» To learn more about the Fales Library, please click here.
In late 2008-early 2009, New York University's Fales Library acquired the Gay Cable Network Archives.
Allen Zwickler facilitated the acquisition with Marvin J. Taylor, the Fales Director, and Carol A. Mandel, the Dean of Libraries.
Also, in 2015 the Library acquired 15 years of GAY USA archives broadcast by Andy Humm and Anne Northrop.
We recently visited the NYU Fales Library and viewed the nearly complete digitized version of the Lou P. Maletta collection,
which was part of the exhibit "positive/negative: HIV/AIDS." Click here to view the exhibit brochure.
Over 800 broadcast tapes of the programs "Gay USA," "Pride and
Progress," and "The Right Stuff" have received full preservation. In addition, 167 videotapes have been preserved of GCN's
coverage of various Democratic and Republican National Conventions with on-floor GCN correspondents interviewing
candidates and delegates, and a dozen tapes covering various installments of the AIDS Quilt.
Since acquiring the Gay Cable Network Archive, Fales archivist Brent Phillips has assisted in providing GCN footage
for a variety of LGBTQ documentaries, including "How To Survive a Plague," "Vito: The Life of Gay Activist Vito Russo,"
"We Were Here," as well as upcoming documentaries "Let It Shine," "Julio of Jackson Heights," and films about AIDS activist
Brent Earle Nicholson—who most famously did "The American Run for the End of AIDS"—and HBO Documentary's
forthcoming film about Larry Kramer.
All digitized tapes—as well as all of the GCN paper and photograph files—are currently available for viewing
in the Fales reading room by appointment. It is
more widely available through on-line streaming files. The GCN finding aid is still being updated with content
description, but can be found here: http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/fales/gaycable/
Fales plans to begin preserving GCN's coverage of the LGBT rights marches on Washington (1987, 1993)
and Pride rallies and parades.
» Watch a video interview with the creator of the collection, Lou P. Maletta.
Click on PLAY to start the video.
The full 3 hour interview with Lou Maletta, which includes his life story,
is available from the PZ Foundation by clicking here.
NYU News
Press Release
June 16, 2009
Click on the images to view the articles.
Andy Humm's article
in Gay City News
July 29, 2009
I founded The Gay Cable Network (GCN) in 1982. GCN used pick-up, all-volunteer camera crews. We utilized various film and video media to chronicle a wide range of events of a sexual, cultural and political nature. In addition, we worked on a local, regional and international level to conduct interviews with diverse personalities during the critical decades of the 80's and 90's. Based in New York City, GCN was the first LGBT-identified programming broadcast on local Public Access television, involving several landmark freedom-of- speech legal cases as well as in the other US and foreign cities. GCN was also a pioneer with its "Gay USA" program, providing legitimate television journalism including but not limited to coverage of LGBT civil rights battles, five presidential conventions, diverse issues related to the course of global AIDS pandemic, HIV/AIDS-related and other social protest (before the mainstream media) plus a wide range of cultural events from a LGBT perspective. Special thanks to Andy Humm, Ann Northrop and Frank Oldham for being hosts/ newscasters. There is no doubt in my mind that GCN helped pave the way for the present-day LGBT programming, such as LOGO (affiliated with CBS News) which is seen nationally. The GCN Archive also includes transmitted programs in addition to over 1500 hours of rushes and original material not broadcast in a variety of formats and a considerable amount of related ephemera.
With the help of Allen Zwickler, Trustee of the Phil Zwickler Charitable and Memorial Foundation Trust, the entire archives has been moved to its present location at NYU's Fales Library. It is housed in a climate controlled space. The Fales Library is presently looking for funding to enable it to transfer the 6100 hours of video/film to DVDs and catalog the data of the entire collection to enable it to be available on the Internet.
On a more personal note, I started the network on a shoe string, convincing those that were listening that the $0.50 piece I had was really worth $50. My first program took me 28 hours to edit a 1/2 hour program. What got me to expand was the death of a very good friend who was one of the first to die of GRID, which was what AIDS was originally called. There was very little information available about GRID, so I became the first to show what a KC liason looked like. In 1984 I obtained an application for the National Democratic and Republican Conventions. I filled them out and asked for everything, even though I thought I would never receive credentials. To my surprise I received a call from the House Television and Radio Gallery telling me I was accepted. They also said there was a cost for most of the things I wanted. I asked whether there was any cost for the 18 passes I applied for; they said no.
I contacted for help gay organizations in San Francisco, since that was where the Democratic Convention would be. I and my right-hand man flew to San Francisco and had our pictures taken for the San Francisco Chronicle.
Each convention had its own highlight. We were given a mansion in Atlanta where the hosts put us up and even had food available when we returned. In New Orleans we were given a house to stay in the French Quarter. We were also given a go away dinner by the Gay Men's Chorus who not only made the meals but serenaded us with songs like "Do you know what it means to Miss New Orleans". In Dallas a young volunteer for GCN was arrested because she touched a policeman while he was interrogating me about another person who had a T-shirt on that said "I know you can't believe I have AIDS". She was held in jail overnight. I fought the case and had to return to the Court a month later. The charges were dropped because the arresting policeman never showed up.
Everyone who worked at GCN was volunteers because they felt, as I did, a commitment to our civil and human rights. Passes to the Convention gave me access to ask questions from delegates and approach people like Henry Kissinger, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush and Jesse Jackson, to name just a few. We covered many events of the Gay Community from AIDS Walks to the Dance on the Pier. We interviewed artists, writers, entertainers and producers including Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Harvey Feinstein, Barbara Walters, director Derek Jarmen and writer Vito Russo. These interviews and much of the original footage in the GCN archive has never been seen, since we were constrained by the time factor involved in producing each program. This original footage is waiting for documentary film producers, students, scholars and writers to unearth and shine new light on this one of a kind archive.
