40 years of LGBTQ radio
Lambda Weekly cohosts, from left, David Taffet, Lerone Landis and Patti Fink ‘Lambda Weekly’ cohosts talk about the longest-running LGBTQ radio program anywhere TAMMYE NASH | Managing Editornash@dallasvoice.com Lambda Weekly is celebrating its 40th anniversary this summer, and cohosts David Taffet, Lerone Landis and Patti Fink took a minute to share their thoughts about the program and its meaning to the LGBTQ community. …………………… Lambda Weekly Each Sunday, 1-2 p.m.
KNON, 89.3 FM You can find it live-streaming at KNON. org and podcasts are available on the website under show listings. …………………… These days Lambda Weekly gets to claim the distinction of as the longest-running LGBTQ radio program in the country.
Back in 1983 when it first started, it was one of the first radio shows in the country offering “news, information and interviews of interest to the gay and lesbian community.” The very first show hit the airwaves on July 30, 1983, with Bill Nelson, one of Dallas’ leading LGBTQ activists at the time, hosting along with a group of others.
Taffet, who has more years with the program now than anyone, said this week he doesn’t remember exactly what the topics were for that first broadcast, “But I know they played music by gay and lesbian singers, and they probably discussed AIDS, which has just been renamed from GRID [Gay-Related Immune Disease] the month before.” Over the next decade, Nelson left to run for a spot on Dallas City Council and was replaced by Bill Travis and Alonzo Duralde.
