Historic Audio from the Archives of Charles Ruas - Meredith Monk, Quarry (2016): Nov 26, 2025: 4pm - 5pm

This program originally broadcast on October 1, 2016 features Meredith Monk in a 1976 interview with Charles Ruas at WBAI radio conducted on the occasion of the premier performance of her seminal musi...

Jerzy Kosiński, The Cockpit (1975): Jun 03, 2017: 1am - 2am

Author Jerzy Kosiński (1933-91) reads from and discusses his novel, Cockpit, with Charles Ruas and Linda Rosechild-Harris in 1975. Cockpit is the debriefing of a mysterious CIA operative, Tarden. Now...

A Poet's LIfe - V.R. "Bunny" Lang: Mar 04, 2017: 11am - 12am

This is the story, recorded in 1975, of a poet and a movement that fueled the careers of John Ashbery, Frank O'Hara, and Edward Gorey. The segment includes recorded readings by the late Bunny, as well...

John Cage and Morton Feldman - Radio Happenings (1966): Feb 04, 2017: 1am - 2am

John Cage and Morton Feldman: Radio Happenings (1966) Composers John Cage and Morton Feldman recorded four free-styling conversations at the studios of radio station WBAI in New York between July 1966...

Craig Nova, The Geek: Jan 07, 2017: 1am - 2am

The award-winning author of Wetware (now a movie directed by Jay Craven) in a 1975 interview with Charles Ruas discussing and reading from his second novel, The Geek. The writer calls for an end to tr...

Klaus Kertess Seen, Written: Dec 03, 2016: 1am - 2am

Charles Ruas in a 2012 conversation with dealer, a curator and critic Klaus Kertess who died in October 2016. The focus was Kertess’s collected essays about artists with whom he was associated, Seen,...

Susan Howe and The Women's Distribution Group : Nov 05, 2016: 1am - 2am

A 1977 conversation between poet and critic Susan Howe and a circle of New York City-based independent female publishers, Barbara Baracks, Maureen Owen, Fran Winant, Roberta Gould, and Marty Pottinger...

Meredith Monk, Quarry : Oct 01, 2016: 1am - 2am

This program features Meredith Monk in a 1976 interview with Charles Ruas at WBAI radio conducted on the occasion of the premier performance of her seminal musical-theatrical work, Quarry. The intervi...

James Laughlin - Secrets of Gertrude and Pound: Sep 03, 2016: 1am - 2am

James Laughlin (1914-97), the bold and fiercely independent poet and founder of New Directions Publishing in 1936, championed new poetry, experimental prose, and controversial plays. His "stable" inc...

Marguerite Young's Angel In The Forest: Aug 06, 2016: 1am - 2am

The enigmatic, iconoclastic writer Marguerite Young (1908-95) and her friend Anaïs Nin with hosts Charles Ruas and Joan Schwartz in the WBAI New York radio studios in 1976. Together they profile the a...

Anaïs Nin, Marguerite Young: Jul 02, 2016: 1am - 2am

Anaïs Nin and Marguerite Young, "Angel in the Forest" (1976). Anaïs Nin introduces and then Charles Ruas and Joan Schwartz interview the enigmatic, iconoclastic writer about her masterwork, the non-fi...

Ishmael Reed's Flight to Canada: Jun 04, 2016: 1am - 2am

This 1976 WBAI broadcast recording is a conversation shared between Charles Ruas and Ishmael Reed, following the publication of the activist's novel, Flight to Canada. The two discuss the historical n...

Ed Sanders, Tales of Beatnik Glory: May 07, 2016: 1am - 2am

An interview by Charles Ruas with Ed Sanders, the author of Tales of Beatnik Glory, originally broadcast in 1975 on WBAI-FM. Owner of the Peace Eye bookstore, publisher of the legendary Fuck You: A M...

Richard Foreman: Apr 02, 2016: 1am - 2am

In this 1975 interview with Charles Ruas, originally broadcast on WBAI-FM, New York, playwright and director Richard Foreman gives detailed insight into his process with illustrations from rehearsals...

Beckett Mabou Mines: Mar 05, 2016: 1am - 2am

Founded in 1970, Mabou Mines is a collective of actors who initially sought to define and interpret the works of Samuel Beckett, as well as that of their own, in a way that coerced the audience into...

William S. Burroughs: The Making of Naked Lunch: Feb 06, 2016: 1am - 2am

A 1975 program produced by Charles Ruas at WBAI-FM in New York. It contains readings by author William S. Burroughs, a fascinating discussion led by Allen Ginsberg with Burroughs, courageous publishe...

Allen Ginsberg on Buddhism and The Beats: Jan 02, 2016: 1am - 2am

From analyzing American Indian languages to experimenting with hallucinogens, the quest for enlightenment and spirituality is synonymous with The Beats. For many of those involved in the movement, the...

John Giorno, Dial-A-Poem #6 (1975): Dec 05, 2015: 1am - 2am

This segment of Dial-A-Poem features American poet and performance artist John Giorno musing with co-producers and interviewers Charles Ruas and Linda Perry over the pragmatic-yet-existential dilemma...

Alex Haley, Roots : Nov 07, 2015: 1am - 2am

Charles Ruas in a 1976 interview with Alex Haley, author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family. They discuss the writer's intentions, as well as his near anthropological approach to the book. In wh...