Readers of my blog know I’m a big fan of Bill Moyers and his Journal on PBS. Friday’s show was one of the best, dedicated entirely to an interview with David Simon, creator of The Wire. I’ve rarely heard someone express as clearly how I feel about the state and the future of America as Simon does in this interview. Make sure to listen through to the end. Video [part 1 and part 2] or audio.
From an article in the Washington Post as quoted on a private list by P.W. Fenton:
Ira Glass was recently involved in a sort of public Q&A session to
promote his latest “This American Life – Live” project and a fan asked
about podcasting…Question: “Have you found that podcasting has changed TAL? I’m
incredibly grateful to the podcasts, which give me access to TAL for
my subway commute or running errands. I would imagine that there are
lots of people like me, and that TAL’s exposure has grown as a result
of podcasts. But are there other ways in which the podcasting has
changed the show?”Ira Glass: “Interestingly, it’s pulled in a much younger audience. The
radio audience has stayed the same size – 1.8 million people a week -
but now there’s this extra half million people and they’re much much
younger than the public radio audience. Which is fantastic, of course.
I now meet lots of people in their teens and twenties at our live
events, and some of them aren’t public radio listeners at all. They
simply know us as a podcast.In terms of content this hasn’t changed the show but in terms of
reach, it’s really nice.”