Wings For Wheels

I love This American Life. It’s compelling to the point where I don’t even start the podcast unless I have a full hour to concentrate exclusively on it. It’s everything you want a radio show to be: funny, informative, touching, sad.

However, Ira Glass, the show’s auteur, is a loathsome prick.

Yesterday, I went to listen to the latest show, and I hear Glass going into his now-weekly podcast-only pitch to solicit contributions. He starts by saying that, because of the economy, parent station WBEZ’s corporate underwriting is down $700,000 this year.

OK, there’s nothing wrong with that. We all know times are tough (sidenote – I stopped listening to Morning Edition because I was getting beaten up with recession stories) and, if they have to ask for funds more frequently than their regular pledge drives, so be it. And we’re always told that public broadcasting is underfunded, so to take a minute before launching into the show to plead his case is fine with me.

However, Glass stepped over the line with his second point when talking about the extra cost of releasing the show as a free podcast, he said:

You. YOU, simply by virtue of hearing my voice right now, you are costing them money.

Fuck you, Ira Glass.

So I’m a freeloader if I don’t help out with your Internet expenses? Did you not even hear your own point, that things are tough all over? Did you ever think maybe your business plan is wrong? Hell, I use Bluehost and get unlimited storage and bandwidth. And they have great customer service, as I learned when my site was hacked a few months ago, all for only $6.95/month.

Granted, I had to pay for two years up front to get that rate, so it wasn’t without some sacrifice. But at least I don’t have to make my readers and listeners feel bad if they don’t give me money (But, readers and listeners, you will have multiple orgasms if you do give me money. Trust me on this). If I can afford that, certainly WBEZ can.

Maybe, Ira, if you were nicer about it, I would contribute. After all, giving a few bucks to you is a small price for 52 hours a year of the exceptional quality of TAL. But it’s not until the 1:02 mark that you lower your tone and deign to use the Magic Word “please.”

Once again, fuck you, Ira Glass.

This isn’t the first time Glass has pissed me off asking for money. During their pledge drive in February, I was considering becoming a member of WBEZ. After all, they produce three of my favorite shows (TAL, Sound Opinions, and Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me), and I had plenty of cash on hand after writing the first book. WBEZ does a lot of cool events in town, like the Wait Wait taping in Millennium Park last week. I also enjoy their blog.

Then, midway through the drive, Glass comes on the local Morning Edition segment to help raise money. From some members, he received the phone numbers of people who listened to public radio but don’t contribute. He called them up asking them why they feel they should get this stuff for free, berated them for it, and played those calls on the air . The message was clear: Give us money or Ira Glass will publicly make you feel like the worthless piece of trash you are.

What a smug, pretentious dickhead.

That WBEZ felt this was a good idea was evidence that they didn’t deserve my money. Instead, I gave it to WFMU, the excellent listener-support free-form station in New Jersey. I listen to five of their shows and would listen to more  if I had the time. They also run the Free Music Archive, which has provided music for my podcast.

Again, This American Life is an incredible show, but it’s getting harder and harder to listen to, as its host clearly thinks I am not worthy of it.