Revisiting The Gay Life explores a pivotal moment in LGBTQ history — from the rise of Harvey Milk to the early days of AIDS — through the archive of The Gay Life, a radio show that aired in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Revisiting The Gay Life is produced by KALW’s Queer Power Hour (https://www.kalw.org/show/queer-power-hour) in collaboration with the GLBT Historical Society (https://www.glbthistory.org/)and The Gay Life's longtime host Randy Alfred.
Host David Boyer interviews pioneering journalist Randy Alfred about covering the AIDS crisis alongside tributes to Bobbi Campbell, the "AIDS Poster Boy."
10 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT
The Beginning of the End
Host David Boyer interviews pioneering doctors Paul Volberding and Marcus Conant, and patient Bobbi Campbell, about the uncertain beginnings of the AIDS epidemic in 1981.
3 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT
Queering the Cinema
In this episode of Revisiting The Gay Life, we're looking at how queer people have been represented — and misrepresented — on the big screen up through the early 1980s.
We'll listen back to Randy Alfred's 1981 interview with Vito Russo, author of the seminal book, The Celluloid Closet, about how homosexuality was portrayed in movies.
And we’ll hear a conversation from 1981 with gay filmmaker Artie Bressan. He directed Gay USA, one of the first documentaries by and about gays in America. He was also a pioneer in gay porn — adding story to the sex.
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Revisiting The Gay Life is a limited series from KALW’s Queer Power Hour (https://www.kalw.org/show/queer-power-hour). It explores a pivotal moment in SF’s LGBTQ history — from the rise of Harvey Milk to the early days of what would later be called AIDS.
We reconsider this time through a perhaps unexpected lens: a radio show called The Gay Life that aired on KSAN, a commercial rock and roll station in the Bay Area in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
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Revisiting The Gay Life is produced by KALW Public Media in collaboration with the GLBT Historical Society (https://www.glbthistory.org/) and The Gay Life's longtime host Randy Alfred.
Show Credits:
Executive Producer / Host: David Boyer
Producer / Engineer / Life Saver: David Kwan
27 Aug 2026TRANSCRIPT
Queer Witches!
In this episode of Revisiting The Gay Life, we're exploring the history of queer witches and witchcraft.
As it turns out, The Gay Life did not one but two shows on witches.
In 1979, host Randy Alfred talked with noted gay witch ARTHUR EVANS, who was the author of Witchcraft and the Gay Counterculture (https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/903861.Witchcraft_and_the_Gay_Counterculture) and BATYA PODOS, a lesbian witch who taught a class at SF State on Women and Ritual.
Three years later, in 1982, Randy sat down with two more queer practicing witches — RAVEN and PANDORA — to hear about their sexual and spiritual awakenings.
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Revisiting The Gay Life is a limited series from KALW’s Queer Power Hour (https://www.kalw.org/show/queer-power-hour). It explores a pivotal moment in SF’s LGBTQ history — from the rise of Harvey Milk to the early days of what would later be called AIDS.
We reconsider this time through a perhaps unexpected lens: a radio show called The Gay Life that aired on KSAN, a commercial rock and roll station in the Bay Area in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Revisiting The Gay Life is produced by KALW Public Media in collaboration with the GLBT Historical Society (https://www.glbthistory.org/) and The Gay Life's longtime host Randy Alfred.
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Show Credits:
Executive Producer / Host: David Boyer
Producer / Engineer / Life Saver: David Kwan
20 Aug 2026
Mom's a Dyke
This special episode of Revisiting The Gay Life features a conversation from 1973 between a young lesbian and her mother, who came out of the closet later in life.
CHANA WILSON was in her early twenties in 1973 when she began producing Radio Free Lesbian for KPFA. In one of the show's first episodes, Chana interviewed her mother, who recently came out as a lesbian...in her fifties.
Her mother fills her in about parts of her life that Chana never knew about, including about her two-year relationship with a woman when Chana was a toddler, and about the horrors of conversion therapy.
Chana produced and hosted Radio Free Lesbian from 1973 to 1976. She went on to become a radio engineer at KPFA, helping to produce many of the other shows at the station. She recently took part in OUT ON THE AIR, a KALW panel discussion about the history of LGBTQ radio (https://play.prx.org/listen?ge=prx_18111_f8e76309-68cc-4d93-a003-59119c15de9f&uf=https%3A%2F%2Fpublicfeeds.net%2Ff%2F18111%2Ffeed-rss.xml).
