Available soon during a pledge drive near you,
it's the This American Life comic book!

IMAGE: The THIS AMERICAN LIFE comic book!
The This American Life comic takes you behind the scenes to see how this terrific show is made ... from story meetings to editing sessions to the live studio broadcast of the show. Who makes the best jokes at story meetings? What do all those people whose names you hear at the end of the show actually do all day? And what do they look like? At last the answers are yours!

And as a special treat for BRETTnews readers, Brett Leveridge is prominently featured in the pages of the comic book. That's right, Brett's own "My Life Among the Elite," which was featured on This American Life on September 7, 1997, is depicted in pen-and-ink renderings created by the very talented Jessica Abel.

But even better: this entertaining comic is also a step-by-step primer on how to make your own radio story, including: where the good folks at This American Life find their stories, how to structure a story, how to do an interview, how to hold the microphone, how to edit sound, how to write a script for radio, and -- of course -- how to get a job in radio. Radio is for everyone! If you've ever wondered what it would mean to work in radio yourself, your answers are here.

Radio: An Illustrated Guide will be offered by many public radio stations during their fall pledge drives in the next few months. In fact, the only way to get a copy is by pledging to a public radio station. Since our friends at This American Life won't be selling the comic through their website or the radio show offices, BRETTnews recommends you give your local station a ring, find out whether they'll be offering it and what support you can offer in order to guarantee a copy. FYI, most (but not all) stations run their drives during the larger coordinated national pledge drive period, which runs October 16-22nd. If your station isn't offering the comic, you'll be able to pledge to This American Life's home station, WBEZ in Chicago, to get one. However, they recommend that you wait for your own station's fall drives and support your local public radio station.

Want a sneak preview? The comic actually has its own homepage.

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