September 11 changed America. It also changed This American Life.

For almost six years, Ira Glass’s distinctive radio show had been using the tools of journalism to tell the stories of everyday Americans. Julie Snyder, who had joined This American Life in 1997, says that after the September 11 attacks the program had no choice but to change tack.

“Everyday life became political. We were swimming in the waters of a post 9/11 politics. The response, the war, civil liberties, national identity; there was no way that you could just tell stories that would be divorced from that.”

Snyder has worked on two of the most successful podcasts of all time; This American Life and its spin-off, Serial. Speaking to Hamish Macdonald on the It’s A Long Story podcast, Snyder describes how September 11 was a turning point not only for the genre-shaping This American Life, but for her own career. Before the attacks the show sought out the incredible stories from everyday American life. Afterwards they instead told the everyday stories connected to the incredible events changing America. Snyder took charge of these stories – covering everything from Guantanamo Bay to gun violence.

“I liked telling those stories through people,” she says. “I wanted to find people who could talk in a relatable way... There is nuance, there isn't a monolithic way that all Republicans think this way and Democrats think that way.”