Pen-Elayne on the Web

Obligatory Canadian Comics Content

From Ken Gale:

'Nuff Said!, the comic book interview/talk show, is still off the air as a regular show, but we still show up on the airwaves every once in a while and thus also on the internet through the live stream (see our web site for details). The WBAI-FM schedule is being re-worked and though I was once told 'Nuff Said! would return when that happened, 'Nuff Said! is not on the new schedule. I am still at the mercy of other producers giving me time on their shows. And one is doing that soon.

The next 'Nuff Said! installment is part of Sidney Smith's show "Carrier Wave," Sunday night (Monday morning), April 18 (19), 2004 between 1:00 and 3:00 AM. That's North American eastern time. So it starts 10:00 PM on the west coast. Tell your friends and e-lists.

I interviewed Danny Fingeroth, author of "Superman on the Couch, What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society." (He's also the editor of Write Now and former editor of Spider-Man, but we just discussed his new book.) We went into detail about several of the chapters, such as why so many orphan superheroes and how female superheroes have changed.

For those of you in the listening area who won't be up that late, you can tape the radio using a VCR by simply connecting the input of your VCR to the output of your stereo. There is a more detailed description of this on our website.

I've been doing comic book-oriented radio shows since 1993, live-streamed over the internet for the past several years, usually interviewing a creator. I've covered all styles and all eras, pointing out the diversity of the art form to a radio audience who was often unaware of the versatility of sequential art. For the past year and a half, I have done occasional specials, fill-ins and guest stints, keeping the show alive (see http://www.comicbookradioshow.com/nsgl17.html for a recent list and links to the past Guest List). Many other WBAI producers have welcomed 'Nuff Said! segments on their shows and I can't thank them enough. WBAI-FM is a listener-supported Pacifica Network station.

WBAI-FM, 99.5, is a 50,000 watt station broadcast from the Empire State Building. The signal usually gets out to New Haven, CT; Westhampton, L.I.; the Poconos of Pennsylvania, Orange County, NY and Trenton & Princeton, NJ. But via the internet for an even greater distance, natch.

Bernard White, the program director, said on the air June of last year that 'Nuff Said! was not canceled, just put "on hiatus," but he's brought out a new schedule and 'Nuff Said! is absent from it. Among his criticisms of comic books are that they are "narrow-focused" and only appeal to "middle-class white males." Even mainstream comics don't deserve those criticisms (except for "male") and nearly every African-American who works at the station is into comics and has told him so, sometimes on the air. It seems to fall on deaf ears.

If Air America ever branches out into cultural stuff, maybe there'll be a place for Ken there...