Friday, November 25, 2011

This American Life

Thomas J. Gardner
Information Radio
LSC 360
Assignment #4
Information Oriented Radio Program
Sunday, October 2, 2011

This American Life

This American Life is a reality program focusing on several narratives that have dramatic twists and turns. The show is hosted by Ira Glass and produced by Public Radio International. Glass uses an innovative analysis with story telling concepts of actual events. Descriptive characters and ongoing conflicts are impressionable and resemble mystery radio plays. Real artists play Soft Adult music of primarily instrumentals, which hovers in the background of the acts. The changing tempos subtlety matches the intensity of the program and supplies segue between acts.
Wisconsin Public Radio hosts the Sunday show in a regular block of documentary news programs. This American Life is a syndicated information oriented radio program. Arbitron Marketing Communications reports that public radio receives most of its listeners on Sunday. It also states that most people listen to public radio because of its news and information programs.
The demographics for its target audience are unique. The listeners are passionate about knowledge and current events. The distinctive format of the public radio stations program is a lifestyle alternative to commercial stations because of its overall news magazine presentation. The committed audience is between 25 and 65 years of age. But 70 percent of the audience averages 45 years of age. Of the 15 million listeners, nearly half are women and the other half are men.
Engaging personalities pioneer or repurpose new trends in lifestyles and cultures with a sense of energetic drama. Except for brief morphing into the next act, Glass voices his descriptive observations without interrupting the listeners intellectual but emotion experience. The different personalities that contribute to the show enchant the listener with a dialogue that is reminiscent of the preceding segment. The Program Wheel must help determine which acts enhance the flow of the acts sequel and optimize the theme of the current show. This approach appeals to the upscale middle age audience it attracts. The interests and attitudes of the shows listeners respond to Glass’ air personality. This endeavor towards liberals has prevailed among all higher education achievers that appreciate liberal social dialogue. The vintage style story telling with different segments is very hypnotic. It keeps other station programs at an unobtrusive distance because it is presented as a radio drama that is both entertaining and informing.
WPR’s program director must know that this program gives WPR the prestige of reaching audiences that like talk radio. The ratings must reflect that this program has a significant following. Movies, books, comic books and parodies of the show have been done. “The Onion” parodied it as an ultraliberal upper class program that caters to white baby boomers that are amused by the novel plights of Americans on the fringe of society. However, the show has won many awards. iTunes reports that This American Life podcasts are the most downloaded.

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