Ira Glass: Creator of "This American Life"

Over the years, Ira Glass has earned himself an extremely devoted group of fans. Recently, this radio broadcaster and commentator was able to gather enough fans to broadcast his National Public Radio show "This American Life" to over 300 theaters across the United States. Today, "This American Life" can be heard on over 500 National Public Radio stations each week.

Ira Glass was not always a radio star. Born in Baltimore to Barry and Shirley Glass, an accountant and psychologist respectively, Ira Glass enjoyed performing from a young age. While attending Milford Mill High School, Ira Glass was an active participant in Student Theater. He graduated from Brown University in 1982, with a degree in semiotics.

Following graduation, Ira Glass almost immediately took to the public radio sphere, quickly winning an internship at National Public Radio. During the 1980s, Ira Glass worked on several National Public Radio shows, including "All Things Considered," "Talk of the Nation" and "Morning Edition." Ira Glass was willing to be a part of these popular National Public Radio shows in any capacity: he worked as a tape cutter, editor, desk assistant, newscast writer and in any other position available. These National Public Radio broadcasts were heard across the globe and gained Ira Glass quite a bit of notoriety in the world of National Public Radio. In the early 1990s, Ira Glass and Gary Covino co-hosted "The Wild Room," the predecessor to "This American Life," weekly on Chicago Public Radio.

In 1995, Ira Glass launched "This American Life" through Chicago Public Radio. Each week, the broadcast concentrated on a specific theme, bringing together a plethora of stories, performances, footage and essays, related to said theme. "This American Life" was a huge success and was quickly picked up by Public Radio International, which distributes the same National Public Radio shows that Ira Glass had worked on a decade before.

Interestingly, "This American Life" was originally launched under the title "Your Radio Playhouse." In 1996, the name was changed to "This American Life" but the basic structure of the show remained the same. This included the way the show was split up into several different "acts," an aspect of the show that derived from the original name "Your Radio Playhouse."

Between 2007 and 2009, "This American Life" was broadcast as a television show in addition to the usual radio format. Like the radio version, the television show "This American Life" focused on a single theme and brought together storytelling and unique footage to explore that theme. Eventually the show was canceled due to monetary and timing constraints.

Today, "This American Life" is listened to by over 1.7 million people each week. The Ira Glass show has also proved influential in Hollywood, with movies such as "Unaccompanied Minors" inspired by episodes of "This American Life." The show is currently available as a podcast, which is downloaded by over 400,000 people every week.

Ira Glass and "This American Life" are the recipients of numerous awards, including the George Foster Peabody Award, the Third Coast International Audio Festival Award, the Livingston Award, and the Dupont Award, among others.