Moondog's Pop Culture Radio Hour: Recent Episodes
Gary Colabuono
Before podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube, there was LIVE radio! Moondog's Pop Culture Radio Hour was a 1-hour radio show that debuted in September 1993 on WCBR 92.7 FM in Chicago. Hosted by Kim "Howard" Johnson, Larry Marder and Gary "Moondog" Colabuono, the MPCRH was dedicated to all things comic books and pop culture. Every show featured all-star guests like Stan Lee, Todd McFarlane, Frank Miller, Neil Gaiman, Jimmy Palmiotti, Joe Quesada and many, many more! But alas, MPCRH was a show ahead of its time and only lasted one year. Nearly 30 years later I'm dusting off the original recordings to share with the world again. Give them a listen...and enjoy! --Gary "Moondog" Colabuono
Episode 15 from December 18, 1993 - our Green Lantern show starring my dear friend Marty Nodell - the creator of Green Lantern back in 1940. Listen to a full 10 minute interview with Marty as he recounts the moment he came up with the character and the name. Don't miss this show!
***Face Front True Believer!
This is the BIG one - a 25-minute interview with the MAN himself: Stan Lee!
Listen as he talks about his career and the projects he was working on 30 years ago. If you listen closely you can hear the seeds of the Marvel Cinematic Universe germinating in the fertile mind of the most influential person in the history of comics!***
Episode 14 - December 11 1993
Moondog's favorite episode ever!
In the studio - Tiny Tim, the falsetto-singing ukulele-playing musician of Tiptoe Through the Tulips!
In the studio - Del Close, comedian, writer, actor, director, playwright, teacher, guru, beatnik, hippie and bon vivant!
In the studio - Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti! One of top creative teams of the 1990s doing their P&Q Report LIVE!
Pop Culture TV icons, Elinor Donahue and Ann B. Davis recall their signature rolls on Father Knows Best and the Brady Bunch in this incredible show from November 27, 1993.
Listen to behind-the-scenes insights on what it was like to play the iconic characters, Worf and Chekov as Howard interviews Michael Dorn and Walter Koenig during our All Star Trek Show!
EPISODE 10 November 13, 1993.
- Danger! Danger, Will Robinson! Listen to Bill Mumy discuss his career in TV (Space Family Robinson) and how much he enjoys comics.
- Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill discuss what it's like to be two creators from England barnstorming US comic book shops promoting their new comic - Marshall Law!
- Joe and Jimmy, in their P&Q Report lament the fact that Valiant left off the credits to Ninjak #1!
- And Alex Ross and Kurt Busiek discuss the creation of MARVELS! This book would catapult Alex to superstardom.
You don't want to miss this episode!
Welcome to Episode 9 of the Moondog's Pop Culture Radio Hour from November 6, 1993.
Howard leads off with a live interview of legendary entertainer, Steve Allen. Steve talks about his career and his connections to Clark Kent and Superman!
There's a short but sweet pre-recorded interview with RoboCop actress, Nancy Allen.
A quick P&Q report from Miami and then the real meat and potatoes - an interview with Neil Gaiman conducted when he was still doing the monthly Sandman book. Neil talks about the "future" of Sandman and then moves on to describe the other projects that he was working on: The Children's Crusade, Fables and Reflections and Angels and Visitations.
You don't want to miss this interview with the greatest living writer of comic books and fantastic literature.
The Moondog’s Pop Culture Radio Hour was the industry’s original podcast. To access all the shows go to my website www.moondogbuyscomics.com and click on RADIO SHOW.
Episode 8 of the Moondog’s Pop Culture Radio Hour from October 30, 1993 is on the air!
This was a special show in that host Howard Johnson was in Las Vegas getting married to his lovely bride, Laurie Bradach. So it was just Larry Marder and me talking about what was happening behind the scenes in the comics industry.
In other words the first comic-book podcast ever recorded.
Besides being the creator of Tales of the Beanworld, Larry Marder was the "Nexus of All Comic Book Realities" in the 1990s. Larry was as much at home with mainstream publishers as he was with the independent creator community. People trusted Larry and everyone sought his advice. This led to his being named executive director of Image Comics then president of Todd McFarlane Toys.
You also get a big dose of the Moondog himself as he explains a lot of what was going on in comics nearly 30 years ago.
The Moondog’s Pop Culture Radio Hour was the industry’s original podcast. To access all the shows go to my website www.moondogbuyscomics.com and click on RADIO SHOW.
This was one of our most famous shows as we featured an incredible interview with Mark Hamill! Mark recounts his first impressions of Star Wars and what he thought it might become. He also goes into how he became the voice of the Joker on Batman Animated Adventures.
In the studio was Chicago legend artist Jill Thompson. Jill talks about her career and working with Neil Gaiman on Sandman. This was prior to Jill’s breakout hit, Scary Godmother and listening to her again after all these years shows why she was so popular with fans across the country.
As the president of Classics International Entertainment, the public company that bought Moondog's with the intention of expanding it across the country, I regularly wore a suit to the office.
I know. Crazy, right?
One day I'm driving in to the office and I hear a commercial for Kuppenheimer Men's Clothing shops. It's some executive for a big company and he's explaining why he wears Kuppenheimer suits.
Heck! I was wearing a Kuppenheimer suit!
So when I get in the office I call our PR firm and explain that I want to be in a Kuppenheimer radio spot too - and that Kuppenheimer would jump at the chance to have the president of the country's largest comic book chain tout their wares.
So an hour later I get a call from our agency saying they would love to have me do a commercial.
