Ira Glass

Like I was a terrible writer and I was a terrible performer in the air. But like I was just very interested in the like, I can feel that this could get better. Like how do you make this better? And just that was just very interesting to me.

And then I was lucky in that like NPR in the 70s and 80s was just like a place where it was encouraged to a small degree, not to a large degree, but there was like enough room in the system that you could just... experiment with stuff and get it on the air in front of lots of people. I was lucky to be in a place where I could keep trying different things and it was rewarded.

And then I was lucky in that like NPR in the 70s and 80s was just like a place where it was encouraged to a small degree, not to a large degree, but there was like enough room in the system that you could just... experiment with stuff and get it on the air in front of lots of people. I was lucky to be in a place where I could keep trying different things and it was rewarded.

And then I was lucky in that like NPR in the 70s and 80s was just like a place where it was encouraged to a small degree, not to a large degree, but there was like enough room in the system that you could just... experiment with stuff and get it on the air in front of lots of people. I was lucky to be in a place where I could keep trying different things and it was rewarded.

There were other people, but there weren't many of them who were sticking around and staying. I was generally the one who was staying the longest.

There were other people, but there weren't many of them who were sticking around and staying. I was generally the one who was staying the longest.

There were other people, but there weren't many of them who were sticking around and staying. I was generally the one who was staying the longest.

I didn't feel bad about it, and I didn't think anything of it. I just knew that that's what I wanted to do, and I was going to do it. I was willful.

I didn't feel bad about it, and I didn't think anything of it. I just knew that that's what I wanted to do, and I was going to do it. I was willful.

I didn't feel bad about it, and I didn't think anything of it. I just knew that that's what I wanted to do, and I was going to do it. I was willful.

It was just, this is what I'm going to do, and I'm going to do it. And I could feel that it was getting better. Like I could feel that I was getting better at it. And I had a vague sense in my head that maybe someday I would do a show. Like I did have that.

It was just, this is what I'm going to do, and I'm going to do it. And I could feel that it was getting better. Like I could feel that I was getting better at it. And I had a vague sense in my head that maybe someday I would do a show. Like I did have that.

It was just, this is what I'm going to do, and I'm going to do it. And I could feel that it was getting better. Like I could feel that I was getting better at it. And I had a vague sense in my head that maybe someday I would do a show. Like I did have that.

But then if I could have articulated to you what the show was, it would have been to kind of like, I don't know, stories about everyday people. Like it was very vague. What I did know is like I just, it felt like there was something vast there that radio could do that it wasn't doing. And so it felt like a process of discovery.

But then if I could have articulated to you what the show was, it would have been to kind of like, I don't know, stories about everyday people. Like it was very vague. What I did know is like I just, it felt like there was something vast there that radio could do that it wasn't doing. And so it felt like a process of discovery.

But then if I could have articulated to you what the show was, it would have been to kind of like, I don't know, stories about everyday people. Like it was very vague. What I did know is like I just, it felt like there was something vast there that radio could do that it wasn't doing. And so it felt like a process of discovery.

And I remember one of the very first people, if not the very first person to write about This American Life was this writer named Bill McKibben. And he wrote a little one-page review that was in The Nation, which is a publication which I don't even know if it exists anymore. Maybe it does.

And I remember one of the very first people, if not the very first person to write about This American Life was this writer named Bill McKibben. And he wrote a little one-page review that was in The Nation, which is a publication which I don't even know if it exists anymore. Maybe it does.

And I remember one of the very first people, if not the very first person to write about This American Life was this writer named Bill McKibben. And he wrote a little one-page review that was in The Nation, which is a publication which I don't even know if it exists anymore. Maybe it does.

Anyway, and he said this thing where he said about the show, he said the thing that was interesting about it was the radio. He says, but what's interesting is it feels so new. And that always stuck with me, because it seemed new to me, too. It felt like, oh, this is just like a new way to do things.