“Not seeing contains a power in and of itself,” Ira Glass said, opening his nearly sold-out event last Saturday in Colorado Springs.
The Pikes Peak Center was completely dark when Glass appeared on stage. The audience could only hear his voice.
He took this this as an opportunity to reveal the unique nature of hearing stories on the radio. With the radio, one is unable to pass judgments on appearance, and therefore inherently forms a connection with the speaker, Glass explained, still obscured by darkness.
Moments later, the lights turned on to reveal Glass, one of the most prominent radio personalities on air today.
The event, hosted by KRCC, provided a platform for Glass to talk about his career as the host and creator of “This American Life,” a public radio show that has been on the air since 1995.
Each hour-long episode of “This American Life” features various news pieces and true stories of everyday people surrounding a theme.
“It was an education to hear Ira Glass talk about how he puts the show together and what he looks for in a story,” said Steve Hayward, Colorado College Professor and faculty liaison to KRCC.
Glass sets himself apart from the more serious news outlets with his emphasis on structuring stories to be engaging, humorous, surprising, and relatable on a universal level.
“We wanted to take the whiff of broccoli out of the air,” Glass said during his talk, expressing his desire for public radio to no longer be something people only listen to because they think it will be good for them.
Bringing these same ideals to the event, Glass supplemented his talk with his humor and wit, entertaining the audience with anecdotes from his life and particularly riveting segments from “This American Life.”
‘The event was simply terrific; entertaining, informative, and hilarious” Hayward said, a conclusion that seemed to resound with most in attendance that night.
Emilia Whitmer
Staff Writer