Listen Live On Demand Schedule
On Now

The Craig Fahle Show

  • Mon–Thu 10 a.m.–noon
  • Mon–Thu 7 p.m.–9 p.m.
  • Fri 10 a.m.–11:30 a.m.

Discussing the issues and ideas important to metropolitan Detroit, host Craig Fahle talks with the newsmakers, people making a difference in our community, and WDET listeners.
Listen Now
Learn More
Up Next

Tell Me More

  • Mon–Fri noon–1 p.m.
  • Mon–Thu 9 p.m.–10 p.m.

Tell Me More brings fresh voices and perspectives to public radio. It’s where you will hear meaningful conversations on topics you’re not likely to find anywhere else.
Learn More

This American Life

  • Friday 7 p.m.–8 p.m.
  • Sunday 8 a.m.–9 a.m.
  • Sunday 11 p.m.–11:59 p.m.

This American Life is best described as a movie for radio. There are people in dramatic situations. Things happen to them. There are funny moments and emotional moments and—hopefully—moments where the people in the story say interesting, surprising things about it all. It has to be surprising. It has to be fun. This American Life is hosted by Ira Glass and produced by Chicago Public Media.

  • Feb 20

    "Very Tough Love" wins Polk Award

    Our episode "Very Tough Love" is among the winners of the George Polk Awards in Journalism announced today by Long Island University.

    From the press release:

    Ira Glass with the public radio show "This American Life" earned the George Polk Award for Radio Reporting for "Very Tough Love," an hour-long report that showed alarmingly severe punishments being meted out by a county drug court judge in Georgia. Drug courts were set up to emphasize rehabilitation instead of incarceration, but Glass’ investigation revealed that Judge Amanda Williams strayed far from the principles and philosophy by routinely piling on jail sentences for relapses. One 17-year-old girl, initially in trouble for forging two small checks on her father’s account, was facing more than 10 years in jail. Following the airing of "Very Tough Love," Georgia’s Judicial Qualifying Commission filed 14 ethical misconduct charges against Williams. Within weeks of the filing of charges, Williams stepped down from the bench and agreed never to seek other judicial offices.

    The Polk Awards, which place a premium on investigative reporting, were established in 1949 by LIU in honor of George Polk, a CBS correspondent who was killed in 1948 while covering the Greek civil war.
    Read full post

  • Feb 20

    This Week on the Radio: "Play the Part"

    We all play roles in life: employee, parent, girlfriend, student, laconic hit man who secretly has a heart of gold. Sometimes we're convincing; other times, not. The Oscars are coming up and we have a show about people taking on unexpected roles, and what happens when their audience believes them or doesn't.

    Broadcast February 18 to February 20

    Read full post

  • Feb 17

    Please take our listener survey

    This American Life listener survey If you have a couple minutes to spare, it would be very helpful to us if you would take this listener survey. It will allow us to learn more about our audience, in order to reach new listeners and better serve you folks who are already listening. The survey was designed in collaboration with the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. It should take about five minutes to complete. Thank you!
    Read full post

  • Feb 13

    This Week on the Radio: "What I Did For Love"

    Love makes us do crazy things. But not this crazy. This week for Valentine's Day we have stories of people going to extremes as they fall in love, chase love down, and try to make sense of it - including a teenager who falls for an undercover cop, and epic tales of snooping.

    Broadcast February 11 to February 13

    Read full post

  • Feb 08

    NYC: Come Beat Ira in Poker

    Ira writes:

    Come beat me in poker this Saturday, Feb. 11th. It's a charity tournament for 826NYC, the literacy group. If you are reading this and wondering if you in fact can kick my ass at poker, I want to meet you at the felt, mano a mano. Let's see what you've got. For the kids. It's all for the kids.

    David Cross is also in the event. If you're not in the NYC area, you can donate to one of the players who will be competing against Ira and David.
    Read full post

  • Feb 06

    This Week on the Radio: "Conventions"

    What happens when people with one common interest gather in monstrous, fluorescent -lit halls for the weekend? Sometimes they drive each other crazy, sometimes they fall in love.

    Broadcast February 4 to February 6

    Read full post

  • Jan 31

    News Flash: The Real Inventor of "Self-Deportation"

    On last week's show, we took up the subject of "self-deportation," the new, supposedly gentler anti-illegal immigration movement that’s been embraced by various Republican presidential hopefuls, including Mitt Romney. In our report we credited Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach with inventing “self-deportation.”

    But we were reminded by a twitter feed that he was not the first person to come up with this idea.

    In fact, the concept can be traced to the mid-1990's. That’s when a group called “Hispanics Against Liberal Takeover” (HALTO) started running tongue-in-cheek political ads in California, calling for the self-deportation of all illegal immigrants in the United States.

    At the time, the founder of HALTO, a Mexican-American called Daniel D. Portado, came onto our very own radio show in November 1996 to promote this idea.

    Daniel D. Portado: We feel that the immigrants are taking too many jobs, are bringing down the quality of life. They're not allowing our young American teenagers the character-building experiences of picking fruit and cleaning hotel beds.

    Later Ira asks him:

    Ira Glass: Daniel D. Portado, if you actually believe in deportation, what are you, yourself, still doing in California?

    Daniel D. Portado: Well, I am here to help everyone get out. I hope to look forward to the day where I will stand at the border and say, will the last Mexican out of California please turn out the lights? That will be me.

    Mr. Portado has been trying to set the record straight lately, in interviews like this, but to little avail.

    Mr. Portado told Ira he got the idea for his self-deportation movement when he read about Mexican-Americans who were in favor of Propostion 187, a ballot initiative in California that prohibited illegal immigrants from using public health care, public education, and other social services in the state.

    Coincidentally, Mr. Kobach told us that Proposition 187 is also what got him interested in immigration reform, which ultimately led to his idea of “attrition through enforcement,” aka self-deportation.

    Luckily for Mr. Portado, his ads claim to have trademarked the term.

    HALTO and Daniel D. Portado are reportedly the creations of political cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz.
    Read full post

  • Jan 30

    This Week on the Radio: "Reap What You Sow"

    Alabama's new immigration law aims to make life so difficult for illegal immigrants that they will "self-deport." And in a way it's working. Immigrants are fleeing Alabama...but not just the undocumented ones. This and other stories of people living with the unintended consequences of their decisions.

    Broadcast January 28 to January 30

    Read full post

Cass City Cinema