For the 100th episode of This American Life, a radio show about the pleasures of radio. About what makes radio so great, and what makes it so terrible.
The Invisible Leading The Blind
Jack Hitt talks about a radio station he chanced upon while on a long drive. The station seems to ignore the last six decades of broadcasting history and convention. Jack is the author of Off the Road: A Modern-Day Walk Down the Pilgrim's Route into Spain. (10 minutes)
The Radio Most People Listen To
How the science of radio enabled V103 to become tied for number one in the Chicago market. And how it cost DJ Ida Hackele her job. (18 minutes)
Noble Calling
Now in exile, Jose Ramos Horta spent two decades as the leading international spokesman against the invasion of his country by Indonesia. He won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. And one day when peace finally comes to his country, East Timor, he will move on to his next dream: to be a radio talk host, just like Howard Stern. (10 minutes)
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Act One: Dave Knows
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Act Four: Ritual
Camp Lake of the Woods holds a fake Indian powwow during the summer.
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A Guatemalan immigrant living near Boston gets a phone call with some very strange news about his past.
Petty Tyrant
The rise and fall of a school maintenance man in Schenectady, New York who terrorized his staff and got away with it for decades.