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| Reading, Writing, and
Radio: A Discussion with Irwin Gonshak, Creator and Producer of
"Anything Goes!" Want to know where UNPUBLISHED and PUBLISHED writers can read their work PUBLICLY, ON THE AIR, for one whole HALF-HOUR? Then read on, write on, and don't touch that dial! Is "Anything Goes!" a Board of Education program on a National Public Radio station or vice versa? The New York City Board of Education's radio station WNYE-FM (91.5) is a member of NPR. The Teachers & Writers Collaborative produces "Anything Goes!" on WNYE-FM. How long has "Anything Goes!" been on the air in its present format, and approximately how many writers have been on the program thus far? "Anything Goes!" has been on the air for three years, and approximately 300 writers have been on the program. Can literally anyone and everyone read their work on your show? Yes, with only two exceptions: No poetic prairie dogs woofing haikus! Absolutely not! Also, since we broadcast on the NYC Board of Education radio station -- no "X" or "R" rated material. My son, professor of literature at Montana Tech, says I'll tape any guy in the street. Right -- if the guy is a writer -- and it's not raining. Do you prefer that the readings be of specific genres or types of literature? No. I list on my masthead: Poetry, Short Stories, Mysteries, Novels, Memoirs, Science Fiction, Westerns, Horror, Comics, History, Biography, Criticism, Songs, Museum Talks, Puzzles, Star Gazing, Deconstructionism, Chaos Theory, Postmodernism, "Sealing Wax," Cabbages & Kings. How can writers who want to read and speak about their manuscript(s) or book(s) on the program contact you? Simple. Just mail your name and address (nothing else), to me at: Teachers & Writers, 5 Union Square West, New York, NY 10003. I go into the T & W office once a week and mail out instructions on how to read on the program to all writers who have written in for them. If the writer e-mails the request, giving their postal mailing address, I can send them from my home office. Since the broadcasts are taped in Brooklyn, New York what, as far as you know, is the farthest distance anyone's ever traveled to have their reading taped in your studio? It isn't necessary to go to the Brooklyn studio to be on the show. I've had authors from all over the country, and the world, go into local sound studios, at a college, etc., and tape their reading with our standard opener and closer. Then send it to me on DAT tape or CD. But taping on your own should only be done after receiving my instructions. How soon, generally, after writers request to be on "Anything Goes!" do they get a taping date? And approximately how long after the reading's taped in your studio, will it be on the air? There are a lot of imponderables in so far as the taping date is concerned. It all depends on the dates available at WNYE, and when the writer is available. Tom Ronan, our director/engineer, will make an effort to accommodate out-of-town writers who'll just be around briefly. We have a long line of writers waiting to be taped. Therefore, it can take months from initial contact to taping to broadcast. So I caution writers not to make references to any particular time or date in the broadcast. Other than the advice and suggestions you give throughout our discussion, what else makes a reading and/or taping session successful? I always suggest that writers time their reading before coming into the studio to be sure they have enough material to cover the half-hour program. And it's good to have a few extra items in reserve. Keep an eye on the clock in the studio. Come into the studio with your work available to be read easily. Listeners sometimes call or e-mail to get the spelling of a particular author's name. I think it's helpful for an author with a difficult name to spell it slowly on the air. Finally, give a blank audio tape to the engineer to receive an unedited version of your reading before you leave. Have writers ever found the half-hour too long or short a period of time in which to adequately express themselves? Or the experience so unnerving or intimidating, that they were unable to complete the session? If and when such situations occur, how are they handled? Writers plan ahead and know what they want to do on the program, and they do it. The experience is exhilarating for most. The program is informal, so if you make a minor error, just go back and correct it. If it's major, you can stop the taping by signaling Tom. Then pick up where you left off. My only problem is when writers bring in material that is too raunchy or offensive for the Board of Education's radio station. If we can't edit the material we don't broadcast the program. However, writers are warned beforehand of this problem and told to clear possible objectionable material with Tom, in the studio, before they tape. To the best of your knowledge, do publishers or literary agents ever listen in hoping to discover the next Hemingway or Joyce? Has the half-hour's worth of exposure ever directly or indirectly resulted in increased sales of published books, or in unpublished writers being published? I know of no unpublished writers who've been published. I doubt that publishers have time to listen to "Anything Goes!" However, I assume they read PR about the program, which might interest them in a particular writer. That's just speculation on my part, though. But a number of struggling writers have told me that reading on "Anything Goes!" encouraged them to continue writing -- which may be good or bad depending on their talent. Writers frequently make special cards announcing