Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This essay examines the historical formation of public radio program This American Life (TAL) into a media franchise whose production and extension into film, television, live performances, and podcast spinoffs represent an economic hybridity of both public and commercial production cultures. However, due to the value of highbrow intellectualism often articulated with public radio and its supposed separation from commercial media, TAL’s economic hybridity occurs within a specific public radio context that encourages TAL’s producers to legitimate their collaboration with profit-driven media producers. Thus, TAL’s producers attempt to reinforce TAL’s distinction from commercial media through discourses of cinematic allusion, fundraising, and outsiderism in order to retain the cultural capital of public radio across a range of textual extensions. This study of TAL reminds us that media franchising studies needs to account for the participation of public radio within media industries, as well as the cultural tensions and negotiations associated with economic hybridity.

Keywords

economic hybridity franchising Ira Glass public radio United States radio industry

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adalian

(2007) Showtime’s royal plan. Daily Variety, 13 April, p. 1.

Allison

(2004) The Transom review. Transom. Available at: http://transom.org/?p=6978 (accessed 13 May 2014).

Avery

(2007) The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967: looking ahead by looking back. Critical Studies in Media Communication 24(4): 358–364.

Bailey

(2013) Waking up to themselves. Sydney Morning Herald, 5 April, pp. Film 8.

Bennett

Medrado

(2013) The business of multi-platform public service: online and at a profit. Media International Australia 146: 103–113.

Blumner

(2004) Giving thanks for the little things. St. Petersburg Times, 21 November, p. 7P.

Bodey

(2013) Dream run for a sleepy comedian. The Australian, 27 March, pp. Features 13.

Bourdieu

(1984) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Butsch

(2010) Audiences and publics, media and public spheres. In: Nightingale

(ed.) The Handbook of Media Audiences. London: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 149–168.

10.

Cummings

(2011) It’s different from every other radio show … little movies for radio, where you get caught up in the story. Sydney Morning Herald, 19 November, p. 4.

11.

Deggans

(2008) Independent thinking. St. Petersburg Times, 1 May, p. 1E.

12.

Download the Radiolab App (2015) Radiolab. Available at: http://www.radiolab.org/mobile/ (accessed 30 March 2015).

13.

Dredge

(2014) Serial podcast breaks iTunes records as it passes 5 m downloads and streams. The Guardian, 18 November. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/18/serial-podcast-itunes-apple-downloads-streams (accessed 30 March 2015).

14.

Epstein

(2014) How MailChimp’s irresistible ‘Serial’ ad became the year’s biggest marketing win. Available at: http://qz.com/298094/how-mailchimps-irresistible-serial-ad-became-the-years-biggest-marketing-win/ (accessed 30 March 2015).

15.

Frey

(2005) American life’s Glass, throwing his voice in public. The Washington Post, 20 November, p. D01.

16.

Fulford

(2009) This American treasure; Ira Glass’s show on NPR has reinvented radio. National Post, 27 January, p. AL1.

17.

Glass

(1998) Public talk at Macalester College transcription. Available at: http://www.current.org/1998/05/mo-better-radio/ (accessed 13 May 2014).

18.

Glass

(1999) Entry 1. Available at: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts_and_life/diary/features/1999/ira_glass/_5.html (accessed 13 May 2014).

19.

Glass

(2012) By the book. The New York Times. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/books/review/ira-glass-by-the-book.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 (accessed 19 May 2014).

20.

Harris

(2002) Warner radios in ‘life’. Daily Variety, 15 August, p. 1.

21.

Harris

Dunkley

(2003) Warner goes to ‘minors’. Daily Variety, 8 December, p. 9.

22.

Hoynes

(1994) Public Television for Sale: Media, the Market, and the Public Sphere. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

23.

Internet Movie Database (2013) Freezing people is easy. Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1418349/ (accessed 19 May 2014).

24.

