Ira Glass biography

Synopsis

Early Life And Education

American public radio personality Ira Glass was born on March 3, 1959, in Baltimore, Maryland. His father, Barry Glass, was an accountant, and his mother, Shirley Glass, was a psychologist and infidelity researcher. As a high school student in the early 1970s, he Ira was active in theater. . His father, Barry Glass, was an accountant, and his mother, Shirley Glass, was a psychologist and infidelity researcher. He He began his undergraduate studies at Northwestern University, but transferred half way through to Brown University, where he majored in semiotics, the study of symbols. Immediately after graduating, Glass talked his way into an internship at National Public Radio’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Early Career

Early in his career, Glass eventually worked on almost every NPR news program, and performeddoing nearly every job, including being a tape cutter, newscast writer, editor, substitute host, desk assistant and producer. Rising in the ranks,He rose steadily in the ranks during this time and he was was eventually made pulled to be a reporter and host for “Morning Edition,” “All Things Considered” and “Talk of the Nation.” In the fall of 1990, Chicago Public Radio Glass was invited Glass to co-host a new and local, late- night radio show called “The Wild Room.” Chicago Public Radio let Glass and Glass and his co-hosts filled each Friday night with a free- form and highly varied mix of music, readings and banter. Simultaneously, Glass continued to produce serious and in-depth journalism, traveling with the Clinton campaign in 1992 and reporting on the Chicago Ppublic Sschool Ssystem for a full two years.

"This American Life"

In 1995, the general manager of Chicago Public Radio offered Glass the opportunity to host and produce his own show; Glass accepted and went on to create “This American Life.” By early 1996, the show was nationally syndicated. Unlike much of public radio, Glass’ show is based on intimate personal narratives about everyday people and events from their livesthe things that happen to them. “It’s dramatic and often surprising. This American Life” airs weekly from WBEZ in Chicago and reaches 1.8 million listeners on 500 stations nation wide. In 2007, Glass and company began airing a television version of “This American Life” as half-hour episodes on the Showtime network. It aired thirteen13 episodes, and won three Emmys, and ended in 2009. However, Glass has stated that they ended the TVtelevision show, in 2009, because it was too much work to dodoing both the it and the radio and television shows simultaneously.