The natn’s first gay and lbian talk rad show, The Gay 90s, aired om downtown Cleveland, Oh and started off wh a bang. Not lerally, but given the bomb threat lled before the show’s premier broadst on WHK 1420 AM was a possibily. Dpe the potential danger, The Gay 90s aired as schled on March 26, 1993, and beme the untry’s first mercial live, “ll ” rad program by, for, and about the gay and lbian muny. Given Cleveland’s history of settlg...
Contents:
- THE GAY 90S
- ‘LAST CALL’ TE STORY: HBO DOC IS ABOUT THE SERIAL KILLER RICHARD ROGERS, WHO TARGETED MANHATTAN’S GAY BARS
- WHO IS JOSEPH ZIEGLER, THE GAY IRS WHISTLEBLOWER HUNTER BIN PROBE?
THE GAY 90S
* when were the gay 90's *
The natn’s first gay and lbian talk rad show, The Gay 90s, aired om downtown Cleveland, Oh and started off wh a bang. Dpe the potential danger, The Gay 90s aired as schled on March 26, 1993, and beme the untry’s first mercial live, “ll ” rad program by, for, and about the gay and lbian muny. Given Cleveland’s history of settlg disput wh explosiv, upled wh the homophobic atmosphere surroundg lbians and gay men at the time, the threat was taken serly.
Thankfully, no bomb explod at Tower Cy that night or any of the followg nights durg The Gay 90s six-year n.
It was, stead, the rad show self that blew down barriers, shattered myths and uned Cleveland’s gay, straight and “ between” muni a remarkably peaceful way. Lookg back, ’s not surprisg that the natn’s first gay and lbian talk show was hosted by Cleveland native Buck Harris, a man at ease beg the “first” a number of public rol.
‘LAST CALL’ TE STORY: HBO DOC IS ABOUT THE SERIAL KILLER RICHARD ROGERS, WHO TARGETED MANHATTAN’S GAY BARS
In 1984, Governor Richard Celte appoted Harris as the Oh Department of Health’s gay health nsultant, the first state the natn to create such a posn rponse to the growg AIDS crisis. Shortly after his appotment, The Pla Dealer asked Harris for an terview regardg the crisis, sistg on referrg to him as a “homosexual” (as opposed to gay) nsultant, as was the newspaper’s policy at the time. The paper relented and, 1985, for the first time ed the word “gay” stead of the flammatory alternative.
WHO IS JOSEPH ZIEGLER, THE GAY IRS WHISTLEBLOWER HUNTER BIN PROBE?
’s 1986 “Happy New Year” list, the first openly gay person to make the cut. Later that year, Cleveland Magaze named Harris one of the 86 most tertg Clevelanrs – aga, a first for any openly gay Clevelanr.
Bomb threat notwhstandg, The Gay 90s aired durg a time of natnal crisis for the LGBTQ muny, as the AIDS epimic was nearg s worst. Regardls of the topic, which ranged om lol polics to the art scene and everythg between, Harris matas that “a good slice of gay culture” was served, often wh a si of humor. The first half of the weekly two-hour program volved gut terviews, and there were notable on cludg, Harris’s words, “movers, shakers and founrs of the gay civil rights movement.
Congrsman Barney Frank; gay rights activist Frank Kameny; two-time Grammy Award wng sger/songwrer Janis Ian, and four-time Tony award wng playwright Harvey Fierste. Arbron, the rad ratgs agency, timated that 20, 000 listeners tuned to The Gay 90s on a typil night – perhaps more on a clear night when the AM signal strength was strong enough to reach listeners as far away as Akron or Canton, maybe even the “boondocks, ” Harris quips. One fourteen-year-old gay listener, however, summoned the urage to ll one night.