And here it is. For the first time since 1994 Gary Colabuono, the Moondog, explains why he loves wearing Kuppenheimer suits.
PS: Today I own one suit that I wear to weddings and funerals.
This episode from October 16, 1993 is our F-Troop reunion show with Larry Storch and Ken Berry! F-Troop was one of the funniest TV shows ever made, and Larry and Ken talk about how much fun they had on the set.
Also, Howard and Larry conduct a classic interview with Chicago underground comix legend, Skip Williamson. Skip was the real deal when it came to pushing the boundaries of the comix art form.
Episode 5 of the Moondog’s Pop Culture Radio Hour from October 9, 1993 featured All My Children’s Walt Willey in the studio with host Howard Johnson. Walt and Howard were pals since grade school and the two guys were very comfortable working together. Walt was quite funny and you can tell he enjoyed himself.
Joining Howard and Walt was scream queen extraordinaire Brinke Stevens. Brinke was in town headlining Fangoria’s Weekend of Horror convention.
Gary and Larry were in Philadelphia for the huge ComicFest convention where they interviewed zillions of guests live on the air!
Howard did a masterful job of keeping track of the studio guests as well as everything going on in Philadelphia. He really was the consummate host.
It was our first “Theme” show and we called it Superman Saturday!
First we interview Death of Superman artist, Dan Jurgens, and then current Superman editor, Mike Carlin. We follow that up by bringing Vincent Sullivan – the very first Superman editor in 1938 – on the show. Unbelievably, the first time Carlin and Sullivan ever met was on our show! Some great, historic radio!
We then close the show with the 3 Jimmys – that’s right – Jack Larson (George Reeves’ Jimmy Olsen), Mark McClure (Christopher Reeve’s Jimmy Olsen) and Michael Landis (Lois & Clark’s Jimmy Olsen).
Hold on tight to your phone when you listen to Episode 3 of the Moondog's Pop Culture Radio Hour!
First up is an historic in-studio interview with Image Comics founder, Jim Valentino, who fills us in on all of his ShadowHawk projects of the time.
Also in-studio, with one of the most over-the-top interviews ever conducted on live radio, Mr. T himself! And wait until you hear Joe and Jimmy attempting to get a word in when Mr. T and the boys face off - it's a must hear show!
September 18, 1993. The Peter David vs.Todd McFarlane debate was the big news back in the fall of 1993. Hear all about it from Peter David himself! Local artist Mitch O'Connell stops in the studio for a live segment.
Our first show! Guests include Jimmy Palmiotti, Joe Quesada, Dave Sim, Jim Valentino, Neil Gaiman, Todd McFarlane and Alex Hyde White of the Fantastic Four movie!
We were just getting our feet wet with the show, but you can feel the excitement of doing live radio in our voices!
Before Podcasts, Spotify & YouTube, there was LIVE Radio!
Back in the early-90s I was convinced that the mainstream public was ready to embrace comic books and all the cool stuff that went with them. So I created a new concept in comic book shops - the Pop Culture Store. Besides selling the pop culture concept through my shops, I wanted to promote it to the world. So before there were podcasts or social media - there was old-fashioned over-the-air radio, and that's the platform I used to launch the Moondog's Pop Culture Radio Hour.
Moondog's Pop Culture Radio Hour was a one hour LIVE radio show that debuted in September 1993 on WCBR 92.7 FM. WCBR (short for Chicago Bears Radio - later we usurped the letters to mean Comic Book Radio) was a regional radio station located in Arlington Heights IL in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. I worked out a deal with the station's management to produce a weekly hour-long show about comics, TV and movies - basically the pop culture of the time (and all the stuff we were selling in our stores).
Kim "Howard" Johnson was the man behind the microphone and behind the scenes. Along with PR wiz, Joanne Levine, Howard arranged to secure the guests and conducted all the interviews. His relationships with not only the comic book community but also in movies and entertainment, opened a lot of doors for the show. As the host of the show, his easy going conversational style made the show sound so good. There would have been no MPCRH without Howard.
The early shows featured Larry Marder as Howard's co-host. Larry was Moondog's marketing director at the time but more importantly he was one of the most connected persons in the world of comic books and moved easily through the worlds of publishing, distributing and retailing - and of course within the creative community. His beloved Tales of the Beanworld is recognized as one of the most unique projects ever attempted in the field of comics. After he left Moondog's Larry went on to being publisher at Image Comics and ultimately worked for years as president of McFarlane Toys.
Joanne and Howard would brainstorm guests and Joanne would start the process of hunting them down. Joanne's company, Lekas & Levine Public Relations, is still a PR force in the world of pop culture. She continues to work with me and many other clients getting them needed publicity to further their efforts.
You'll hear me on most shows as the "color guy" giving my opinions of things but leaving the nuts and bolts to Howard.
We had many of the biggest names in comics, TV and film on the MPCRH. In fact, I still can't believe the creators and stars who agreed to be on our show. How's this for a short list:
Stan Lee, Todd McFarlane, Frank Miller, Neil Gaiman, Bob Hope, Tiny Tim, Peter David, Audrey Meadows, Bob Denver, Dave Sim, Jimmy Palmiotti, Joe Quesada and more and more and more.
But just like many concepts before and after, Moondog's Pop Culture Radio Hour - the original podcast - was a show ahead of it's time. Sales to other stations in markets across the country never materialized because the program directors basically didn't get it. Comic books? You gotta be kidding me... So after a year I had to pull the plug on the most ambitious media project ever attempted by a comic book retailer.
Give the show a listen - you'll be surprised how cool it was!
To learn more, go to https://www.moondogbuyscomics.com/radio-hour