Ira Glass facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ira Glass
|
|
|---|---|
.jpg)
Glass in 2013
|
|
| Born |
Ira Jeffrey Glass
March 3, 1959 |
| Education | Northwestern University Brown University (BA) |
| Occupation |
|
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Anaheed Alani
(m. 2005; div. 2018) |
Ira Jeffrey Glass is a famous American public radio personality. He was born on March 3, 1959. He is best known as the host and producer of the popular radio and TV show This American Life. He has also worked on other well-known radio programs like Morning Edition and All Things Considered.
Ira Glass has won many awards for his work in radio and television. These include the Edward R. Murrow Award and the George Polk Award for his amazing radio reporting. He started working in radio when he was a teenager. He helped create This American Life, which quickly became very popular across the country. The show even became a TV series for a short time.
Contents
Ira Glass: Early Life and Education
Ira Glass was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 3, 1959. His parents were Barry and Shirley Glass. He grew up with two sisters. His dad started in radio but later became a businessman. His mom was a clinical psychologist.
As a child, Ira dreamed of being an astronaut! His parents hoped he would become a doctor. But Ira loved comedy from a young age. He and his sister would even put on shows in their basement for neighborhood kids. When he was a teenager, he also worked as a magician.
High School Days
Ira went to Milford Mill High School in Baltimore County, Maryland. He was very involved in school activities. He worked on the school yearbook and was co-editor of the student literary magazine. He also loved drama and acted in several school plays, like South Pacific and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
Ira says that musicals he enjoyed, like Fiddler on the Roof, really influenced his style of journalism. He was also part of student government and made the morning announcements at his school. While in high school, he even wrote jokes for a local radio DJ!
College Years
After high school, Ira went to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He first planned to study medicine. He spent a lot of time at the university's radio station, making promotional announcements. Later, he transferred to Brown University. There, he studied semiotics, which is the study of signs and symbols. He found a book called S/Z by Roland Barthes that helped him understand what he could do with storytelling in radio. He graduated from Brown in 1982.
Ira Glass's Radio Career
Starting at NPR
After his first year of college, 19-year-old Ira looked for work in TV or radio in Baltimore. He didn't have much luck. Someone suggested he try NPR in Washington, D.C.. He started there as an unpaid intern, helping to edit radio ads. Soon, he became a production assistant. He decided to stay at NPR and give up his plans for medicine, even though his parents were a bit disappointed.
Ira worked at NPR for 17 years. He started by cutting tape (editing audio) and eventually became a reporter and host. He worked on shows like Morning Edition and All Things Considered. He learned a lot from other radio hosts, like Joe Frank, who showed him how radio could be used to tell unique stories. He also learned how to structure stories by stepping back and adding bigger ideas, a technique he still uses today.
At first, Ira felt he wasn't very good at reporting his own stories. He said he took a long time to create pieces and wasn't great at interviewing. But he kept practicing and improving his writing skills.
Moving to Chicago and The Wild Room
In 1989, Ira moved to Chicago. He continued to produce award-winning reports for NPR. He learned a lot about writing for radio while working on a piece about Oreo cookies' 75th anniversary!
Soon after, he and Gary Covino started a new radio show called The Wild Room on WBEZ Chicago Public Radio. It was a fun, free-form show with all sorts of content. It first aired in November 1990. Ira liked to think of it as a show that both serious news analysts and rock stars could enjoy. They also spent two years reporting on Chicago Public Schools, finding that smaller class sizes helped students in poorer schools.
Eventually, Ira wanted to try something different from "free-form radio." He started looking for new opportunities and sending out ideas for grants.
This American Life
In 1995, the MacArthur Foundation offered money to Chicago Public Radio to create a new show. The general manager, Torey Malatia, asked Ira Glass if he had any ideas. Ira suggested a weekly show that would be national, not just local. He took two months off to work on the pilot episode.
The main idea for the show was to tell stories about everyday people and things not usually in the news. These stories would be mixed with works from journalists, writers, and artists. Ira even invited writer David Sedaris to read his essays on the show, which helped Sedaris become a successful author.
The show was first called Your Radio Playhouse and aired on November 17, 1995. The first episode was called "New Beginnings." It included interviews with a talk-show host and even Ira's mom! On March 21, 1996, the show's name changed to This American Life. It became available across the country in June 1996.
Ira worked very hard on the show, spending 70 to 80 hours a week at the offices. The show quickly became very popular and is known for changing how journalistic radio sounds in the US. It won a Peabody Award just six months after it started! Over time, the show focused more on reporting real stories in a storytelling way, like its coverage of people affected by Hurricane Katrina. Many famous writers and artists have contributed to the show over the years.
