Hour of the Wolf Off the Air
Jim Freund’s venerable SF radio call-in show Hour of the Wolf has gone off the air after nearly 50 years. The show aired on WBAI 99.5 FM in New York, but on October 8, 2019, the station’s owner Pacifica Across America canceled all local programming and replaced it with shows from other stations due to “financial losses.” The closure came without warning, and station employees and volunteers vowed to take the parent company to court to maintain their local programming. The company has reportedly already begun removing equipment from the station.
Hour of the Wolf was founded in 1972 with Margot Adler as host. Freund was a volunteer at the station before becoming co-host in 1974, and eventually took over sole hosting duties. During his time on the air he interviewed scores of SF writers and was a fixture of the New York SF/fantasy scene. Freund hopes to return to the air, noting that the show has survived past conflicts with the parent company, and if not, he intends to keep Hour of the Wolf going in some other capacity, if possible.
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Thanks for the notice and welcome coverage. On the whole, the article is substantively correct. A couple of very minor nits about dates for “Hour of the Wolf.” The show was founded in 1971 by Margot Adler, broadcasting five mornings a week. I was her co-host from the start on the Thursday and Friday editions, and those shows were the beginning of the sf/f programming for the free-form radio show. I became the full-time host in 1974.
WBAI’s owner is the Pacifica Foundation. “Pacifica Across America” is the name of the piped-in programming that was put in place by certain members of the National Board — without approval from the majority of the Board. The lockout occurred on October 7th, not the 8th.
Again, many thanks!