Ira Glass

I have three things to say about this tape.

Number one, formerly of Europe,

Number two, of course no appointment is necessary.

Charity knows you're coming.

And number three, this is my father.

In 1956, three years before I was born.

He's 23 years old.

My father started in radio when he was 19, the same age I was when I started.

He began at the college station at the University of Maryland, and after graduation, got a job spinning records at a commercial station in Baltimore.

Then he was drafted, and at the time of this particular recording, my father was actually in the Army, stationed in Virginia.

But he wanted a career in radio so badly that every Sunday morning at the break of dawn, he would leave his wife and his five-month-old baby, my older sister, and drive up to Baltimore to do a four-hour program.

My dad's paycheck for this four-hour Sunday morning program was $5.88.

The most he ever made at a radio job was $90 a week.

Hey, Dan.

When you were doing radio, what did you like about it?

What was the appeal of it for you?

You're a good announcer.

I didn't really know that.

I've been listening to the way that you do the announcing.

You're relaxed, and yet you punch the sort of main points, but you sound completely at ease, and you're convincing.