Just out., April 21, 2000, Page 38, Image 38

• aprii 21. 2000
KBOO, the next generation
A longtime community radio activist
passes her passion on to h er daughter
O riana G reen
and
K aty D avidson
PHOTO BY MARTY DAVIS
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t is 9:30 a.m. on a rainy Thursday in Port­
land, and the lesbian formerly known as
Linda Shirley, now known simply as Jack, is
seizing control of the KBOO airwaves for
her weekly show, Queer Q ueer World.
On a recent program Jack described herself
as “fatter than Barbie, butcher than Ken and a
lesbian-at-large.” She’s also a hyperpolitical,
radical, in-your-face rabble-rouser who speaks
out loudly for queer rights every chance she
gets.
Her talk show gig at KBOO began in 1992,
when she started Right Resistance as a way of
combating Oregon’s anti-gay Measure 9. Now
it’s called Q ueer Q ueer World, because, as Jack
puts it, “1 believe every issue is a queer issue,
even if the person I’m interviewing doesn’t see
it that way.”
She adds: “I don’t believe we’re like every­
one else— I believe we should be about the
movement of change in the world.”
Jack does cover queer events and issues
whenever possible. Recent shows have featured
Pam Monette recruiting for the (gay) Citizens
Foot Patrol and Jack discussing the future of
the Lesbian Community Project with its inter­
im staff organizer Kristan Aspen. And on her
May 4 show, Jack will chat with legendary les­
bian activist Alix Dobkin.
KBOO, the only community-based public
radio station in the area, is “a strong resource
that gives people a forum to talk about things,”
Jack says.
Mostly run by volunteers, KBOO is one of
only 66 radio stations in the country that have
no advertising. It reaches 100,000 listeners,
I
including plenty of rural folks, thanks to trans­
lators in Corvallis and W hite Salmon, Wash.
“We’re not O PB, who puts In the Life [a syn­
dicated queer television show] on at midnight,”
Jack explains, then adds with a characteristic
sneer: “They think everything having to do
with sex is dirty.”
One thing Jack likes about doing a queer
radio show is that it reaches youths who might
not have any other source of information.
“They don’t have to worry about hiding a
queer magazine under their bed,” she says.
Jack acknowledges that plenty of people are
scared off by her opinions and even her style:
“We know people turn us off all the time— this
is an intentional listening experience.”
Q ueer Q ueer W orld often begins with a short
comedy piece from Chopped Liver Produc­
tions, followed by comments from Jack and
occasional cuts of recorded music. But the
main focus is the in-studio guest who sits down
to talk about some kind of event or group,
often with a pressing social agenda.
O n her April 13 show Jack discussed immi­
gration rights issues with a representative from
PCUN, the farmworkers union. Jack wasted no
time clearing up her confusion about the grape
boycott. The good man from PCUN said don’t
buy grapes that don’t sport the union label.
But this is no boring parade of drones with
press releases. Later in the same show, Jack wel­
comed a woman from Alternatives for Growth
Oregon who talked about conserving resources
and slowing population growth. T hat sparked
the best exchange of the program, when Jack
said queers make a big contribution on that
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