Before podcasts and before internet streaming, the United States had a democratic experiment in broadcasting. In many municipalities, non profit cable television channels existed, to allow the public access to TV. The range and output of these stations was widely and wildly divergent, ranging from the awful to the sublime. But anyone who watched public access cable TV said they were hooked on the sheer exuberance of it all. In Manhatten, New York, Channel J operated in the seventies and eighties, and late at night between 1977 and 1998, Robin Byrd (who is now seventy one) flirted, invited porn stars to chat to her, asked questions of sex educators and allowed for a wide variety of sexual and gender minorities to discuss issues of the day with her. The Robyn Byrd Show is now to be the subject of a documentary by HBO and Out Magazine has met with Robin to discuss her work and legacy.

You can access this brilliant interview for free at the Out Magazine website at https://www.out.com/documentary/robin-byrd-bang-my-box