WYSO to host Ira Glass in May

Producer of "This American Life" to speak at Victoria Theater

Public Radio station WYSO 91.30 will host a personal appearance by Ira Glass Sunday May 22 at the Victoria Theater in Dayton, Ohio.

Ira Glass is one of public radio’s best known and most highly-respected producers. His program “This American Life,” premiered fifteen years ago on WBEZ in Chicago and is now heard on more than 500 public radio stations around the country, including WYSO 91.3.

In an hour-long talk, Glass will present “Radio Stories and other Stories,” which will include clips from his radio show and will be followed by questions from the audience.

“This American Life” has won broadcasting’s highest awards, including several Peabody and DuPont-Columbia Awards. Glass has inspired a new generation of radio listeners and radio producers as well.

The New York Times has said, “Mr. Glass is a journalist but also a storyteller who filters his interviews and impressions through a distinctive literary imagination, an eccentric intelligence and a sympathetic heart.”

WYSO General Manager Neenah Ellis invited Glass in part because she wants to inspire people in the Miami Valley to become radio producers. She and Glass both worked for NPR in the 70’s and 80’s.

“Ira has inspired all of us who work in public radio to find stories that other media makers overlook, to find storytellers where no one else is looking for them.” she says. “At WYSO, we want to train and inspire a community of storytellers and radio producers in the Miami Valley and we hope people will come to see Ira in support of that idea,” says Ellis.

On December 9 and 10, WYSO will have ticket packages for the Glass appearance available during their year-end on air mini-drive. There will also be tickets packages available during their Silent Auction on February 12 at the Nutter Center in Dayton and during their spring fund raising drive in early March.

Tickets will go on sale at the Victoria Theater March 1st, 2011 at Ticket Center Stage at the Schuster Center.

The Dayton law firm Freund, Freeze and Arnold is a major sponsor for this event.

Public radio station WYSO 91.3 is licensed to Antioch University with studios in Yellow Springs. It broadcasts on multiple platforms: 91.3 FM, live streaming at WYSO.org, on HD radio and on the Public Radio Player, a mobile application.