Before It Had a Theme
Robert McGinley Myers
A podcast about This American Life, hosted by Rob McGinley Myers and Britta Greene, featuring lovingly irreverent dissections of the show’s best episodes, as well as occasional interviews with other audio storytellers (including people who contributed to the show) all in our attempt to pin down what makes the show great and how it changes the way we think about our own lives.
- 58 minutes 39 secondsWeirdly Fun - What Podcast Bonus Feeds Are Offering
To explore the phenomenon of podcast bonus feeds, Rob and Britta start by discussing an episode of Yowei Shaw's podcast Proxy (with guest Alex Goldman) about the struggle of podcasters having to ask listeners for money. We then dig into several podcast bonus feeds (This American Life Partners, Slate Plus, and others), to find what they're offering. And we are pleasantly surprised.
To access our bonus feed story of Rob's harrowing Thanksgiving road trip back in 2008, follow this link to our Patreon. You can listen for free with a seven day trial membership and see if it's worth it.
Podcasts discussed in this episode:
- Alex and the Impossible Ask - Proxy with Yowei Shaw
- Hyperfixed with Alex Goldman
- Slate Culture Gabfest
- Slate Plus
- This American Life Partners
- If Books Could Kill Mile High Club
- The Selects Podcast
Our music comes from Blue Dot Sessions
21 November 2025, 4:54 pm - 50 minutes 7 secondsHey Jackie - The Evolution of Jonathan Goldstein
Episode Description:
With the triumphant return of the podcast Heavyweight, Rob and Britta trace the career of Jonathan Goldstein through several of his stories, including his early work at This American Life, the CBC radio show Wiretap, and his podcast Heavyweight.
Stories and episodes discussed:
- "Baby Scientists with Faulty Data" - This American Life
- "You Call That Love?" - This American Life
- "A Fate Most Of Us Fear" - This American Life
- "Buddy Picture" - This American Life
- "Other People's Problems" - Wiretap
- "Jesse" - Heavyweight
- Jonathan Goldstein on the Longform Podcast
- Nieman Storyboard on The Little Mermaid story
Our music comes from Blue Dot Sessions. To support Phonograph, subscribe to our bonus feed, which features experiments in audio storytelling.
23 October 2025, 12:45 pm - 47 minutes 17 secondsWhat a Wonderful Thing - 99% Invisible
As the 15th anniversary of 99% Invisible approaches, Rob and Britta dig into four very different episodes from the first four years of that show's run (as well as the story of the time Rob met Roman Mars):
- Episode 6: "99% Symbolic"
- Episode 29: "Cul de Sac" (Produced with Katie Mingle)
- Episode 103: "U.T.B.A.P.H" (Produced with Sam Greenspan)
- Episode 83: "Heyoon" (Produced with Alex Goldman)
To support Phonograph, subscribe to our new bonus feed, which features experiments in audio storytelling, including this month's story about a young mother's relationship to her hearing aids, having refused to wear them since she started losing her hearing in the 6th grade.
Show Notes:
Invisible Ink (featured on Transom.org) "Genesis Object" on 99% Invisible HowSound episode on 99% Invisible HowSound episode on Heyoon Alex Goldman's new podcast Hyperfixed Music from Blue Dot Sessions
31 July 2025, 5:49 pm - 1 hour 14 minutesWhat Covid Did to Them - Nancy Updike's "We Were Three"
Episode Description:
Rob and Britta discuss Nancy Updike's podcast "We Were Three," which tells the story of one family devastated by Covid and what that devastation revealed. Also discussed: Nancy Updike's status as as one of the all time great audio producers.
To support Phonograph, subscribe to our new bonus feed, which features experiments in audio storytelling. This month's story comes from Rob: a collage of recordings he made in the spring of 2020 around the theme of anxiety and grocery shopping.
Show Notes:
ICU nurse Kelley Anaas talking about the state of nurses near the end of 2020
Serial Productions podcast We Were Three
Nancy Updike's talk at the Third Coast International Audio Festival
Nancy Updike's story for This American Life about private contractors in Iraq
The Longform Podcast interview with Nancy Updike and Jenelle Pifer
Maintenance Phase episode about Covid Conspiracies
Music - Blue Dot Sessions
3 July 2025, 4:02 pm - 47 minutes 3 secondsWhere People Put the Radio Tower - Signal Hill
Rob and Britta discuss the new podcast Signal Hill, which takes its inspiration from the world of print magazines. Rob talks to Liza Yeager and Jackson Roach about the project, and then we dive into a handful of the stories from Signal Hill's first "issue."
