HOUSTON  LGBT  HISTORY .ORG

A growing resource of mostly Houston LGBT history, with considerable statewide information


GAY & LESBIAN RADIO

Officially described as a "listener-sponsored community radio station," KPFT (90.1 FM) has been much more to the gay & lesbian community in Houston. Since the station began in 1970, it provided the only radio outlet for LGBT expression and information in the city. Gay community icon Ray Hill was one of the founders, and hosted the first regular gay & lesbian show, Wilde 'N Stein, from July 1975 to 1980, at which time he became KPFT's manager. One of the Wilde 'N Stein regulars was Mike Miesch (1980 to 1987), whose dedication kept him hosting the show (despite declining health due to AIDS) until one week before his death. When the AIDS epidemic was being sensationalized by the main stream media, programming at KPFT was a source for reliable and accurate information, especially for those who did not have access to printed materials that were being circulated.

Jack Valinski joined Wilde 'N Stein in 1982 and has been a constant presence through many shifts and changes. The station did some abrupt format timeslots in November 1992, cancelling both Wilde 'N Stein, and the lesbian/feminist show Breakthrough, resulting in much public protesting. In March 1993 Valinski returned with a show under a new name, Lesbian & Gay Voices, which later was renamed Queer Voices in January 2002. The list of long-time volunteer broadcasters of that show include Deborah Moncrief Bell, Suzanne Anderson, Glenn Holt, JD Doyle, Bryan Hlavinka, Jenifer Rene Pool, and many more.

The lesbian/feminist program Breakthrough ran from 1979 to 1992, with original hosts Nancy Fleming and Rita Saylors, succeeded by Pokey Anderson and Cherry Wolf. The longest continuing LGBT program remains the late Saturday midnight staple, After Hours, which debuted September 6, 1987. It offered a more casual and relaxed approach, led by its founder Buddy Johnston. Jimmy Carper soon joined, in 1989, as sidekick and then took over as producer in January 1992.

The common denominator of all these programs was the way they touched listeners. There was a long list of volunteers who were the source of programming and technical talent. They gave their time to reach out to the community, especially to people in the closet who were in need of information and a sense of community. There are plenty of anecdotal stories of those listening in secret with a radio under their pillow, or literally sitting with a radio and headphones in their bedroom closets. These shows reached and continue to reach out, not only to those seeking current news, interviews and commentary, but for some listeners through the safety of radio, they received a first connection with the gay world.

Link to Queer Voices and Link to After Hours

The above overview is from the Gay Radio page of The Banner Project

Check my Audio Gallery for many, many interviews
from the LGBT shows during the history of KPFT.

AND...! This Just In (April 2023)

From the U of H, under direction of Emily Vinson and Bethany Scott,
they are announcing the Gulf Coast LGBT Radio and Television Digitization Project.
As just part of the project several thousand episodes of the show After Hours are available.
U of H Link

The Rest of the KPFT Radio Story

1970 to 1991
1992
1993 to the Present
KPFT Photos

There is no gay radio story in Houston other than the KPFT story,
and this is the earliest press mention I have found on it.

The recap below is from the 1980 Pride Guide

and below, brief mention in the James Sears book "Rebels, Rubyfruit and Rhinestones," 2001

The Home

 

Poignant letter received after the Marathon.......

above, from 1980 Pride Guide

 

Greer Price above on right....who is on the left?

  

below, letter to After Hours Producer Buddy Johnston from
Station Manger Duane Bradley on the new show

Judy Voulgaris later changed her name to Judy Reeves

Above, from Caucus Newsletter

  

below, from The Wand, one Breakthrough producer resigns

1991 to 1992
the axe is coming...