their broadcasts that they mail to friends and contacts, which helps to publicize their work. In addition, I send listings of the programs which are frequently highlighted in the radio section of The New York Times, Newsday, Time Out, New York. The broadcast listing is also carried on T & W's website, and on Poetry Calendar's shared website. And I have no knowledge whatsoever of increased sales of published books. I suggest that writers give information about obtaining the book at the end of the program. Once is enough, but some do it a number of times, which may annoy listeners. Certain writers have been on your program repeatedly. Do you keep inviting them back? Or do they ask to make return appearances each time they complete a new manuscript or book? The writers you speak of invite themselves back when, I suppose, they get an urge to hear themselves again on radio. A recent New York Times article on "Anything Goes!" has led to more than a hundred writers, locally, nationally, worldwide, wanting to be on the show. Therefore, I am forced to limit the regulars to one half-hour program per year. Could you tell your story about an appearance on one of your earlier programs of a young office clerk named Terry McMillan, who, approximately a dozen years later, penned such best-selling novels as Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back. Terry McMillan was dissatisfied with the publicity her publisher was providing for her first novel, Mama. So in the process of pushing the book on her own, in any way she could, Terry read from her book on my "First Novel/New Novelist," series. I was impressed by her intelligence, ambition, and perseverance. Not by her writing. Become a lawyer, a doctor, a teacher, a social worker, I thought. The world doesn't need another mediocre writer. I didn't think she was in the same league with other first novelists in the series: Tom Clancy, Louise Erdrich, Pete Dexter, etc. Wow -- was I wrong! Terry went on to entertain millions with her writing and films. Thank you. That's such a great story. Must one only be a writer to appear on "Anything Goes!?" Not necessarily. We've had an astronomer talking about comets, singers singing their own and others' songs, a few interviews, standup comics. Playwrights and actors have performed short scenes, plays, radio dramas. There was a tape of a WW II veteran who couldn't sing, singing at a karaoke bar. One day I'll play a tape of my mother, who, before she died, described life on the East side of Manhattan as a young immigrant child. And we've had literary criticism of Shakespeare's plays. Often students appear, with or without teachers, and read their own work. Editors have read from their anthologies. The poet, Donald Hall (with tears in his eyes), read his wife's poetry. She was much younger than him, and had just died. My grandson, Sean, who reads well but doesn't like to read novels, suddenly started reading the children's series, The Time Warp Trio -- and was thrilled. So I invited the author, Jon Scieszka, to read on the show. Because I like works of substance, I like professors, their books, and getting their special knowledge out to listeners. Are there other radio programs across the nation similar to "Anything Goes!" on which one's work can be publicly aired? "Selected Shorts" from Symphony Space in Manhattan broadcasts actors reading short stories for public radio. Dick Estell, from Michigan, has been reading novels on public radio's, "The Radio Reader," for the past 31 years. A group called "Texas Bound" broadcasts on Texas public radio. And a new writer said she read four of her stories on NPR station WAMC. I know nothing more about that. Can we discuss something that you mentioned earlier about not taping material deemed unacceptable or inappropriate? You stopped an "evangelist for a religious sect" from speaking (or preaching) on your program. And once taped a poetry reading on location in a club, which contained a poem with "a lesbian orientation, which was fine with [you]," but had to delete that verse because it repeatedly emphasized "a particular private body part." What are considered to be the limitations and/or standards beyond which no one may go, in order to be heard on "Anything Goes!?" Since, for example, "The Vagina Monologues" also emphasizes a particular private body part, could it not be performed on the show? Or could authors of banned, censored, or challenged books present their material on the program? My standards are simple. As I've said before: We broadcast on the NYC Board of Education's radio station. That's all important. So imagine you're a responsible teacher in the high schools -- what words wouldn't you use in the classroom? What topics wouldn't you introduce/discuss -- or, if very controversial, how would you handle them? I haven't seen "The Vagina Monologues" -- but I don't think they would be suitable for our station. In like manner, I don't think the play would be performed in a religious organization's auditorium. My rule is: Do no harm to the reputation of the station, or to the feelings and sensibilities of listeners. The poet, from the preceding question, accused you of being homophobic, and your response, according to a New York Times article was: "Come on, it's a Board of Education's radio station. We do that poem and we'll make all the headlines of the tabloid press." If the entire purpose of reading or performing on "Anything Goes!" is publicizing and promoting one's work, as well as themselves -- and if it's true that there's no such thing as bad publicity (which your response, in regard to tabloid presses, seemed to imply), doesn't