Ira Glass Receives Edward R. Murrow Award

 

Vincent Curren, Ira Glass and Lori Gilbert at the presentation of CPB's Edward R. Murrow Award on Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Vincent Curren, Ira Glass and Lori Gilbert at the presentation of CPB's Edward R. Murrow Award on Wednesday, July 8, 2009.

Washington, D.C. -- The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) today named Ira Glass, the host and executive producer of This American Life, the recipient of the 2009 Edward R. Murrow Award. "This American Life has created a new aesthetic for public radio, now emulated by a new generation of producers and reporters," said Lori Gilbert, CPB board member who presented the award to Glass at the Public Radio Development and Marketing Conference in San Diego, California. "Congratulations to Ira for his remarkable contributions to public radio over the last thirty years." Glass began his public radio career in 1978 with an internship at NPR in Washington, DC. Over the next 17 years, he worked on nearly every NPR news show and did nearly every production job they had: tape cutter, desk assistant, newscast writer, editor, producer, reporter and substitute host. Glass left Washington for Chicago in 1989 and co-hosted The Wild Room on Chicago Public Radio. In 1995, Glass and Chicago Public Radio launched This American Life which Glass created, produced and hosted. The following year, the show became syndicated and distributed by Public Radio International. It is currently broadcast on over 500 public radio stations and has a loyal weekly audience of 1.8 million. This American Life has won numerous awards including three Peabodys, a duPont-Columbia Award and a Robert F. Kennedy Award for Excellence in Journalism.

About CPB

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government's investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,400 locally-owned and -operated public television and radio stations nationwide, and is the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television and related online services.