"This American Life" is the Coolest Show on Radio

Alright, I love the radio. I can listen to the radio and practice. I can listen to the radio and study. I love to just find something going on on the radio and listen. When we've made our recent pilgrimages to Disney I've used the FM band on mp3 player to just find whatever I can get a signal for. (You'd be amazed how many sports talk stations there are in Florida!)

Anyways, back in the day I listened to NPR all the time. Not really for the music (let's face it, whoever program directs NPR stations is required to only like the Haydn Complete Symphonies or the Complete Works of Telman Susato...can we say, BORING!!!) I have only one time turned on NPR during the day to hear music I thought was cool. One time! Yikes! The good thing is that their talk shows don't suck. In fact, they are the best thing on radio. Prairie Home Companion, Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me, Car Talk,(all of which I highly reccommend!) and more. There's some I only rarely hear, can't remember the names of, and I can't find them on NPR's website. It's that colorful!

Out of all those my favorite is, BY FAR, This American Life. Ira Glass has the smoothest voice I've ever heard and his shows are so well put together that it makes sick, like in a "I wish I'd thought of that" kind of way. They do the best storytelling anyone can find.

In honor of this show I thought I'd post links to the podcasts of my two favorite episodes of my favorite show:

The first one is an episode called "Detectives." I remember distinctly listening to this episode in the car on the way to visit Heather where she went to college. It was dark when the show came on and if you're in the car and listen to Act 3 in the dark, it takes on a whole new meaning and significance.

The other is pretty depressing, but it's a really smart commentary about what happens when there is imbalance in a relationship. Alot of it is sad, but they should've been fair and titled the episode "The Decay of Society." That's just me. Act 3 is especially good. Starley Kine talks with her Dad about his marriage to her mother (who completely steamrolled him) and about how she always wanted her parents to get a divorce (isn't that sad!?) Anyways, it's telling and that's what makes it good.