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Revisiting The Gay Life is a new limited series from KALW’s Queer Power Hour (https://www.kalw.org/show/queer-power-hour). It is produced by KALW Public Media in collaboration with the GLBT Historical Society (https://www.glbthistory.org/) and The Gay Life's longtime host Randy Alfred.
Show Credits:
Executive Producer / Host: David Boyer
Producer / Engineer / Life Saver: David Kwan
12 Aug 2026
Out on the Air (Live)
In this episode of Revisiting The Gay Life, we explore the past, present and future of LGBTQ radio with three of its pioneers who have been making radio since the early 1970s.
This discussion was recorded live on July 15, 2016 at KALW’s event space in downtown San Francisco.
Featured in this episode:
RANDY ALFRED - A pioneering gay journalist who worked in print and radio; he was the longtime host of The Gay Life, which aired on KSAN, from 1977 to 1984
CHANA WILSON - She hosted and produced Radio Free Lesbian on KPFA in the early 1970s
ERIC JANSEN - He's the co-founder and host of Out in the Bay, which aired on KALW from 2004 to 2024
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Revisiting The Gay Life is a new limited series from KALW’s Queer Power Hour (https://www.kalw.org/show/queer-power-hour). It is produced by KALW Public Media in collaboration with the GLBT Historical Society (https://www.glbthistory.org/) and The Gay Life's longtime host Randy Alfred.
Show Credits:
Executive Producer / Host: David Boyer
Producer / Engineer / Life Saver: David Kwan
5 Aug 2026
Gay Politics, Gay Power
In this episode of Revisiting The Gay Life, we're gonna focus on an inflection point in queer history: when the gay and lesbian rights movement was gaining strength, but also facing some backlash.
As the '70s gave way to the '80s, the deeply religious and conservative moral majority was founded and it helped catapult former Governor Ronald Reagan into the White House. At the same time, in the aftermath of Harvey Milk's murder, gays and lesbians were making serious inroads both in terms of public acceptance and political clout.
Featured in this episode:
RANDY SHILTS & DAVID ISRAEL: In April of 1980, CBS Reports aired a controversial one-hour news program across the country was called "Gay Power, Gay Politics." But the show seemed less interested in gay power and more interested in gay sex — portraying gay men as sexually depraved and maybe even dangerous. Soon after it aired, Randy Alfred convened a discussion about the program on "The Gay Life," which included Randy Shilts, who reported for KQED and KTVU at the time, and David Israels, who covered city politics and the gay beat for the San Francisco Bay Guardian.
JUDGE MARY MORGAN: She gained entry to the halls of power as the first out lesbian appointed to a judgeship in the United States. Governor Jerry Brown appointed her to San Francisco Municipal Court in 1981. Randy Alfred sat down with her a few months after she started on the bench.
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Revisiting The Gay Life is a new limited series from KALW’s Queer Power Hour (https://www.kalw.org/show/queer-power-hour). It explores a pivotal moment in SF’s LGBTQ history — from the rise of Harvey Milk to the early days of what would later be called AIDS.
We reconsider this time through a perhaps unexpected lens: a radio show called The Gay Life that aired on KSAN, a commercial rock and roll station in the Bay Area in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Revisiting The Gay Life is produced by KALW Public Media in collaboration with the GLBT Historical Society (https://www.glbthistory.org/) and The Gay Life's longtime host Randy Alfred.
Show Credits:
Executive Producer / Host: David Boyer
Producer / Engineer / Life Saver: David Kwan
29 Jul 2026
Tales of Two Cities
In this episode of Revisiting The Gay Life, we're going to explore two very different versions of the 1970s queer experience through interviews with two gay fiction writers working on opposite coasts at the time.
Featured in this episode:
ARMISTEAD MAUPIN — His Tales of the City is a love letter to San Francisco and a celebration of its quirks. Tales began as a daily fiction serial in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1976. Those columns became the basis of a wildly popular series of books, which were then adapted for TV and aired on PBS in 1993. This interview is from 1982.
LARRY KRAMER — Most people him as a cofounder of ACT UP and as a polemic playwright, whose plays captured the fear and anger of the early years of AIDS. But before his activism days, Larry caused a stir with his 1978 novel, Faggots, which was a biting portrayal of New York City's gay scene in the 1970s. When it first came out, the book was condemned by many within the gay community. This somewhat testy interview is from 1979.
