Podcast

This American Life

This American Life is a weekly public radio show, heard by 2.2 million people on more than 500 stations. Another 2.5 million people download the weekly podcast. It is hosted by Ira Glass, produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media, delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange, and has won all of the major broadcasting awards.

Episodes

  • 694: Get Back to Where You Once Belonged

    Feb 16 2020

    People looking everywhere to find a place—any place—where, for once, they don't have to be the odd man out.

  • 693: Abdi the American

    Feb 09 2020

    We return to our story about Abdi Nor from 2015, with some big news about his life today. When we first broadcast the story, Abdi was a Somali refugee living in Kenya desperately trying – against long odds – to get to the United States. Then he got the luckiest break of his life: he won a lottery that puts him on a short list for a U.S. visa. But before he could cash in his golden ticket, the police started raiding his neighborhood, targeting refugees.

  • 692: The Show of Delights

    Feb 02 2020

    In these dark, combative times, we attempt the most radical counterprogramming we could imagine: a show made up entirely of stories about delight.

  • 640: Five Women

    Jan 26 2020

    As Harvey Weinstein goes to trial, we have a different kind of #MeToo story about several women who worked for the same man. They tell us not only about their troubling encounters with him, but also about their lives beforehand. Who were they when they entered the workplace, and how did their personal histories shape the way they dealt with his harassment?

  • 691: Gardens of Branching Paths

    Jan 12 2020

    Stories of other universes that are just like our own, but with one small difference.

  • 690: Too Close to Home

    Dec 29 2019

    For the holidays, stories of families finally addressing the thorny thing they’ve never really talked about.

  • 689: Digging Up the Bones

    Dec 08 2019

    There's a lot that can be gained from unearthing the past -- learning about oneself, learning about others. But, it doesn't always go how you'd expect.

  • 688: The Out Crowd

    Nov 17 2019

    Reports from the frontlines of the Trump administration's "Remain in Mexico" asylum policy. We hear from asylum seekers waiting across the border in Mexico, in a makeshift refugee camp,  and from the officers who sent them there to wait in the first place. 

  • 687: Small Things Considered

    Nov 10 2019

    Stories about being little. Secret writings in tiny letters. The power of a very small number. And a medication that's supposed to cure shortness. 

  • 686: Umbrellas Up

    Oct 20 2019

    For over 100 days now, protesters in Hong Kong have taken to the streets every weekend. What it’s like to live through that.