{"id":2982,"date":"2014-04-07T13:00:02","date_gmt":"2014-04-07T18:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=2982"},"modified":"2014-04-07T13:12:55","modified_gmt":"2014-04-07T18:12:55","slug":"gay-activist-wayne-besen-joins-wcpt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2014\/04\/07\/gay-activist-wayne-besen-joins-wcpt\/","title":{"rendered":"Gay activist Wayne Besen joins WCPT"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Wayne<\/a>

<\/a> Wayne Besen<\/p><\/div>\n

Famed gay rights activist and author Wayne Besen<\/a> is joining the weekend lineup of Chicago\u2019s progressive talk radio station.<\/p>\n

Starting April 19, Besen\u2019s \u201cI've Got Issues\u201d will air from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturdays on Newsweb Radio\u2019s WCPT AM 820<\/a> (simulcast on WCPY FM 92.5, WCPT FM 92.7 and WCPQ FM 99.9).<\/p>\n

On what\u2019s billed as a \u201cpolitical current events show,\u201d Besen is expected to cover a full spectrum of topics, interview guests and take calls from listeners. Newsweb Radio is producing the live, local talk show from its studios.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this critical election year, we need strong voices to frame the issues and help steer America in a progressive direction,\u201d Charles Gross, president of Newsweb Radio, said in a statement. \u201cWe are excited about this hard-hitting new show that will debate the critical local and national issues that affect our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besen is founder and executive director of Truth Wins Out,<\/a>\u00a0a Chicago-based nonprofit group dedicated to fighting antigay prejudice. He is the author of Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth<\/em> and Bashing Back: Wayne Besen on GLBT People, Politics and Culture.<\/em> He also worked as a reporter for WABI-TV, the CBS affiliate in Bangor, Maine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve spent my entire life fighting for progressive causes and I\u2019m honored to have this unique platform to advance the issues that I care deeply about,\u201d Besen said in a statement. \u201cThere are those who want to turn back the clock in America, and our job as progressives is to keep the clock ticking forward. This show will be a vehicle for promoting innovative ideas and key progressive solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besen\u2019s new show will follow Dick Kay\u2019s \u201cBack on the Beat,\u201d which airs from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays on WCPT. Rebecca Costa\u2019s \u201cThe Costa Report,\u201d now airing from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturdays, will be cut to one hour and moved to 10 p.m. Saturdays.<\/p>\n

Matt Comings, operations manager of WCPT, said the addition of \u201cI\u2019ve Got Issues\u201d expands the station\u2019s \u201cPride Radio Project.\u201d<\/a> WCPT also boasts an openly gay morning personality, Stephanie Miller, whose syndicated show air from 8 to 11 a.m. weekdays, and the weekly \u201cOut Chicago,\u201d<\/a> hosted by Scott Duff\u00a0at 11 a.m. Sundays.<\/p>\n

In the latest Nielsen Audio survey, WCPT FM tied for 34th place overall with a 0.5 percent share and cumulative weekly audience of 121,400. WCPT AM tied for 42nd with a 0.3 share and weekly cume of 71,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Famed gay rights activist and author Wayne Besen is joining the weekend lineup of Chicago\u2019s progressive talk radio station. Starting April 19, Besen\u2019s \u201cI've Got Issues\u201d will air from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturdays on Newsweb Radio\u2019s WCPT AM 820 (simulcast on WCPY FM 92.5, WCPT FM 92.7 and WCPQ FM 99.9).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2982"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2982"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2987,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2982\/revisions\/2987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}