Curious About ‘This American Life’? Here’s Where You Should Start.

Podcasts, podcasts everywhere! It seems like everyone is making a podcast these days, from random comedians to old talk-show hosts. Even your therapist is making a podcast, and she’s got a modest following to boast, too.

But before all the fanfare, there was This American Life, founded all the way back in 1995 as a radio program. TAL has consistently been a staple in the radio and podcasting world, yet with such a huge catalogue of work to be discovered, it might seem a little daunting to newcomers.

Not to worry—if there’s a will, there’s a way! Many ways, in fact.

The Best of the Best (and then some)

You can listen to TAL anywhere you listen to music and podcasts, but some streaming services only feature a rotating schedule of episodes that change every few weeks or so. Therefore, if you want to start with the best bits first, the TAL website has their entire catalogue archived for your listening pleasure. Even the pre-podcast bits are there, which all totals out to more than 700 episodes. Hoo-wee!

Thankfully, the staff of TAL have divided their recommended episodes into various categories. There’s a list of episodes for beginners, as well as some personal favorites. They’re all fantastic episodes, but if you want “the best” of them, well, there’s a list for that, too.

Considering how difficult it is to access some old radio programs, it’s pretty remarkable that TAL has all of their programs available for public usage—especially since Radio Free America went down a few years ago (RIP). So, if you plan on perusing their archive, take your time and really enjoy the searching process; someone went through a lot of love and effort to put them all up there.

Spinoff Shows

Of course, I’d be remiss not to mention some of the shows that TAL produced on the side—award-winning shows, might I add.

You’ve probably heard of Serial, one of the most popular podcast series ever made. It’s a non-fiction narrative program (hosted by the wildly talented and illustrious Sarah Koenig) that tells one story over the course of an entire season, and it’s produced so skillfully that it’ll make you realize how artful a good podcast really is.

And then there’s S-Town, oh, my beloved S-Town. This is the podcast that first got me interested in podcasts, back in college when my intro to radio instructor was showing us how to make podcasts. (Thanks, Shay!) S-Town is such a gripping, phenomenally told program, I’d find myself listening to entire episodes while sitting down, doing nothing else. And while there was some legal drama following the release of the program, regarding privacy issues, it cannot be denied that it was a remarkable display of good modern journalism.

Finally, two full programs were born out of individual episodes that went viral. The first is Nice White Parents, following elitist school systems and why they exist, and the second is The Improvement Association, which follows the impact of election fraud allegations in one town. While I haven’t gotten around to listening to their full podcasts yet, I can attest to how captivating the individual episodes are. (Props to Chana Joffe-Walt and Zoe Chace, respectively.)

Share Your Faves!

Are you familiar with TAL? Share some of your favorite episodes in the comments (a few in particular have caught our attention in the past, too), and let us know why you like them. Maybe you’ll help TAL gain some new fans.

Let’s work to keep public radio alive—don’t forget to tune in!

(Featured Image: WBEZ)