your argument actually benefit, rather than discredit potential headline makers? I agree. If I had permitted that poet to repeat that private body part over and over and over again on air -- and the tabloids and mayor got wind of it -- we'd all get our fifteen minutes of fame. And thousands would want to hear that poem read. But for what purpose? The station would be damned! The Director of Broadcasting excoriated! I've worked for WNYE in different capacities since 1964, nonstop. It's my home. Why would I want to do anything to injure it? Would anyone be offended if I observed that, under the circumstances, perhaps "Anything Goes!" could more appropriately be named, "Anything Goes, But." I came up with the name "Anything Goes!" Which really refers to categories rather than content. However, the theme song - Cole Porter singing his "Anything Goes" has lyrics stating that four-letter words were now okay. But that's his song -- not our program. So don't believe everything you hear. Moving right along now to a few last questions -- if the program's continued existence attests to its popularity with your listening audience does that, by extension, guarantee "Anything Goes!" longevity? I don't know how popular it is with the listening audience. But I do know we are popular with writers. Many have blessed me in letters sent to me. I have become a Mother Teresa for writers. But actually it's the reverse. I need writers to produce the programs. Without them there would be no "Anything Goes!" And if the show continues for many more years, do you see yourself still involved with it five or ten years from now? My philosophy of life is take one day at a time. Who knows the future? I always want to be doing something in radio. I'm now researching -- reading a dozen or more books, including "Mein Kampf," for a one-character, (Hitler), play I'm writing called, "The Fuhrer's Master Class," where he explains his genocidal philosophy and techniques to a convention of contemporary hate mongers from around the world. I'm writing the play as a reaction to the silliness about the Nazis presented in "The Producers." It could be a radio drama, off-Broadway play, cable TV performance. If it takes off, I probably would take a leave of absence from "Anything Goes!" Postscript: After our interview, Mr. Gonshak received a "Cease and Desist" notice from a woman who claims to have copyrighted the title "Anything Goes," which she named her radio program (dealing with popular music of the 30s and 40s), that broadcasts west of the Hudson. To avoid litigation, Mr. Gonshak will change his program's name from "Anything Goes!" to "Everything Goes?" "The question mark," he said, "would indicate that everything doesn't go, as you have pointed out." "Everything Goes?" can be heard on WNYE-FM (91.5) every Tuesday and Thursday from 12:00 noon to 1:00 PM (EST). Teachers & Writers Collaborative (T & W), a non profit organization, was founded in 1967 by a group of writers and educators who believed that writers could make a unique contribution to the teaching of writing. T & W links writers and educators in collaborations that become the source for new ideas and materials that explore the connections between writing and reading literature. "Through the magic of radio, we bring you" Irwin Gonshak, who was weaned, raised, and grew up listening to the radio of the 30s and early 40s. Edward R. Murrow was his hero. Radio was "a god for him," his pacifier, his training wheels, his "Harvard and Yale." His Destiny! Yet he became a history teacher in Queens, New York junior high schools first, where he taught for almost 17 years. Then simultaneously began his career in radio by writing 45 half-hour radio drama scripts for NBC/Jewish Theological Seminary of America's "Eternal Light" series, which was broadcast weekly, coast to coast. As a scriptwriter, script supervisor, and producer for the Board of Education/WNYE, he literally worked around the clock researching, writing, and producing hundreds of educational dramatic radio scripts. And continued doing so for Bank Street College and the Teachers & Writers Collaborative. Gonshak also produced a demonstration of short radio dramas, starring Joyce Randolph, (Trixie), of "The Honeymooners," for the Writer's Guild at Citicorp Center. And created and wrote a popular radio drama series called, "Drug Abuse/Dead End," with private eye, Johnny Nickel, which won many media awards. He believes, from letters written to him by kids, that the series kept many of them off drugs -- "which," he says, "was the greatest award of all." "Anything Goes!," which Irwin Gonshak created and produces pro bono, is the present educational labor of love in his professional and personal life's mission: To, "in [his] small way," try to "bring culture to the average radio listener." His program "is about the spoken word." "Radio," he claims, "is a very intimate medium," on which he wants the speaker to talk directly to the listener -- without a host's intervention. Gonshak's strongest beliefs are that "Anything Goes!" can serve as a model for stations nationwide." And that "Radio owes it to the public to have a National University of the Air!" RoseEtta Stone is the Editor/Publisher of (the) X - RATED CHILDRENS' BOOKS NEWSLETTER: Book Reviews and Interviews with Banned, Censored, Challenged Authors of Banned, Censored, Challenged and Burned Childrens' Books. Visit by clicking here: X-RatedChildrensBooks. Copyright 2001 by RoseEtta Stone. All rights reserved. Originally appreared on The Purple Crayon (http://www.underdown.org). Reprinted with permission.
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