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I started out doing production work on promos, stuff like that. I didn't think it was cool to be working for NPR. I didn't need anything to be cool. I just wanted something to do that would be interesting. It was fun. I didn't think of it as anything else but fun.
Ira Glass -
Just when did I get to the point when staying at a hotel wasn't fun?
Ira Glass
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You get into this situation, performing for T.V., where you have to speak with utter sincerity. It's just like the radio. You have to say it like you mean it, even though the thing you're saying is actually planned out.
Ira Glass -
It took, for me, a long time to develop this idea of what to do on the radio. But from the beginning of my time in radio, I had pretty non-traditional tasks.
Ira Glass -
I think good radio often uses the techniques of fiction: characters, scenes, a big urgent emotional question. And as in the best fiction, tone counts for a lot. But a lot of effective and interesting radio is based on one character who reacts to the world.
Ira Glass -
Honestly, I am so ignorant of how dance works that I can't even imagine a story that you would want to tell through movement.
Ira Glass -
Any story that I can consider worth telling is one that you could tell in words.
Ira Glass -
The story is a machine for empathy. In contrast to logic or reason, a story is about emotion that gets staged over a sequence of dramatic moments, so you empathize with the characters without really thinking about it too much. It is a really powerful tool for imagining yourself in other people's situations.
Ira Glass
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Traditional broadcast media seems old-fashioned and vague to me. When I watch television news, I'm aware of what skilled journalists they are, but I find it hard because of the corny way they present it.
Ira Glass -
I've read the poker books, but at this point, everybody who's playing has read the poker books. I feel like I'm knowledgeable enough to understand what's going on in the game, and I understand why I suck. And I'm not sure if I'll ever rise beyond that to the level where I don't suck.
Ira Glass -
In some theoretical way I know that a half-million people hear the show. But in a day-to-day way, there's not much evidence of it.
Ira Glass -
When I was a bad writer, I would consciously imitate other NPR writers who I thought were wonderful. I suppose that everyone's artistic practice is different. But I collaborate and sometimes don't agree at all with my collaborators' opinions. It forces you to understand why you don't agree with something: what's the fight you're picking.
Ira Glass -
I think stories get better the more people try to amuse themselves.
Ira Glass -
If you want somebody to tell you a story, one of the most easiest and effective ways is if you're telling them a story.
Ira Glass
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When I started 'This American Life', one of the reactions I got was, 'When is the adult going to show up who will host the show?' At some point, people just got used to it.
Ira Glass -
I'm not a go-in-for-the-kill kind of interviewer. It's a great thing to me, that kind of interviewer, but I'm not it. It doesn't play to my strengths at all. I like to interview people who are interested in telling their story and tell it as truthfully as they can.
Ira Glass -
Like most people in radio - and in magic - I'm not cool. I know people who are hip, and I can feel distance between them and me.
Ira Glass -
Not enough gets said about the importance of abandoning crap.
Ira Glass -
The flakier your mission, the fiercer you have to be on the business side.
Ira Glass