I started listening to “This American Life” on the bus in high school. It would play early in the morning on our local PBS station. My bus ride was about an hour and a half and our bus driver always played it. I found the program very relaxing in the morning as I tried to fully wake up and get ready for school. After graduation, I kind of forgot about it, but one day, I heard Ira Glass’s voice on the radio and it brought back so many great memories.
I then went home and looked for it online and subscribed to the show via my podcast reader. The show was still focusing on popular culture and current events. This is why I love the show: One day you can listen to a show about a man who makes his very own street signs to make his community function better. And then the next day they have an interesting show on a particular political topic.
As a psychology student, I love when Glass interviews psychologists like Jamie Lowe or Alix Spiegel on the show. For example, Spiegel was featured in the classic “81 Words” episode, which was about the fascinating case of how homosexuality was declassified as a mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association in 1973. This episode became a lightning bolt of controversy because both sides used it as proof they were correct.
To this day, the show remains one of the most popular on the radio and most downloaded on the internet. This is largely due to the consistent format and the extreme talent and likability of Ira Glass.
