A Brief History of The PFLAG New Orleans Radio Show, Expanding the Rainbow, by Sally Jackson

Just a couple of weeks more than five years ago, PFLAG New Orleans – Expanding The Rainbow aired it's first live show on WHIV LP, 102.3 FM New Orleans. The story of the connection between PFLAG NO and WHIV LP goes back a couple of months earlier. WHIV LP was licensed and had its first broadcast on World AIDS Day, December 1st of 2014, shortly after that PFLAG NO board members looked into the possibility of donating to the station. Along with the donation, an interest in airing a show on the station was born. The board voted on the possibility and, then board member, Josh
AKA Adonis. expressed his interest in being a host for the show; co-presidents Julie Thompson and Joe Melcher would be the showrunners. That night, Julie contacted me about co-hosting this six-month experiment.

We started as a half-hour show, once a week, with the option of continuing if the station liked what we were doing. After about four months, we were approaching our first Christmas show, to be prerecorded, and I asked if we could run a fraction long for the holiday shows. The response from the
station's manager was immediate, “You've got an hour from now on.” We have had guests from all fields and all communities, we've been Expanding The Rainbow for over five years now--well over two hundred twenty-five shows. With only a very few showtimes missed due to emergencies.

Our show runners Julie and Joe retired; we brought in a new board member – Shelley as we got things running smoothly with our new runner, she was transferred to Texas for her job. In stepped Misti Gaither and we had access to a whole new set of guests – out stepped Misti for her
show on Wednesdays; she wanted to keep running the show but with all of the other things she does for the community, it was a bit too much.

I've been doing the show running with help from Josh and Tyra, the Purple Butterfly, but we are glad to announce that Vanessa Carr Kennedy is stepping into that role. Vanessa is very active in the LGBTQ+ community.

While Josh was recovering from a severe argument with a staircase in his apartment complex, I was doing the show alone and it occurred to me that, if I got sick, there was no one to take the helm. We needed to have another option, as Josh has work conflicts sometimes, and I'm not a Spring
chicken any more (more like an Autumn chicken). I was visiting Julie and we were discussing what to do while Josh was convalescing when Julie told me that a mutual friend from NOAGE (now SAGE New Orleans) had mentioned that she was looking for projects to do while retired. The call went out that day and Tyra was more than happy to give it a shot.

The next show was her audition for the founder of WHIV and infectious disease specialist, Dr. MarkAlain Dery. I called him after the show to discuss the possibility of adding Tyra to the "krewe." It turns out that he had been listening, like he usually did before Covid-19. He told me to give her the codes and extend his welcome to the staff.

We are now recording the shows on Zoom on the guests' schedule. Any of the Co-Hosts can record the shows. Josh has joined the call from his car a couple of times. Things are changing but we are adaptable and resilient to the "New Normal". Listen to the show at 8 AM each Thursday on WHIV LP, 102.3 FM or stream us live online at whivfm.org.

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