“This American Life” host Ira Glass said in an interview published Monday he wished Mitt Romney targeted his show instead of Big Bird and PBS in the first presidential debate. During the debate in Denver, the Republican presidential nominee called for ending subsidies for PBS.
“That’s the kind of press money can’t buy,” Glass told The Hollywood Reporter. “When you’re working in public radio, you don’t have any money to advertise. That would have been awesome. And I was watching the debate and thinking, ‘Please say us, please say us.’ And I know we were just not quite big enough. I knew that if he mentioned the car guys [from Car Talk] or Morning Edition, and I was just like ugh, we are so second tier! We are almost there. My dream is to be the show that, when a Republican candidate stands up and says what the US government can no longer fund, that he names our show. But the sad fact is that we get no money from the federal government for our show, so if a candidate did that, it would be completely ridiculous.”