This American Life
Chicago Public Media
Each week we choose a theme. Then anything can happen. This American Life is true stories that unfold like little movies for radio. Personal stories with funny moments, big feelings, and surprising plot twists. Newsy stories that try to capture what it’s like to be alive right now. It’s the most popular weekly podcast in the world, and winner of the first ever Pulitzer Prize for a radio show or podcast. Hosted by Ira Glass and produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago.
Location:
Chicago, IL
Networks:
Chicago Public Media
Description:
Each week we choose a theme. Then anything can happen. This American Life is true stories that unfold like little movies for radio. Personal stories with funny moments, big feelings, and surprising plot twists. Newsy stories that try to capture what it’s like to be alive right now. It’s the most popular weekly podcast in the world, and winner of the first ever Pulitzer Prize for a radio show or podcast. Hosted by Ira Glass and produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago.
Twitter:
@thisamerlife
Language:
English
Website:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/
Email:
web@thislife.org
Episodes
847: The Truly Incredible Story of Keiko the Killer Whale
11/17/2024
Keiko was a hugely beloved adventure park attraction. He was also captured in the wild and taken away from his mother when he was just a calf. When Hollywood learned about him, a colossal effort began to un-tame him and send him back to the ocean.
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Duration:01:02:04
846: This is the Cake We Baked
11/10/2024
With Donald Trump’s victory this week, many people looked at the election results and thought, yeah, this is the country I thought it was. For some people, that was a hopeful thing. For others, kind of the opposite. This week, we talked with people who helped make it happen and some who are looking to what’s next.
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Duration:01:02:47
845: A Small Thing That Gives Me a Tiny Shred of Hope
11/3/2024
A wee flame, flickering in the dark.
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Duration:01:01:16
844: This Is the Case of Henry Dee
10/20/2024
Thirteen parole board members decide whether or not one man should be released from prison.
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Duration:00:59:04
A Big Announcement
10/16/2024
Ira Glass has news to share about some things happening here at This American Life.
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Duration:00:04:56
843: A Little Bit of Power
10/13/2024
So much of the fight for the presidency is coming down to battles for small slices of voters who can help throw swing states to one candidate or another. Abbas Alawieh, a leader in the Uncommitted movement, grapples with how to get his voters the thing they want.
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Duration:00:56:15
842: 51 Days
10/6/2024
Chen Almog-Goldstein was kidnapped by Hamas along with her three youngest children on October 7, 2023. This week, she tells the story of their life as hostages in Gaza.
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Duration:00:58:38
841: My Senior Year
9/22/2024
One kid comes to America as an exchange student and commits herself to the senior year experience.
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Duration:00:57:46
840: How Are You Not Seeing This?
9/15/2024
People trying and struggling to see what another person sees.
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Duration:00:59:39
839: Meet Me at the Fair
9/8/2024
Iowa has three million people and a million come to their State Fair, each with their own goals and dreams for the fair. We hang out with some of them, to see if they get what they hoped for.
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Duration:01:04:21
801: Must Be Rats on the Brain
9/1/2024
The one animal we can’t seem to live without, even when we really, really want to.
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Duration:01:09:46
754: Spark Bird
8/25/2024
Stories about birds and the hearts they sway, the havoc they wreak, the lives they change.
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Duration:01:03:26
838: Letters! Actual Letters!
8/18/2024
When the best—and perhaps only—way to say something is to write it down.
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Duration:00:58:43
837: Swim Towards the Shark
8/11/2024
In a crisis, when all logic suggests that you get away from the dangerous thing, how will you respond?
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Duration:01:05:46
803: Greetings, People Of Earth
8/4/2024
Humans encounter non-human intelligences of various kinds and try to make sense of them.
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Duration:01:03:13
172: 24 Hours at the Golden Apple
7/28/2024
We document one day in a Chicago diner called the Golden Apple, starting at 5 a.m. and going until 5 a.m. the next morning. We hear from the waitress who has worked the graveyard shift for over two decades, the regular customers who come every day, the couples working out their problems, assorted drunks, and, of course, cops.
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Duration:00:58:05
836: The Big Rethink
7/21/2024
People rethinking some of the most important relationships in their lives — with their sister, their political party, and the nominee for president.
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Duration:00:59:40
794: So Close and Yet So Far
7/14/2024
People so close to each other, in extremely intimate situations, who are also a million miles apart.
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Duration:01:03:43
443: Amusement Park
7/7/2024
We head to some of the happiest places on earth: amusement parks! Ira Glass takes us behind the scenes at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, where the young staff – coached by a funny, fun-loving boss just a little older than they are – truly seem to love their jobs.
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Duration:01:00:25
835: Children of Dave
6/30/2024
Boen Wang has a theory that a lot of the misery in his life can be traced to a single moment that happened years before he was born. So he makes a pilgrimage to see if he’s right.
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Duration:01:01:10