FEBRUARY 10, 1995 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

ON THE AIR OFF THE PRESS

Gay radio program celebrates two decades on the air

by John Graves

Congratulations to Gaywaves as it enters its 20th year of broadcasting to Northeast Ohio's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community on WRUW 91.1 FM. Gaywaves, which began in the fall of 1975 as Radio Free Lambda, is moving to a new time: Friday evenings from 7 to 7:30 pm. Many were unable to listen to it at the 11:30 am time slot because of work, school or closet issues.

For many of us, our first step out of the closet is to read a gay newspaper like the Chronicle or listen to gay programming like Gaywaves, or This Way Out (WCSB 89.3 FM Cleveland, Thursdays 5:30-6 pm) and Buck Harris's The Gay '90s (WHK 1420 AM Cleveland, Sundays 10-11 pm).

If you haven't tried it yet, tune in to Gaywaves each week for local and national news for and about our community from Scott Bibbs, this writer's "Couch Potato Report" of TV and radio program information and entertainment industry and media news, Maggie Middleton's calendar of community events as well as gay music and interviews. The on the air staff is ably provided with additional editorial assitance from Dave Haskell and Jim Haskell. Although the show's interviews have been somewhat infrequent of late, the producers hope to increase this in the near fu-

ture.

Lesbian, gay, straight, and transgendered passengers discuss their lives and reveal their intimate secrets late at night to taxi drivers in New York City in the cinema verité documentary, Taxicab Confessions, which has been airing on cable's HBO.

Thanks to Cleveland's home-shopping Channel 61 for airing a series of interviews about Cleveland Heights' recently passed lesbian and gay anti-discrimination ordi-

nance.

I'm glad to see another gay, recurring character on television. Check out Bronwyn, a lesbian TV news anchor played by Amy Pietz, on the new Warner Bros. network's sitcom Muscle, airing on Channel 43 in Cleveland Wednesdays at 9:30 pm.

TV Guide recently ran a feature on the new Star Trek: Voyager, in which the producers proclaimed how diverse the program is because an African-American plays the role of a Vulcan. Of course, as a reader noted on their letters page in a later issue, "in any one season of Roseanne you can see more lesbian and gay characters than in the entire history of all the Star Trek series combined."

Although My So-Called Life was placed on hiatus by ABC, network executives recently gave indications that the show has a very good chance of being resurrected in the fall. It is still important to become part of the grassroots efforts to save the show. If you have not done so yet, write to ABC asking them to keep the show and let Ricki's character develop. My SoCalled Life was just beginning to explore Ricki's coming out process when he finally said, out loud, "Yes. . . I am gay" in the final episode. To help save the show, write to: ABC Television Network Group, c/o "Don't Cancel My So-Called Life," 2040 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, California 90067. You may also lobby to save the show by computer online at savemscl@aol.com.

On Monday, February 6, the long-awaited NBC film biography, Serving In Silence: The Gerthe Cammermeyer Story, aired uncensored and received much critical acclaim. The Family Defense Council, Rev. Lou Sheldon's antigay pressure group, had asked NBC to cut a demure lesbian kiss from the program.

Glenn Close, who plays Cammermeyer, said that the kiss "is not what the movie is about" and that "the film would be dishonest without it." Cammermeyer says that the story

isn't just about her own lesbianism, but that "it is the story of thousands of others who have served in the military, of women in subservient roles and of people trying to come to terms with who they are." Close said that the role is not a risk to her career but that if it were "it's one well worth taking."

Close is interviewed about her role in the February issue of Us magazine. When asked what she learned about being a lesbian from her movie role, Close said that she had an amazing moment near the end of the shoot when Col. Cammermeyer told her that during her interrogation the Army kept trying to pin her down by asking her, "Doesn't this mean that you are doing this?" Cammermeyer said she replied, "It's who I am. It's not what I do. It is who I am." Close said, “All of a sudden, I understood what that means."

NBC sitcoms Friends and Frasier, ABC's My So-Called Life, MTV's The Real World and feature films Go Fish and The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert are among the winners of this year's media awards from GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. GLAAD has been, until now, a media watchdog group that operated through a loosely connected organization of relatively independent local chapters. To become more effective, GLAAD has now formed a national organization. For more information on joining the national organization, write to: GLAAD, 8455 Beverly Boulevard, Suite 305, Los Angeles, California 90048-9886.

New in book stores, B-Boy Blues, a new novel by James Earl Hardy which focuses on the world of urban, African-American gays. Hardy, who says he plans to write a sequel, hopes to see more writers like himself. In a report on the author and his new book in USA Today, Hardy said, “B-Boy Blues is just one story about the lives of some gay black men.

People should be able to turn to dozens like me. I want to encourage dozens of other writers." Hardy feels that gay African-Americans must become more visible, and went on to say, "We are fighting to be seen. For the most part we don't exist. In the white gay press we're exotic, so it's a struggle just to be viewed as human beings."

The January 24 issue of the Advocate featured interviews with actors Terence Stamp, star of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and Guinivere Turner, star and cowriter of Go Fish; Gerthe Cammermeyer Story producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, playwright Edward Albee, and Green Day lead singer Billy Joe. The Advocate was once again named best newsmagazine in the country by the industry periodical Folio.

The January/February issue of Deneuve magazine features a cover story about lesbian punk-folk rocker Ani Difranco and a story about the new lesbian feature film Devotion.

Last fall I reported that WVIZ Channel 25 had decided not to air another season of In The Life, the only television series on broadcast TV produced entirely by and about the gay community. WVIZ Program Director Bob Olive said that the show drew lots of negative comments from people opposed to positive gay programming and very little positive support. Olive said the station was never able to determine the existence an audience large enough to warrant the station's purchase of the show.

But the Akron-Youngstown PBS outlet, WNEO/WEAO Channels 45 and 49, is airing the show on Sundays at 12:10 am. Maybe it's time for our community to urge WVIZ to air this ground-breaking show again. Contact Bob Olive, Program Director, WVIZ Channel 25, 4300 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44134, or call them at 216-398-2800; fax 216-749-2560.

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