The End of the Beginning

It's 1984. The mysterious illness stalking the gay community has a name and has claimed more than 2000 lives. Sadly, this is just the beginning of the horrors that the LGBTQ+ community will face in the coming decade as Reagan's government does little to combat the disease because of its association with homosexuals and drug users.

In the final installment of Revisiting The Gay Life, we listen back to a speech that BOBBI CAMPBELL, the so-called AIDS Poster Boy, made in the final month of his life. And we hear tributes to Bobbi from his family, friends, partner and fellow activists. 

Plus, we talk with RANDY ALFRED, a pioneering queer journalist, about covering AIDS in the midst of so much mourning and sorrow.

Revisiting The Gay Life is a limited series from KALW’s 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 radio 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 Societyand The Gay Life's longtime host Randy Alfred.

Show Credits:
Executive Producer / Host: David Boyer
Producer / Engineer / Life Saver: David Kwan