radio life

I have given up music momentarily in order to finish as much of "This American Life" archives (here) as I can before school. I don't remember it being this good when I was 14 or 15 in the back of my parents' car on the way to Chinese school though admittedly more of my attention was focused on making a semblance of effort on my homework without the parents noticing; usually this meant sitting behind the driver's seat. And so I can only recall episodes of "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" because it required little concentration, "Car Talk" and "The Diana Rehm Show" because the hosts had very particular voices, and if we went shopping after school and came home late at night "A Praire Home Companion" because I could not find it funny no matter how hard I tried.

"This American Life" however is funny when it wants to be. And quite moving. A few small things that I like: Ira Glass' boyish voice, great editing for maximum impact and clarity on par with cable shows, and a liberal slant that does not get in the way of presenting a balanced report. During an interview with a group of netizens akin to Anonymous who scammed a Nigerian scam artist by sending him to the edge of Darfur and then laughed on air while reading his letters of desperation, Ira was great in controlling the situation (whereas I maybe would have started throwing things) while getting at the important point that they were as morally reprehensible as the original scammer.

The only downside are reporters whose voices I will refuse to listen to no matter how good the story content, especially this one British fellow who talks with a slow drone which turns positively obscene when he tries to be dramatic. Another perhaps superficial disadvantage is that a lot of its stories are rooted in current events making them rather obsolete or stale--ones on the financial crisis or america's extreme measures against terrorism--but I feel that these factors are only settings and the real focus is on the story, to tease out at the roots a rich interweaving of human interactions almost shakespearean in quality and depth. Interestingly this program has made me feel ashamed about how naive I was and still am in regards to the level of injustice and human suffering in America and yet also a little bit more love for what progress we have made as a nation. 

Additionally, they use "In the Mood for Love"s Angkor Wat Theme Song (here) as transitions for various stories. Bias made.

I've listed a few favorites from the past five years:

Arms Trader 2009 (here)
The U.S. government spent two years on a sting operation trapping an Indian man named Hemant Lakhani, whom they suspected of being an illegal arms dealer.
note: 58 minutes and one second of brilliant reporting.

Contents Unknown (here)
Stories of filling in the blank. A man finds himself in a train station in India, with no idea how he got there or who he is. His memory gone, he has no choice but to let other people—police, doctors, friends, family—create an identity for him.
note: all three of these stories are great.

Simulated Worlds (here)

Simulated worlds, Civil war reenactments, wax museums, simulated coal mines, fake ethnic restaurants, an ersatz Medieval castle and other re-created worlds that thrive all across America. 

note: somehow i feel japan could give america a run for its money, but the theories are interesting. the bit in this about a medieval scholar from uchicago visiting medieval times is the best.

What I Learned From TV (here)
Stories recorded during our 2007 live tour. Sarah Vowell, David Rakoff, Dan Savage, and other favorite contributors went on the road with us to New York, Boston, Minneapolis, Chicago, Seattle, and Los Angeles; and performed brand-new stories in front of sold-out audiences.

Who Do You Think You Are? (here)
This week we bring you stories of privilege and the lengths some will go to to maintain it. 
note: i really love the second act's interviews with people about their experiences during the depression. the last act is very humorous; "it's all about choices" should be a lawyer's hippocratic oath.

Very Tough Love (here)

A drug court program that we believe is run differently from every other drug court in the country, doing some things that are contrary to the very philosophy of drug court. The result? People with offenses that would get minimal or no sentences elsewhere sometimes end up in the system five to ten years.

The Psychopath Test (here)
Recently we heard about this test that could determine if someone was a psychopath. So, naturally, our staff decided to take it. This week we hear the results. Plus Jon Ronson asks the question: is this man a psychopath?
note: i like the second report on whether corporate leaders are psychopaths.

Right to Remain Silent (here)
Stories about people who have the right to remain silent... but choose not to exercise that right—including police officer Adrian Schoolcraft, who secretly recorded his supervisors telling officers to manipulate crime statistics and make illegal arrests. 
note: the second act is fascinating and kafka-esque, especially when the police strikes back.

Inside Job (here)
For seven months a team of investigative journalists from ProPublica looked into a story for us, the inside story of one company that made hundreds of millions of dollars for itself while worsening the financial crisis for the rest of us.

Habeas Schamabeas (here)
The right of habeas corpus has been a part of our country's legal tradition longer than we've actually been a country. It means that our government has to explain why it's holding a person in custody. But now, the War on Terror has nixed many of the rules we used to think of as fundamental. At Guantanamo Bay, our government initially claimed that prisoners should not be covered by habeas—or even by the Geneva Conventions—because they're the most fearsome enemies we have. But is that true? Is it a camp full of terrorists, or a camp full of our mistakes?

note: this report won the Peabody Award. i really enjoyed the interviews with former prisoners.


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From "This I Used to Believe" (here)

Jay Allison
So, I'm wondering you work in radio, and I work in radio. How come we haven't heard from you on what you believe? How come you haven't done an essay for "This I Believe"?

Ira Glass
Well, actually I mean it's funny. I think that I don't-- I say this and it's going to sound a little more dramatic than I mean it. But I'm not sure I believe anything, in that way, that would make for an essay.

Jay Allison
But did you ever, did you ever sit down-- or do you just sort of ask yourself rhetorically from time to time?

Ira Glass
I ask myself whenever I hear the series. I hear you on the radio and I think, how come I'm not on Jay's series? Like, how come I'm not doing This I Believe?

Jay Allison
Are you sure you're not just giving up too easily though?

Ira Glass
I don't know. I think I'm one of those people where like, I had a lot of really strong beliefs about stuff when I was a kid, and I like had a religious phase, and then I had a very strong, like, atheist phase and then I had a very political phase. And I was like politically correct for years. I mean the kind of politically correct where like, when I was in my 20s I went to Nicaragua and I called it Nikh-a-RAH-hua. And you know what I mean? Like, I was horrible. And--

Jay Allison
Did you call it Nikh-a-Rah-hua on the radio, too?

Ira Glass
Ah no. I knew better than that. At least I knew better than that. But you know I mean? Like, and then, just like, I got older and I saw that things seemed more complicated than the way that I'd believed them. And when I poll myself, I'm like, what do I believe in? Well I believe that listening to the radio in the car is the best place to listen to the radio. I've got that. But that doesn't seem like it's worthy of your series. I think it's true. I can defend it, but--.

Jay Allison
How about if something bad happened? Is there something you'd cling to?

Ira Glass
You mean in terms of a belief?

Jay Allison
Mm-hmm.

Ira Glass
I mean, I take comfort in the thought that when things seem really sad it's a comfort to me that well, everybody's going to go through this. Everybody's gone through this. And the problem is that, like, it's too much of a set of truisms to actually be good enough for your series.

Jay Allison
But your show is always looking for a conflict, and something to happen, and for something to change. I mean, maybe even this show is going to be about how something changes. So, possibly you're not interested in things that are static and enduring.

Ira Glass
No, I think that's true. It's funny like I think that's why I like This I Used to Believe. I'm much more attracted to that than to This I Believe because it just has the feeling of like, people are changing. And for me, drama is more interesting than ideas in a way. It's funny, I didn't even know I thought that until now I'm saying, that but I think it's true.

Jay Allison
Maybe you believe in that.

Ira Glass
And there's my essay. You are the master.

Jay Allison
I'm just an editor, man.