David Isay and the National Day of Listening

By Bob Leweke

Harrisonburg, VA – In 2005, the StoryCorps project began collecting thousands of conversations between ordinary Americans around the country. Three years later, the StoryCorps folks came up with the idea of a national holiday, called the National Day of Listening, to encourage Americans to take an hour on the day after Thanksgiving and record a conversation with a loved one. David Isay, the founder of StoryCorps, talks about where this idea came from, how to record your own conversation, and why it's so important -- and compelling.