Alex Blumberg is an American entrepreneur, radio journalist, former producer for

public radio Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive ...

and television, best known for his work with ''

This American Life ''This American Life'' is a weekly hour-long American 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 internationally, and is ...

'', ''

Planet Money ''Planet Money'' is an American podcast and blog produced by NPR. Using "creative and entertaining" dialogue and narrative, ''Planet Money'' claims to be "The Economy Explained". History The podcast was created by Alex Blumberg and Adam Davi ...

'', and ''

How to Save a Planet How may refer to: * How (greeting), a word used in some misrepresentations of Native American/First Nations speech * How, an interrogative word in English grammar Art and entertainment Literature * ''How'' (book), a 2007 book by Dov Seidman ...

''. He was the co-founder and CEO of the podcast network

Gimlet Media Gimlet Media LLC was 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 served as the company's ...

Career

Blumberg received a B.A. from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

and is currently an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

of journalism at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

."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) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

economics correspondent Adam Davidson to co-host the

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 A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend to ...

. The second season follows "Dating Ring", another startup company. Apart from StartUp, Gimlet Media has launched several other podcasts, including Mystery Show, Surprisingly Awesome, and Reply All. The company has raised $1.5 million in

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

. After raising most of its initial capital from investment firms

Betaworks Betaworks Studio, LLC is an American startup studio and seed stage venture capital company based in New York City that invests in network-focused media businesses. Its hybrid investor/builder model has led to both investments in fast-growing st ...

Lowercase Capital Lowercase Capital was an American venture capital firm that provided seed and early-stage funding for several successful startups, including Twitter, Twilio, Kickstarter, Uber, Instagram, and Stripe. It raised over $1 billion in capital, and s ...

, and Knight Enterprise Fund, Gimlet invited the listeners of its shows to help raise the last $200,000 through crowdfunding platform Alphaworks. In December 2015, Gimlet closed a

Series A round A series A is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. It can be followed by the word round, investment or financing. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in excha ...

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

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Gimlet Media. Blumberg departed Spotify in November 2022, after his remaining projects were cancelled by the parent company, and many employees were laid off. In June 2023, Gimlet ceased to exist and remaining projects and employees were absorbed into Spotify Studios.

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 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 Sunday morning talk show broadcast on NBC. It is the List of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running program on American television, though its format has changed since th ...

'' to discuss the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

. He shared three

Gerald Loeb Awards The Gerald Loeb Awards, also referred to as the Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism, is a recognition of excellence in journalism, especially in the fields of business, finance and the economy. The award was e ...

: 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 was ...

’s American Dream".

References

External links

*
Alex Blumberg biography on ''NPR''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blumberg, Alex American radio producers Columbia University faculty Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism faculty NPR personalities This American Life people Journalists from Chicago Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Oberlin College alumni American business and finance podcasters Gimlet Media Date of birth missing (living people) Gerald Loeb Award winners for Audio and Video Gerald Loeb Award winners for Broadcast Gerald Loeb Award winners for News Service, Online, and Blogging Spotify people