RANDY ALFRED — He's a pioneering gay journalist, who hosted The Gay Life from 1979 to 1984.
Also featured: "Michael's Letter to Mama." In 1999, Seattle Men's Chorus commissioned David Maddux to compose a choral piece with lyrics from Armistead Maupin's original coming-out letter that appeared in Tales of the City. This rendition is from San Francisco Gay Men's Choir.
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Revisiting The Gay Life is a new 12-episode series from KALW’s Queer Power Hour (https://www.kalw.org/show/queer-power-hour). It explores a pivotal moment in SF’s LGBTQ history — from the rise of Harvey Milk to the early days of what would later be called AIDS.
We reconsider this time through a perhaps unexpected lens: a radio show called The Gay Life that aired on KSAN, a commercial rock and roll station in the Bay Area in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Joining us for the look back: pioneering gay journalist Randy Alfred, who hosted the show from 1979 - 1984.
22 Jul 2026
Bisexual Chic
In this episode of Revisiting The Gay Life, we're going to focus on the bisexuality — as a distinct identity.
Bisexuality was nothing new and sexual exploration was a big part of the counterculture movement of the late 60s and early 70s. But it went mainstream in the mid 1970s, when rockers like David Bowie, Elton John and Lou Reed came out as bisexual with both Time and Newsweek running trend stories about The New Bisexuals and Bisexual Chic. Coastal communities in the United States were at the leading edge of societal change. And, in San Francisco, bisexuals began to create their own spaces and organizations.
Host Randy Alfred interviewed leaders of those organizations on The Gay Life. And we’ll be revisiting two conversations from 1981.
Featured in this episode:
Maggi Rubenstein, co-founder of the San Francisco Bisexual Center
David Loreau, co-director of the San Francisco Bisexual Center
Dr. Earl M. Marsh, medical director of the clinic at the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality
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Revisiting The Gay Life is a new 12-episode series from KALW’s Queer Power Hour (https://www.kalw.org/show/queer-power-hour). It explores a pivotal moment in SF’s LGBTQ history — from the rise of Harvey Milk to the early days of what would later be called AIDS.
We reconsider this time through a perhaps unexpected lens: a radio show called The Gay Life that aired on KSAN, a commercial rock and roll station in the Bay Area in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
14 Jul 2026
José Sarria and the Imperial Court
In this episode of Revisiting The Gay Life, we hear about an LGBTQ organization that has been around for more than 60 years and is still somewhat misunderstood: The Imperial Court is a social and charitable organization that adds a drag twist to the concept of royal courts.
Since it began in San Francisco in 1965, The Imperial Court system has gone global and raised millions of dollars for LGBTQ+ communities. This conversation from a 1981 episode of The Gay Life is ostensibly about the history of the Imperial Court system, but it actually focuses more on the historic mistreatment of queer people at the hands of law enforcement.
Featured in this episode:
José Sarria, Empress I de San Francisco and the first out gay political candidate in the US
Bob Ross, Emperor VII and Founder/Publisher of the Bay Area Reporter
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Revisiting The Gay Life is a new 12-episode series from KALW’s Queer Power Hour (https://www.kalw.org/show/queer-power-hour). It explores a pivotal moment in SF’s LGBTQ history — from the rise of Harvey Milk to the early days of what would later be called AIDS.
We reconsider this time through a perhaps unexpected lens: a radio show called The Gay Life that aired on KSAN, a commercial rock and roll station in the Bay Area in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
7 Jul 2026
Lesbian Herstory
In this episode of Revisiting The Gay Life, we do a deep dive into lesbian history. We share Randy's 1978 conversation with Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin about the first lesbian organizations in San Francisco and he sits down with Marie Renfro in 1980 to hear about that year’s black lesbian conference. And we hear from Randy about the evolving relationship between lesbians and gay men.
Revisiting The Gay Life is a new 12-episode series from KALW’s Queer Power Hour (https://www.kalw.org/show/queer-power-hour). It explores a pivotal moment in SF’s LGBTQ history — from the rise of Harvey Milk to the early days of what would later be called AIDS.
