This American Life (
TAL) is an American weekly hour-long
radio program produced by
WBEZ and hosted by
Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous
public radio stations in the United States and internationally, and is also available as a free weekly
podcast. Primarily a
journalistic non-fiction program, it has also featured
essays,
memoirs, field recordings, short fiction, and found footage. The first episode aired on November 17, 1995, under the show's original title,
Your Radio Playhouse. The series was distributed by
Public Radio International until June 2014, when the program became self-distributed with
Public Radio Exchange delivering new episodes to public radio stations.