Best Night for Radio Lovers

When Ira Glass came to town on a Tuesday night back in May, the $25 ticket might have contributed to a decision-making crisis for This American Lifedevotees. Tuesday nights, the guest of honor's show airs on KCUR 89.3 -- for free. We almost skipped out on it for that very reason, but we're glad we changed our minds. Glass didn't just give a talk. He delivered a full-fledged performance, with sound equipment handy to create dramatic effects to enhance his words. It wasn't a live approximation of This American Life but rather a commentary on that facelessly intimate medium known as radio and on broadcast journalism in general. Glass addressed the harrowing politics of broadcast news as well as the secrets that make his own show tick. He also offered plenty of This American Life lore, including a sound bite of David Sedaris reading an account, taken from his own diary, of a day at the zoo. Oh, yeah. And he also mocked us with fake NPR gossip, such as the true gender identity of the notoriously deep-voiced Sylvia Poggioli.