We reconsider this time through a perhaps unexpected lens: a radio show called The Gay Life that aired on KSAN, a commercial rock and roll station in the Bay Area in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Revisiting The Gay Life is produced by KALW Public Media (https://www.kalw.org) in collaboration with the GLBT Historical Society (https://www.glbthistory.org/) and The Gay Life's longtime host Randy Alfred.
7 Jul 2026
Midcentury (Gay) Men
In this episode of Revisiting The Gay Life, we intertwine the stories of two men that appeared on the Gay Life. On paper, the men are quite similar. Born a year apart — Bob Basker in 1918 and Stuart Loomis in 1919. Both Veterans. Both spent time in Chicago after the war. And both ended up in San Francisco and were early gay activists. But how their stories diverge sheds some light on the difficult choices gay people faced in the midcentury. And how one or two decisions could dramatically alter the trajectory of your life.
Revisiting The Gay Life is a new 12-episode series from KALW’s Queer Power Hour (https://www.kalw.org/show/queer-power-hour). It explores a pivotal moment in SF’s LGBTQ history — from the rise of Harvey Milk to the early days of what would later be called AIDS.
We reconsider this time through a perhaps unexpected lens: a radio show called The Gay Life that aired on KSAN, a commercial rock and roll station in the Bay Area in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Revisiting The Gay Life is produced by KALW Public Media in collaboration with the GLBT Historical Society (https://www.glbthistory.org/) and The Gay Life's longtime host Randy Alfred.
7 Jul 2026
The Life (and Afterlife) of Harvey Milk
In this episode of Revisiting The Gay Life, we consider the life and afterlife of Harvey Milk, who was one of the key figures of what was then called the Gay Liberation Movement, as well as the first openly LGBTQ+ person elected to public office.
Revisiting The Gay Life is a new 12-episode series from KALW’s Queer Power Hour (https://www.kalw.org/show/queer-power-hour). It explores a pivotal moment in SF’s LGBTQ history — from the rise of Harvey Milk to the early days of what would later be called AIDS.
We reconsider this time through a perhaps unexpected lens: a radio show called The Gay Life that aired on KSAN, a commercial rock and roll station in the Bay Area in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Revisiting The Gay Life is produced by KALW Public Media in collaboration with the GLBT Historical Society (https://www.glbthistory.org) and The Gay Life's longtime host Randy Alfred.
7 Jul 2026
The History of LGBTQ Radio
In the premiere episode, we go back to the beginnings of LGBTQ+ radio. And hear how it developed from the 1950s to the 1970s. And we meet the host and producer of The Gay Life, Randy Alfred (pictured above!)
Revisiting The Gay Life is a new 12-episode series from KALW’s Queer Power Hour (https://www.kalw.org/show/queer-power-hour). It explores a pivotal moment in SF’s LGBTQ history — from the rise of Harvey Milk to the early days of what would later be called AIDS.
We reconsider this time through a perhaps unexpected lens: a radio show called The Gay Life that aired on KSAN, a commercial rock and roll station in the Bay Area in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Revisiting The Gay Life is produced by KALW Public Media in collaboration with the GLBT Historical Society and The Gay Life's longtime host Randy Alfred.
4 Jul 2026
INTRODUCING Revisiting The Gay Life
Introducing Revisiting The Gay Life is a new 12-episode series from KALW’s Queer Power Hour (https://www.kalw.org/show/queer-power-hour). It explores a pivotal moment in SF’s LGBTQ history — from the rise of Harvey Milk to the early days of what would later be called AIDS.
We reconsider this time through a perhaps unexpected lens: a radio show called The Gay Life that aired on KSAN, a commercial rock and roll station in the Bay Area in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Revisiting The Gay Life is produced by KALW Public Media (https://kalw.org/qph) in collaboration with the GLBT Historical Society (https://www.glbthistory.org) and The Gay Life's longtime host Randy Alfred.
Inside a recent episode
The End of the Beginning
Published 17 Sept 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] There was a sheet of paper for each one that listed when it aired, who was on it, what organizations they represented, and what subjects were discussed. You enter all that stuff into a database, and you've got an index, which means you can find what you're looking for. Why did you save those reels? Because there are plenty of shows, trust me, from the same time period, they don't exist. I was a contractor at KSAN. And my official relationship was that of a contractor. And I was paid for them to air it. Once or two airings per week of each show. And I owned them. So I kept them. But they must have taken up a lot of space. […]
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