Alex Blumberg is an American entrepreneur, radio journalist, former producer for public radio and television, best known for his work with ''

This American Life ''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internatio ...

'', '' Planet Money'', and '' How to Save a Planet''. He is the co-founder and CEO of the podcast network

Gimlet Media Gimlet Media LLC is a digital media company and podcast network, focused on producing narrative podcasts and headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. The company was founded in 2014 by Alex Blumberg and Matthew Lieber, who serve as the company's CE ...

Career

Blumberg received a B.A. from Oberlin College and is currently an adjunct professor of journalism at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

."Alex Blumberg, NPR Biography"
''NPR.org''. March 26, 2009. After graduating, Blumberg lived in Russia for a year before returning to his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio and eventually moving to Chicago. In Chicago, he taught science at a private school for four years. In 1994, he spent the summer interning at Harper's Magazine in Brooklyn. Later, he was introduced to

Ira Glass Ira Jeffrey Glass (; born March 3, 1959) is an American public radio personality. He is the host and producer of the radio and television series ''This American Life'' and has participated in other NPR programs, including ''Morning Edition'', ' ...

through a mutual connection and was able to land a position as an administrative assistant on ''This American Life.'' From 1999 to 2014 he was the producer for the public radio show ''

'' and his stories were regularly featured on the show. From 2007 to 2009 he was the executive producer of the television version of ''This American Life''. Prior to ''This American Life'', he worked as a freelance radio reporter, contributing to ''This American Life'', the Savvy Traveller and Chicago Public Radio. In 2008 he collaborated with

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

economics correspondent Adam Davidson to co-host the Planet Money podcast, which posts new episodes twice weekly. In August 2014, he started

along with Matthew Lieber. Initially pitched as the American Podcasting Corporation (APC), Gimlet Media is a podcasting business. Blumberg documented the startup process in the first season of a podcast hosted on Gimlet Media, titled StartUp. The second season follows "Dating Ring", another startup company. Apart from StartUp, Gimlet Media has launched several other podcasts, including

Mystery Show ''Mystery Show'' is a Gimlet Media podcast hosted by Starlee Kine that ran for one season in 2015. In each episode, Kine solves a minor mystery which cannot be solved with search engines alone. It was declared the best new podcast of 2015 by iTu ...

, Surprisingly Awesome, and Reply All. The company has raised $1.5 million in

seed funding Seed money, sometimes known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor invests capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term ''seed'' su ...

. After raising most of its initial capital from investment firms Betaworks, Lowercase Capital, and Knight Enterprise Fund, Gimlet invited the listeners of its shows to help raise the last $200,000 through crowdfunding platform

Alphaworks IBM Developer is a global community of coders, developer advocates, and digital resources that help developers learn, build, and connect. The IBM Developer website (previously known as IBM developerWorks) hosts a wide range of resources, tools, a ...

. In December 2015, Gimlet closed a

Series A round A series A round (also known as series A financing or series A investment) is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in exch ...

of funding that raised $6 million at a $30 million valuation. On February 6, 2019, the Swedish audio streaming service

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Gimlet Media. Blumberg has a chapter giving advice in

Tim Ferriss Timothy Ferriss (born July 20, 1977) is an American entrepreneur, investor, author, podcaster, and lifestyle guru. He became well-known through his ''4-Hour'' self-help book series—including ''The 4-Hour Work Week'', ''The 4-Hour Body'', and '' ...

' book

Tools of Titans ''Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers'' (2016) is a self-help book by Timothy Ferriss, an American writer, educational activist, and entrepreneur. He interviewed more than 100 "wor ...

Awards

Blumberg won the

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

in Radio Reporting for his reporting with Adam Davidson for a May 2008 ''

'' show titled "

The Giant Pool of Money "The Giant Pool of Money" is an episode of the radio show ''This American Life'' which originally aired on May 9, 2008. The episode described to a general audience the causes and factors which led to the subprime mortgage crisis. Specifically, the ...

". The piece explained the highly complex chain of events that led to the subprime mortgage crisis by showcasing interviews with participants at each sector of the crisis. The episode was linked widely in the blogosphere and remains one of the show's most-downloaded podcasts. He won first place at the 2002 Third Coast International Audio Festival for his story "Yes, There is a Baby." His story on clinical medical ethicists won the 1999 Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI) award for best radio documentary. In 2009 he appeared on an April 12 Episode of NBC's ''

Meet the Press ''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television news/interview program broadcast on NBC. It is the longest-running program on American television, though the current format bears little resemblance to the debut episode on November 6, 1947. ' ...

'' to talk about the financial crisis. He shared three Gerald Loeb Awards: the 2013 Broadcast Enterprise award for "When Patents Attack" on ''

'', the 2014 Online award for "Planet Money Makes A T-Shirt," and the 2017 Audio award for his story "

Dov Charney Dov Charney (born January 31, 1969) is a Canadian entrepreneur and clothing manufacturer. He is the founder of American Apparel, which was one of the largest garment manufacturers in the United States until its bankruptcy in 2015. Charney subse ...

’s American Dream".

Career

Awards

References

External links