The Radio

Ira Glass has me thinking about the esthetics of broadcasting. He talked about telling stories in cool ways and he wished we could see more pleasure and surprise in the news. He showed us how to do tricks with background music to make talk sound smarter.
Ira made a convincing common sense case against ridiculous regulations and outrageous fines that are now imposed on broadcasters as a consequence of Bono saying the f word on an award show. He reminded us that we’re being governed by morons quite a few times.
When someone in the audience asked him about the transformative power of the stories on This American Life, he talked about changes in his own life as a result of doing the show and I loved that he didn’t make claims for others.
His talk lived up to all my high expectations and as I listened today during my slog, he seemed even funnier than usual. I may have to get Showtime so I can see his new show when it airs. And I might have to rig up a little music console to play background music while I teach. I can keep it next to the overhead projector.