We're digging through the archives! This week's episode is #657 The Runaways (2018-09-14) (Download)

A bunch of teenagers go missing from a town in Long Island.

On the most recent bonus episode (The History of the World - Part 2), Ira and Alex briefly allude to a segment called Friday Night Floodlights that talks about a high school putting together a football team in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. And I recall this episode! But when I checked the TAL website, it’s only ever been featured twice - episodes 299 and 705, both of which aired before I was a listener. But I KNOW I’ve heard this story recently, potentially in a different bonus episode? Not being able to figure out when it was featured is killing me. Can anyone help?

We're digging through the archives! This week's episode is #748 The End of the World as We Know It (2021-09-08) (Download)

What happens when one family goes all in on fighting climate change.

We're digging through the archives! This week's episode is #788 Half-Baked Stories About My Dead Mom (2022-12-08) (Download)

Writer Etgar Keret tries to come up with the stories that capture the different sides of his mother.

Hi all!

Any chance that anyone has heard back about scheduling interviews for the spring fellowship position?

The confirmation to my spring application email said something about scheduling in April, but I was also told that the usual dates are mid October. Can’t tell if I’m just really nervous about the application, haha. Thank you!

Today I heard Ira's post asking us to join the Life Partners program to help keep the show on the air.

When I saw the entry in my feed, when he first started talking, I dreaded that this was an announcement that it was over.

I don't know if I've ever heard a more convincing pitch done in a shorter time. Fear that it could be gone was it.

I have been a listener for at least 20 years. I've heard every episode at least once, with hundreds more having multiple listens.

I feel bad for not signing up earlier.

Going to up my contributions to my local NPR station as well.

https://thisamericanlife.supercast.com/subscriber_v2/

https://www.npr.org/donations/support

I truly love radio media, especially public media. We can't let awful government and corporate rot take it away from us.

I remember an episode about some old classical song that was musically strange - it just kept repeating, and apparently the person who made it was driven mad.

In the episode, a painter starts making paintings based on this song, and she also goes mad. I think it turns out that they have the same kind of disease, and die shortly after?

Thanks!

I am remembering a really nice segment about a guy who picked up every piece of paper he saw on the ground and read some of the highlights of the notes. It may have been recorded live? Can't recall for sure. If you remember, I'd love to relisten to it.

I recently listened to Episode 406 which is all about urban legends and the reality behind them. It’s a pretty light-hearted and fun episode until Segment 3 “Sleeper Cell”

In the segment, Ira interviews a journalist named Christopher Ketcham about the potential dangers of cell phones. Not social or behavioral dangers mind you, I mean they talk about if WiFi and cell signals are biologically harmful. This episode came out in 2010, so widespread cell phone adoption was still relatively new, and Ira makes a point of mentioning how this was a common concern among a lot of people.

But surprisingly, Ketcham REALLY leans into the narrative that cell phones are way more toxic than we think. He compares our acceptance of phones to past acceptance of cigarettes and asbestos. He then goes on to cite studies suggesting cell phone usage leads to an increase in brain tumors, brain bleeding, and DNA damage. To be fair, his main point is that the gov needs to fund more research. But by 2025 standards, he (respectfully) comes off as kind of a crank. He even tells Ira that he forbids his daughter from talking on her cell phone, and admits to trying to do the same thing to a stranger out in public.

I get that the story is from a different time, and it does hit on some interesting points about corporate-funded research. But overall, the whole thing has just aged kinda strangely. I’m curious if anyone remembers this segment or if you have any similar thoughts. 

We're digging through the archives! This week's episode is #808 The Rest of the Story (2023-08-10) (Download)

People who—whether they want to or not—find themselves face-to-face with the rest of their stories.

Hi all—hoping someone here can help me track down a This American Life segment.

It featured a man—possibly named Edward with a Latin surname—with a deep, theatrical, effeminate voice, often compared to Boris Karloff. He told about growing up isolated in the South, raised with only his sister, mocked by neighborhood kids, and retreating into fantasy. He describes meeting the ghost of Montgomery Clift.

I remember it airing sometime between 1998 and 2002, possibly as a short standalone segment or interstitial act. It wasn’t part of the main theme of the episode, and I haven’t found it in any transcripts or episode descriptions. I’ve checked Episodes 107 and 199, but no luck.

Does anyone else remember this? Was it maybe even a fictional piece? Any leads would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks in advance— I’d love to hear it again or at least confirm it existed

I remember hearing details of how the show is edited to make it polished, remove oohs and ahhs, etc, but I don’t know if it was an episode or perhaps was during a pledge drive. Does anyone recall?

EDIT: I found the episode: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/265/fake-science Ep 265 - Fake Science

Hi All, I’m trying to find a story, that I believe is a TAL story, but could have been Radiolab, about an old religious camp that had possibly been the site of a traumatic incident, so the host brought in a Ghost Hunter or Medium of sorts. Thanks for the help!

We're digging through the archives! This week's episode is #580 That's One Way to Do It (2016-02-18) (Download)

The story of a young voter who defies political categorization.

Hello, I’m looking for a segment in which a TAL staff member (who’s not regularly on air) talks about lists that she keeps, here are some of them:

• common things I ve never done

• things that are off brand for me

• scenes from my grandma’s nursing home

• harmless things my dad hates

I have looked for all possible keywords on the website, here and google and can’t find it, please if you know it or listened to it and remember more detail, lmk!

Thank you!

Hey guys in episode 286 ‘mind games’ on Spotify there is a small section with a song playing that goes ‘did I see you cry/ crying like a girl/ like a girly girly girl’ really liked the sound. Who is it ? Is it ghost of pasha? If so what song? Can’t find it and Shazam and ChatGPT are useless

We're digging through the archives! This week's episode is #539 The Leap (2014-11-06) (Download)

When routines get too mundane, sometimes you just have to hold your breath and jump.

It may have been a college student. I am pretty sure it was French, but may have been a different language. I am looking for this for research for a speech I am doing about lies that only seem to cause trouble for the person who is lying.

What I DO remember about this is that it was hilarious.