www.kgou.org  

 

The University of Oklahoma, Copeland Hall, Room 300, Norman, OK  73019-2053

 

Contact:  Laura Knoll, (405) 325-3388

                                                membership@kgou.org

For Immediate Release

April 7, 2008

 

 

THIS AMERICAN LIFE HOST IRA GLASS

PRESENTS LIVE EVENT ON THE BIG SCREEN

Unique Cinema Experience Partners Public Radio Station, OKC Movie Theatre

 

NORMAN – KGOU Public Radio, This American Life, and Tinseltown USA are participating in a one-time-only event: a live show via satellite linking select movie theatres nationwide.  This American Life host Ira Glass will give viewers an exclusive look at never-before-seen stories and outtakes from the second season of the show’s critically-acclaimed television series, produce a segment for the radio show live, and answer questions from the nationwide audience. This American Life – Live!  will originate at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of New York University and will be broadcast in high definition live to theatres nationwide on Thursday, May 1 at 7:00 p.m. CDT.

Tickets for this special in-theatre event are available at the Tinseltown USA box office, 6001 Martin Luther King Blvd. in Oklahoma City and online at www.cinemark.com.   Tickets are $20.

“We're always looking for a new way to do a great, fun event," says This American Life host Ira Glass. "And it's exciting to think we could do that event in hundreds of cities simultaneously.”

Presented exclusively in select theatres by National CineMedia’s (NCM) Fathom, in partnership with BY Experience and Chicago Public Radio, and in association with Public Radio International, This American Life – Live!  features a rare opportunity for fans to interact with Glass via a question and answer session. Fans may email a question in advance to ask@thisamericanlife.org and select questions will be answered live by Glass during the event.
 

The idea for the cinema event is so new, that Glass wanted to gauge fans’ interest through a survey. “We thought maybe a couple hundred people would fill it out,” says Glass.  “We looked at the survey results, and more than 20,000 people had told us they wanted to see the show in theatres. After that, we had to do the event.”

This American Life – Live! appears on the big screen in high-definition with 5.1 Sound in more than 300 participating AMC Entertainment Inc., Cinemark USA Inc., Georgia Theatre Company, Goodrich Quality Theaters, Kerasotes ShowPlace Theatres, National Amusements and Regal Entertainment Group movie theatres and select performing arts center locations in the United States.

This American Life debuted in 1995 as a weekly, hour-long radio program, produced by Chicago Public Radio and distributed by Public Radio International (PRI).  Now heard by more than 1.7 million listeners weekly, the program is one of the most popular podcasts in America.  Primarily journalistic non-fiction, the show also features fiction, essays and field recordings. The show has won many major broadcasting awards including the Peabody, duPont-Columbia and Edward R. Murrow Awards.  In 2001, Time Magazine named Glass the “Best Radio Host in America.”

In 2007, the television version of This American Life premiered on premium cable on the Showtime Network.  Season one episodes received three Emmy nominations and an International Documentary Association Award.

This American Life can be heard Saturdays at noon on KGOU, a non-commercial, public radio station licensed to the University of Oklahoma with primarily a News/Talk format. 

KGOU broadcasts on four frequencies: 106.3 FM in Norman and surrounding Cleveland County, 105.7 FM (KROU) serving Oklahoma County, 103.1 FM (Translator K276ET) in Seminole, and 98.1 FM (Translator K253AS) in Ada.  KGOU receives support from listeners to help fund its operation and building campaign.   KGOU is operated by OU Outreach – College of Continuing Education/College of Liberal Studies.

 

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(Editors:  For a complete list of participating theatre locations, visit www.FathomEvents.com.)