Hour of the Wolf, the world’s longest-running radio program regarding science fiction and fantasy, has ended its initial 38-year run from 5 to 7AM on WBAI-FM and will be beginning a new era in an exciting late-night timeslot. The show will be broadcast on the radio and streamed over the Internet live Wednesday nights/Thursday mornings from 1:30 to 3AM starting Thanksgiving Eve.
Over the years, producer and host Jim Freund has presented many of the world’s greatest science fiction, fantasy, and horror writers in live interviews, readings, and listener calls. Through the decades, guests have included Douglas Adams, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Octavia Butler, Samuel R. Delany, Harlan Ellison, Frank Herbert, Dr. Michio Kaku, Ursula K. Le Guin, Barry N. Malzberg, Frederik Pohl, Gene Roddenberry, Theodore Sturgeon, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Connie Willis, Roger Zelazny, and hundreds more.
In addition to presenting such established great writers, Hour of the Wolf will continue to be a forum for adventurous authors who are expanding the field of speculative fiction and interstitial literature. The show will also continue to experiment with innovative ideas, such as regularly hosting Altered Fluid, a writer’s group which critiques first draft stories by its members live on the air. Recorded performances from the New York Review of Science Fiction Readings (also produced and curated by Jim Freund) and the KGB Fantastic Fiction Readings will continue to be a staple, along with new, original radio drama.
The first episode of the new era of the show will feature one of the program’s favorite guests: science fiction and fantasy writer Richard Bowes, who has published five novels, two collections of short fiction, and fifty short stories and articles. Recent and forthcoming stories appear in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Best Gay Stories, Beastly Bride, Haunted Legends, Naked City, Nebula Awards Showcase 2011, Supernatural Noir, and Blood and Other Cravings anthologies. He has won the World Fantasy, Lambda, International Horror Guild, and Million Writers Awards.
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Hour of the Wolf began life on WBAI in 1972 as a free-form live radio program. Created by Margot Adler (now of National Public Radio, and author of Drawing Down the Moon and Heretic’s Heart), the program originally ran Monday through Friday from 5 to 7AM. Thursdays and Fridays were designated as a “Science Fiction Spectacular” with Jim Freund co-hosting those mornings. In July, 1974, Jim Freund became the sole host when Margot Adler moved to another timeslot.
About 1975, the show narrowed its focus to concentrate on science fiction and related fields of endeavor. In 1983, the program was moved to Saturday mornings.
The title is taken from the Ingmar Bergman film Hour of the Wolf (Vargtimmen in Swedish), and refers to the time of day “between night and dawn” and the ancient belief that this is when “most children are born and most people die,” and when fantasy is made real.
In addition to the broadcast over 99.5 FM in New York, Hour of the Wolf can be heard live over the Internet at stream.wbai.org and a streaming archive of the two most recent episodes are available at archive.wbai.org/show1.php?showid=hotwolf. Links to each are maintained at the main Web site at hourwolf.com.
Listener-sponsored, commercial-free WBAI broadcasts over 99.5 FM in New York City, and is a part of the Pacifica Foundation. The station can also be heard over stream.wbai.org and through a few smartphone apps.