Today we talk radio, podcasting, and democracy with Jason Loviglio. Jason is an expert on the history of National Public Radio and a key theorist of how audio media have changed the public sphere. He traces the politics of radio down to the smallest details, like the kinds of mics that are used, the way radio personalities use their voices, even the fan mail that comes in.

In this episode, Jason Loviglio discusses everything from FDR's fireside chats to the politics of NPR to his new book, Empathy Machines: This American Life, Podcasting and the Public Radio Structure of Feeling, the first full-length book on This American Life. He argues that TAL was designed from the start to function as an empathy machine, but over the years, the politics of that empathy have changed substantially.

Jason Loviglio is Professor of Media and Communication Studies at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Jason is the author of Radio's Intimate Public: Network Broadcasting and Mass Mediated Democracy. He's the co-editor of Radio Journal and he has edited three different volumes on radio.

Cited Media:

Books:

Podcasts / Radio Programs:

This American Life (1995–present)

Essays / Speeches:

Chapters:

0:00 Intro
5:15 Intimate Public
10:35 FDR's Radio Voice
17:00 Radio & Affect
27:41 NPR's Origins
39:31 This American Life
44:40 Ira Glass's Formula
52:59 Empathy & Its Limits
1:02:27 Podcast Explosion

To read the full transcript click here.

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