By Janelle Henderson
Public radio may not excite many college students, but WFPL is hoping to change that. Through a collaboration with the Student Activities Board, the Louisville news radio station is offering discounted tickets for an upcoming live concert.
“This American Life” host Ira Glass will be hosting a talk on Jan. 28 tentatively titled “Radio Stories and Other Stories” at the Brown Theatre in downtown Louisville.
The show is hosted by local National Public Radio affiliate WFPL and Quest Outdoors.
WFPL and the SAB are currently in talks to hold a contest to allow several students to attend a reception immediately following the talk for free, said Billy Hardison, marketing specialist and special events coordinator for the Public Radio Partnership.
Hardison also decided to offer discounted student tickets to introduce “This American Life” and other shows on public radio to an audience less familiar with the genre.
“It is very important to me for the Public Radio Partnership to reach out to students to encourage them to initially listen to 89.3 WFPL and eventually to become members of PRP,” he said.
“The sooner they begin listening, the sooner they make our three stations part of their life. Ira Glass is a great conduit to that end.”
Glass had no idea he would one day be regarded with such esteem. As an undergraduate at Brown University, he had no career aspirations other than to do something amusing and interesting.
His career with NPR began at 19, when he couldn’t find a summer job in his hometown of Baltimore, Md., and landed an internship in Washington, D.C.
“It was kind of a fluke,” he said. “I couldn’t find a job except for volunteer work in a shock trauma unit in a hospital. Then someone I knew at a rock station knew someone at NPR in Washington D.C., and said, ‘Why not try this?'”
He worked his way from being a tape-cutter and desk assistant to working on nearly every NPR news show and every production job available.
When Chicago Public Radio began looking for new show ideas in 1995, Glass suggested “This American Life.”
“It’s different than other shows on the radio,” he said. “It’s not news, sports, talk or call-in. It’s stories you’d make a movie or TV show out of that just happen to be true and on the radio.”
In addition to recreating his show on-stage, Glass is delivering a message to college students that he wished he knew while he was at Brown.
“My message for college students is one of hope. Pretty much every creative person I know went through a period where they weren’t great but worked their way out of it, and it takes years,” he said.
“The hopeful fact is that it’s all learnable. It’s a frustrating road until it happens and it’s helpful to know everyone goes through it.”
There are a limited number of discounted tickets available, and Hardison said they are likely to sell out quickly. Tickets went on sale Oct. 8. To obtain the discounted tickets, which cost $21.75, students must show a valid student ID at the Kentucky Center box office, located at 501 West Main St.
Glass’ “Radio Stories and Other Stories” will be performed at the Brown Theater located at 315 West Broadway. The show begins at 7:30 p.m.