Janssen

(2003) Hollywood finds kernels for movies in This American Life. Available at: http://www.current.org/wp-content/themes/current/archive-site/radio/radio0317tal.html (accessed 13 May 2014).

25.

Johnson

(2013) Media Franchising: Creative License and Collaboration in the Culture Industries. New York: New York University Press.

26.

Ladd

(2006) A Chicago radio hit moves to New York, and TV. New York Magazine. Available at: http://nymag.com/arts/tv/features/16762/

27.

Lang

(2012) Don’t see this film! Quirky promos rely on social media. The Montreal Gazette, 29 September, p. E11.

28.

Lapin

(2012) With new independent film, Ira Glass and This American Life dream big. Available at: http://www.current.org/2012/08/with-new-independent-film-ira-glass-and-tal-dream-big/ (accessed 13 May 2014).

29.

Lapin

(2013) Ira Glass responds to charges that he’s trying to censor risqué podcast. Available at: http://www.current.org/2013/02/ira-glass-responds-to-charges-that-hes-trying-to-censor-risque-podcast/ (accessed 13 May 2014).

30.

Larson

(2014) ‘Serial’: the podcast we’ve been waiting for. The New Yorker, 9 October. Available at: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/sarah-larson/serial-podcast-weve-waiting (accessed 14 March 2015).

31.

Lederman

(2012) Seeing blind? That’s when radio gets visual. The Globe and Mail, 10 May, p. R4.

32.

Littleton

(2012) This filmmaking life. Variety, 2 September, p. 47.

33.

Magee

(2011) All Things Cultured: An Analysis of Popular Culture Coverage on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. Journal of Radio & Audio Media 18(1): 47–64.

34.

McClintock

(2007) D’works in deal mode. Daily Variety, 2 April, p. 1.

35.

McNary

(2010) Noyce gets ‘square’ deal. Daily Variety, 12 March, p. 1.

36.

Mamet

(2001) Ira Glass. Time Magazine, 9 July, p. 74.

37.

Marechal

(2012) Sundance net on script. Daily Variety, 8 November, p. 6.

38.

Martin

(2005) Radio goes feevee. Daily Variety, 4 May, p. 3.

39.

Merry

(2012) A comic walks into a soundstage and … The Washington Post, 26 August, p. T03.

40.

Metz

(2012) Ira Glass and WBEZ Chicago venture into the movie biz. The Chicago Tribune, 31 August. Available at: http://Articles.Chicagotribune.Com/2012-08-31/Entertainment/Ct-Mov-0831-Chicago-Closeup-20120831-22_1_Ira-Glass-Radio-Show-Glass-And-Wbez (accessed 13 May 2014).

41.

Newman

(2011) Indie: An American Film Culture. New York: Columbia University Press.

42.

Nissen

(2006) Making a Difference: Public Service Broadcasting in the European Media Landscape. New Barnet: John Libbey Publishing.

43.

Ouzounian

(2012) A life of radio revolution. The Toronto Star, 20 October, p. E3.

44.

Sherman

(2005) Good, gray NPR. The Nation 280(20): 34–40.

45.

Siegel

(2009) Helmer ices cryonic pic. Daily Variety, 17 April, p. 1.

46.

Stavitsky

(1994) The changing conception of localism in U.S. public radio. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 38(1): 19–33.

47.

The Montréal Gazette (2009) American Life hits big screen; Hi-Def simulcast of NPR hit will be shown on Sunday. The Montréal Gazette, 29 April, p. D9.

48.

Stavitsky

Gleason

(1994) Alternative Things Considered: A Comparison of National Public Radio and Pacifica Radio News Coverage. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 71(4): 775–786.

49.

Whedon

(2012) Whedon to Birbiglia and This American Life: drop dead. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pj6_020FFXU (accessed 13 May 2014).

50.

Zuckerman

(2005) Close your eyes and it’s almost like radio. The New York Times, 24 July, p. 26.

This American Franchise: This American Life,public radio franchising and the cultural work of legitimating economic hybridity

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References