelizations and 'The Making of 2001: A Space Odyssey''' - Glass has done pretty darned well.
Timing helps
He seems to have not only hit on the right philosophy, that of presenting a slice of real America to Americans, but he comes at the right time, too.
In an age when a large portion of the public is tiring of the Mylar sheen over Ben and J. Lo and unreal reality programming, Glass offers something very different, and it works.
"I put this show together with five other people. We all grew up in the suburbs. I don't think our taste is so special, so if the five of us agree on it, pretty much anyone will like it.
"We won't do Elvis imitators, fire-eaters, that sort of thing. What we're interested in is something where the story unfolds like a little movie for the radio, a little movie without pictures. For that to be compelling, just like in the movies, it has to be a surprising situation, but it also has to be somebody you can empathize with. Otherwise, it's just not fun."
"For all of the hours of stories that are being pumped out of the newspapers and magazines and radio and televisions, so much of it is about stuff that is so fake," he said. "A lot of it is about famous people. Just to have stories about normal people, but that also are fun to listen to, is great."
Go to the Top
Labels: ira glass, mary alice bitts, MaryAlice Bitts, national public radio, npr, PRI, public radio international, this american life, witf
posted by MaryAlice Bitts at 9:41 AM