_(cropped).jpg)
This American Life even became a TV show on Showtime. The team didn't want to make something "tacky," but they agreed after Showtime promised to keep the show's unique style. The TV show aired for two seasons, from 2007 to 2009. Ira had to move to New York for filming, and he said it was a lot of hard work!
By 2020, This American Life reached over 4.7 million listeners every week. Ira Glass has been heard in almost every episode. In July 2013, they celebrated their 500th episode!
Other Cool Projects
Besides his radio show, Ira Glass has also worked on books and films.
Books and Comics
In 1999, he worked with artist Jessica Abel on a comic book called Radio: An Illustrated Guide. This book explains how This American Life is made and even teaches readers how to create their own radio show! In 2007, he published a collection of writings called The New Kings of Nonfiction.
Movies and Collaborations
Ira Glass has been involved in several movies. His show has a special agreement with Warner Bros. to turn This American Life stories into films. In 2006, he was an executive producer for the movie Unaccompanied Minors. This film was based on a true story from one of his show's editors. He also produced the 2018 Netflix movie Come Sunday.
Ira often works with comedian Mike Birbiglia. In 2012, Ira helped write and produce Mike's film Sleepwalk with Me. They even went on a tour to promote the movie. Ira was also a co-producer for Mike's 2016 film Don't Think Twice and his 2018 Broadway show The New One.
In 2013, Ira partnered with a dance company to create a show called Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host. He worked with dancers Monica Bill Barnes and Anna Bass.
In 2014, Ira and his team worked with Google Doodle for Valentine's Day. They interviewed people about unusual love stories, and users could click on candy hearts on the Google homepage to listen to these stories, just like on This American Life.
In 2019, Ira went on tour with a show called Seven Things I've Learned. In this show, he talks about the art of storytelling. He shares tips like "How to tell a story" and "Failure is Success." The dancers from Monica Bill Barnes & Company also performed in this show.
Tours and Appearances
Ira Glass has performed live shows and made many appearances.
Live Shows
- This American Life — Live! (2009)
- Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host (2013–2017)
- Seven Things I've Learned (2019)
Books by Ira Glass
- Radio: An Illustrated Guide (1999)—written with Jessica Abel
- The New Kings of Nonfiction (2007)
TV and Podcast Appearances
Ira has appeared on late-night TV shows like Late Show With David Letterman and The Colbert Report.
He has also been a guest on many podcasts, including TBTL and Freakonomics. In 2010, he was interviewed on Freakonomics about how to make a great podcast. He even appeared on The Adam Carolla Podcast to discuss which podcast had the most downloads.
In 2012, Ira Glass gave the graduation speech at Goucher College and received an honorary degree. He also lent his voice to the audiobook "Suddenly, a Knock on the Door: Stories."
Ira has even appeared on The Simpsons and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In 2014, he appeared as himself in the Veronica Mars movie and in a Netflix comedy special. In 2018, he had a small role in the movie Ocean's 8.
Personal Life
Ira Glass was married to Anaheed Alani, a writer and editor, from 2005 to 2018. They separated in 2017.
His older sister, Randi Glass Murray, works as a literary agent. His younger sister, Karen Glass Barry, worked in film development at Disney Studios. Ira is also a distant cousin of the famous composer Philip Glass, who has appeared on Ira's show.
Ira Glass supports Prison Performing Arts, an organization that helps people in prison through theater. He even dedicated an episode of This American Life to one of their plays.
He decided to become a vegetarian after visiting a chicken sanctuary. Ira enjoys watching TV shows like Gilmore Girls and Family Guy. He also likes podcasts such as Radiolab and The Daily.
Beliefs
Ira Glass has said that he is an atheist, meaning he doesn't believe in God. He explained that he feels his Jewish cultural heritage is a part of him, but he didn't believe in a "Big Daddy" creator even as a teenager. He thinks that people made up stories to explain the world and feel good. However, he enjoys visiting a shul for High Holiday services sometimes, especially if the Rabbi is a good storyteller, which he says is similar to how he creates his radio show.
Ira has also mentioned that he believes Christians are often shown unfairly in the media. He says the Christians he knows are "incredibly wonderful and thoughtful."
Awards and Recognition
Ira Glass has received many awards for his contributions to radio and journalism:
- In 2009, he won the Edward R. Murrow Award for his outstanding work in public radio.
- In 2011, he earned the George Polk Award for Radio Reporting for an episode called "Very Tough Love". This episode helped bring attention to a judge's actions, and she later stepped down from her position.
- In 2012, he received an honorary degree from Goucher College.
- In 2013, he won the Medal for Spoken Language from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He also won a Gold Award for best documentary for the Harper High School episode.
- In November 2014, he was added to the National Radio Hall of Fame.
- In 2020, Ira Glass and the This American Life team won the first-ever Pulitzer Prize for Audio Reporting. They won for an episode called "The Out Crowd," which shared important stories about a US immigration policy.
