This American Life

Saturday 1pm
Ira Glass

So usually we just say what we're not. We're not a news show or a talk show or a call-in show. We're not really formatted like other radio shows at all. Instead, we do these stories that are like movies for radio. There are people in dramatic situations. Things happen to them. There are funny moments and emotional moments and—hopefully—moments where the people in the story say interesting, surprising things about it all. It has to be surprising. It has to be fun.

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Audio Archive

  • Sunday, May 19, 2013 6:00pm
    After years of being stuck, the national conversation on climate change finally started to shift — just a little — last year, the hottest year on record in the U.S., with Hurricane Sandy flooding the New York subway, drought devastating Midwest farms, and California and Colorado on fire. Lots of people were wondering if global warming had finally arrived, here at home. This week, stories about this new reality.
  • Sunday, February 24, 2013 6:00pm
    We pick up where we left off last week in our second hour from Harper High School in Chicago. We find out if a shooting in the neighborhood will derail the school's Homecoming game and dance. We hear the origin story of one of Harper's gangs. And we ask a group of teenagers: where do you get your guns? Harper has set up a donation page here.
  • Sunday, February 17, 2013 6:00pm
    We spent five months at Harper High School in Chicago, where last year alone 29 current and recent students were shot. 29. We went to get a sense of what it means to live in the midst of all this gun violence, how teens and adults navigate a world of funerals and Homecoming dances. We found so many incredible and surprising stories, this show is a two-parter; you can listen to Part Two here.

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11:49am

Thu March 28, 2013
Planet Money

Comment On Our Disability Series

Credit Lam Thuy Vo / NPR

Hundreds of people on Facebook and Twitter have already commented on our disability series. We wanted to give readers and listeners a chance to comment here, as well.

So: Read the full story here, and add your comment below.

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6:38pm

Fri March 22, 2013
Planet Money

Episode 446: The Invisible 14 Million

Originally published on Mon March 25, 2013 10:33 am

Credit Lam Thuy Vo / NPR

We're an economics show. We cover the economy. But it's come to our attention that, until now, we've missed one of the biggest stories in our economy: The startling rise in the number of people on federal disability programs.

It's the story of 14 million people who don't show up in most of the numbers we look at to understand the economy. These 14 million Americans don't have jobs, but they don't show up in any of the unemployment measures that we use. They receive federal assistance, but are often overlooked in discussions of the social safety net.

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9:25am

Fri March 22, 2013
Planet Money

Unfit For Work: The Startling Rise Of Disability In America

Originally published on Thu March 28, 2013 7:05 pm

Parts of this story will air on This American Life this weekend, and on All Things Considered today and next week.

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1:46pm

Fri January 4, 2013
Planet Money

Planet Money On This American Life

Credit Jacob Goldstein / NPR

We'll be on This American Life this weekend, with a story from our trip to Honduras. As we wrote recently:

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2:49pm

Fri March 30, 2012
Planet Money

On Tour With Nancy Pelosi, Fundraising Rock Star

Credit J. Scott Applewhite / ASSOCIATED PRESS

This story is part of a Planet Money series on money in politics. Also see our story, "Senator By Day, Telemarketer By Night, and listen to us this weekend on This American Life.

Democrats love Nancy Pelosi. Republicans hate Nancy Pelosi.

One key reason for both the love and the hate: Nancy Pelosi is incredibly good at her job. And a huge part of that job is raising money.

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