Richard Wolinsky
editRichard Wolinsky is an American radio personality and interviewer. He is from New York and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1975. He has been a producer at KPFA-FM in Berkeley since 1976.[1]
Career
editIn 1977, he began co-hosting the KPFA-FM show Probabilities, with Lawrence Davidson, the mystery and science fiction buyer for Cody’s Bookstore in Berkeley, Calif., and Richard A. Lupoff, the speculative fiction author. [2] Four years later, Wolinsky wrote, “the show had expanded to include other genre and general fiction authors as our tastes, as co-hosts, began to change, but mostly it still focused on its original theme.” [3]
Davidson departed in 1989 and the show, renamed Cover to Cover, was nationally syndicated for a short time in the 1990s.[4]
By the late 1990s, Wolinsky was the primary host of the show, which was renamed Bookwaves. Its format was also expanded again to include literary fiction and narrative non-fiction. A review of the program said, “Wolinsky’s uncanny memory and ability to recall the fine details of the book eases the author into revealing intimate facts about the material and their lives.”[5]
In 1999, Susan Stone included Wolinsky in a special anniversary program, “Fifty Years of Drama and Literature on KPFA.” Bay Area poet Jack Foley called the program “a rich sampler of a kind of programming which was once often heard on KPFA but which is no longer prominent as, over the years, news and public affairs programming tended to replace the arts.”[6]
Currently, Wolinsky’s show airs weekly. He is also digitizing and re-releasing older interviews as a weekly podcast, Radio Wolinsky.[7]
In addition to his on-air duties, Wolinsky was an editor of the KPFA Folio, a monthly magazine sent to subscribers of the public listener-funded radio station.[8]
Wolinksy is a listener-member of the KPFA local station board. [9] When the station had significant financial troubles in the 2010s, Wolinsky argued in favor of paying staff and against switching to an all-volunteer model. [10] [11]
Notable interviews
editInterviews that have been digitally archived as downloadable podcasts at Radio Wolinsky include: Martin Amis, J.G. Ballard, John Barth, Roz Chast, Umberto Eco, Tony Hillerman, Walter Mosely, Anne Rice and Trina Robbins.
Wolinsky's significant published interviews include:
- Clive Barker, published in Science Fiction Eye (magazine), No. 4, August 1988. With Richard Lupoff. Also excerpted in the 2002 Thomson Gale review of critical works about Barker.
- Molly Ivins, collected with her papers at the Briscoe Center. (Cover to Cover, 16 April 1998. With Richard Lupoff)[1]
- Stephen King, published as “A Talk With The King,” in Stephen King and Clive Barker: Masters of the Macabre II, by James Van Hise. Pioneer Books, 1992. Pages 11-18. With Lawrence Davidson.
- Louis L'Amour, "Louis L'Amour on the pulps, his films and The Walking Drum," published in The Louis L'Amour Companion, by Robert Weinberg. Andrews McMeel, 1992. ISBN 9780836279962. With Richard Lupoff and Lawrence Davidson.
- Ann McCaffrey, published in Rigel Science Fiction (magazine), No. 3, Winter 1982. With Lawrence Davidson.
- Joyce Carol Oates, "The Pendulum," Guernica (magazine), 1 October 2013.[2]
- Salman Rushdie. “Living Novelistically,” Guernica (magazine), 15 October 2012. [3]
- Walter Tevis, published in Brick, A Literary Journal, No. 72, Winter 2003. With Richard Lupoff and Lawrence Davidson. [4]
He was also the subject of an interview for “The Astounding Harry Bates,” a documentary short on the founder of Astounding Science Fiction magazine.[12]
References
edit- ^ Today, Education (2024-08-21). "Bookwaves on Cover to Cover Archives". KPFA. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
- ^ Wolinsky, Richard (2016-07-18). "Lawrence Davidson 1949-2016". KPFA. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
- ^ Wolinsky, Richard; Davidson, Lawrence G.; Lupoff, Richard A. (2019-08-01). "An Interview with Walter Tevis". Brick. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
- ^ "About Bookwaves". bookwaves.homestead.com. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
- ^ Stahl, Jill (Fall 2011). "Bookwaves on Cover to Cover with Richard Wolinsky" (PDF). The Writing Life (San Jose State University English Department). pp. 3–4. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
- ^ Foley, Jack (2011). Visions and Affiliations: A California Literary Timeline. Berkeley, CA: Pantograph Press. p. 439. ISBN 978-1613640678.
- ^ "Radio Wolinsky Archives". KPFA. 2024-08-21. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
- ^ Lasar, Matthew (2012-07-12). "How much community radio content can you find on the Internet Archives?". Radio Survivor. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
- ^ Briefing, Background (2024-08-21). "Local Station Board". KPFA. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
- ^ Lasar, Matthew (2010-08-26). "KPFA, the case against an all-volunteer station". Radio Survivor. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
- ^ Lasar, Matthew (2010-09-18). "Will "community" governance mean a staff bloodbath at KPFA?". Radio Survivor. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
- ^ "Richard Wolinsky". IMDb. Retrieved 2024-08-21.