Show Notes:
Fishing the Sky by Jackson Roach
Desperado by Neena Pathak
A Porous Place by Hannah Sassoon
On the Family Group Chat by Hannah Kingsley-Ma
Music by Blue Dot Sessions
29 May 2025, 5:23 pm - 43 minutes 38 secondsI Don't Know If It's God - Alix Spiegel's "Pray"
Rob and Britta discuss the classic Alix Spiegel story "Pray" from This American Life, including Spiegel's origin story as a producer and what happened to her when members of the megachurch she was reporting on urged her to become a Christian.
This is the second of three episodes Rob and Britta recorded in 2019 and never released until now. The first of those was our episode about TAL's "Notes on Camp."
Show Notes:
Tape: A radio show about people who make radio, hosted and edited by Mooj Zadie
Alix Spiegel's manifesto at Transom.org
Music:
Defect 2: Curiosidade - Tom Ze (John McEntire Remix)
Coffaro's Theme - Bill Frisell
Other Music - Blue Dot Sessions
29 April 2025, 2:40 pm - 50 minutes 40 secondsThe Story Becomes the Medicine - The Retrievals (with guest Sophie Nikitas)
Rob is joined by the audio producer Sophie Nikitas to discuss Susan Burton's Peabody award winning podcast from 2023: The Retrievals.
Show Notes:
Sophie's online dating podcast miniseries The Zoo
Sophie's horror anthology podcast Out Cold
Susan Burton's story "In The Event Of An Emergency, Put Your Sister In An Upright Position"
Susan Burton's story "Tornado Prom"
Music from Blue Dot Sessions
3 April 2025, 3:41 pm - 51 minutes 4 secondsI Wanted to Be a Stranger - Cement City (with guest Samantha Hodder)
Rob is joined by the podcast critic Samantha Hodder, who writes the newsletter Bingeworthy, to discuss the podcast Cement City: a sound-rich, character-rich, immersive exploration of the struggling rust belt town Donora, Pennsylvania.
Show Notes:
6 March 2025, 1:00 pm - 1 hour 6 minutesWhat the Evidence Shows - The Problem We All Live With
Rob and Britta discuss a ten year old story from This American Life called "The Problem We All Live With" produced by Chana Joffe-Walt and reported by Nikole Hannah-Jones. It's an example of the kind of documentary journalism we need more than ever, in a world where such journalism is increasingly under threat.
Show Notes:
TAL Episode 562: The Problem We all Live With
Longform Podast interview with Nikole Hannah-Jones
Third Coast Audio Festival Session: Make Them Care
Saint Louis Public Radio's coverage of the Francis Howell town meeting
"Choosing a School for My Daughter in a Segregated City" by Nikole Hannah-Jones
Music - Blue Dot Sessions
16 January 2025, 4:39 pm - 1 hour 54 secondsWhat's Fun About Being in the Dark - Love and Radio
Rob and Britta dig into two classic episodes of the podcast Love and Radio, "The Wisdom of Jay Thunderbolt" and "Choir Boy," sparking a discussion about the appeal of abrasive art.
Show Notes:
The Wisdom of Jay Thunderbolt - Love and Radio
Salvatore Scibona reads Denis Johnson - New Yorker Fiction Podcast
Music:
The Bus at Dawn - Blue Dot Sessions
Orchard Lime - Blue Dot Sessions
Nine Count by Blue Dot Sessions
Plum Blossom - Blue Dot Sessions
Throughput - Blue Dot Sessions
5 December 2024, 1:43 pm - 45 minutes 55 secondsDo We Ever Go Back to That? - TAL: Notes on Camp
Rob and Britta share a discussion they had in 2019 (but never released) about the classic This American Life episode "Notes on Camp." Topics include their own camp experiences, the power of scary stories, Rob's favorite thing ever recorded by any radio show ever, and the wild back story of the beloved camp counselor David Himmel, aka Mr. Popluar.
Show Notes:
Notes on Camp - This American LIfe
"Ira Glass Is a Douche" - Literate Apecast
Longform Interview with Julie Snyder
Music:
Throughput - Blue Dot Sessions
Coffero's Theme - Bill Frisell
22 October 2024, 9:27 pm - More Episodes? Get the App