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This American Life - Help please!

(29 Posts)
NotSpaghetti Thu 17-Oct-24 14:40:16

Hello.
I love "This American Life" which is a Chicago Public Radio show with a podcast.
I don't listen every week to it but a couple of times a month I "binge listen" to the most recent and also (slowly) I have been working myself forward in time from episode 1.

Apparently (according to their advert) you can still get it free (with adverts) online - but they are now pushing for you to subscribe and I can't get past the screen for subscription.

Is anyone else a fan of this show? I want to still listen to the "back issues" and don't need the "extras" they are advertising.

Anyone else found this?
Anyone else found a way to access the "online" version they tell us is still available please?

Help!! I love this show.
Thank you.

NotSpaghetti Thu 17-Oct-24 14:41:25

Oh, to anyone who says "just subscribe if you love it" - will I definitely get all the back issues?

foxie48 Thu 17-Oct-24 18:32:57

www.thisamericanlife.org/archive

I was able to access this via the above link on my laptop but not my phone. I'm currently listening to "51" Days. This podcast is a series of interviews with Israelis hostages who were released from Gaza. It is well worth listening to this, they feel very strongly that the Israeli government failed them, it is very moving.

petra Thu 17-Oct-24 18:49:16

You can ask Alexa to play it. You can also specify a specific episode.

NotSpaghetti Thu 17-Oct-24 18:53:19

I listened to this on my phone on Sunday/Monday on my phone with no problems.

Was looking for a different episode earlier (on my phone) and couldn't get in.

I've since got in through my laptop - but was able to cancel the thing about subscription.

Confusing. I eventually emailed the link to myself for the episode I wanted and it opened OK.
I will try your link. Thank you.

NotSpaghetti Thu 17-Oct-24 18:54:42

Thanks petra - I don't use/have Alexa.

Grunty Thu 17-Oct-24 18:56:53

I'm an avid fan of Serial on This American Life; I access it via Spotify which is free to download. Alternatively, just Google www.thisamericanlife.org

NotSpaghetti Thu 17-Oct-24 18:57:25

OK. Your link opens foxie!
Thank you.
I've now saved it on my homescreen.
Hooray!
🎉

Grunty Thu 17-Oct-24 18:59:40

Forgot to say that, to access back episodes, just scroll right down to the bottom of the page and you'll see "episodes"; click on that and you can go right back to 1999 if you want to.

NotSpaghetti Thu 17-Oct-24 19:00:00

Grunty
When I Google "this American life" on my phone I no longer just get the website - I get a huge advert for subscriptions that I can't close.

But thank you anyway.

Grunty Thu 17-Oct-24 19:02:41

Hmmm Not Spaghetti that's weird; I've just done the same on my phone but just clicked the x to close out the advert. Accessing it via Spotify is possibly easier because it has no ads.

NotSpaghetti Thu 17-Oct-24 19:02:58

To find back episodes I just type the next number in the search bar Grunty so currently in the 500s
I started at episode 1.

I was looking for the episode on rats to share with my son.
He couldn't believe that there was a state with no rats in America.

NotSpaghetti Thu 17-Oct-24 19:05:03

It wasn't America- it was Canada!

foxie48 Thu 17-Oct-24 19:13:49

I've just accessed it via Antenna podcast app, all the back list is there too and nothing to pay.

NotSpaghetti Thu 17-Oct-24 20:03:53

OK. Tried again and just discovered that it works on "desktop site" on my phone.
💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿💃🏿

NotSpaghetti Thu 17-Oct-24 20:06:06

Anyway.
Very nice to find other TAL listeners!
Thank you all.

I will report our findings to my husband as he's had the same blue subscription advert covering his screen.

Grunty Thu 17-Oct-24 20:17:47

Glad you're sorted Not Spaghetti; there are some excellent podcasts on TAL. I especially like Series; 3 series to date; each one investigative journalism about topical issues done by Sarah Koenig. Series 2 was especially good!

NotSpaghetti Fri 18-Oct-24 00:59:52

How do you know about series?
shock
I just listen to new ones and then catch up on the old ones in numerical order!

Struthruth Sun 20-Oct-24 15:57:50

Had no idea about this, big thank you for introduction.

Etoile2701 Sun 20-Oct-24 16:24:08

Are you American? I have never heard of it.

foxie48 Sun 20-Oct-24 17:13:02

I'm British and have been listening to TAL for more than two years since being introduced to it by my daughter who also lives in the UK.

Labadi0747 Sun 20-Oct-24 21:41:30

Yes agree that This America life is so so good. I lived in DC for many years & had to keep driving round the block in the car to finish a programme! The Feather Thief was the best & would make a great movie. I honestly didn’t think one could get it in the UK 🤷‍♀️who knew ?

Gundy Sun 20-Oct-24 21:43:18

Chicago was my hometown for years, way back when. Love that city! I do not know about this podcast and should look into it - thanks for the recommendation.

So many of these podcasts, series, etc are set up for free listening till they see you’re a returning listener and hooked. Then things go behind a paywall. It’s so frustrating since everyone has their hands out for money!
They claim they need funds for operational support and maintenance. 🙄

I’m not rich. If I paid for everything I’m interested in I might not have enough money for food, gas, mortgage. Many people get cut off from these entertainment, educational sources.
This Burns Me Up!

NotSpaghetti Mon 21-Oct-24 00:46:59

Gundy it's always been free and still is if you don't mind adverts. There have been more repeats of late it seems to me.

The other one I like (a bit "old hippy" in some ways) is a music one
Music from the hearts of space
We had a subscription for this for a few years having listened to it in the 1980s abd then rediscovered it maybe 10 years ago.

www.hos.com/home

Huia Mon 21-Oct-24 04:06:14

I have it on my podcast app on my phone. I have been subscribed since it started years ago and it’s still free. The new subscription services is being advertised but it says you do not have to subscribe, you can carry on with the service as it is but with adverts. I have subscribed as it is such a good podcast and I’ve had all these free episodes for years. I
I went to the subscribe page in the show notes and paid in the usual way.