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I am Richard Looney. For reasons I won't go into here, "Rash" has been my nickname since High School. I started the Joe Frank FAQ on Usenet in the very early days of the internet, based on notes I'd been taking since the late 1980s, when I lived in LA and Joe was on KCRW every week.
I am Richard Looney. For reasons I won't go into here, "Rash" has been my nickname since High School. I started the Joe Frank FAQ on Usenet in the very early days of the internet, based on notes I'd been taking since the late 1980s, when I lived in LA and Joe was on KCRW.


I first heard Joe Frank on Halloween, 1979, when I still lived in my hometown of Washington DC. There were two public radio stations serving the area then, and I knew All Things Considered was repeated on the one, 90 minutes after the other. On this date they played something remarkable, at the end of the news: The Night Watchman, from [[Lies]]. It was so weird, well-done and thought-provoking, I  readied my cassette deck an hour later, and recorded it during the repeat. Unfortunately I wasn't in time to catch the preceding, explanatory comments, so I had no idea about what I'd captured; but it was a favorite in my audio collection.
I first heard Joe Frank on Halloween, 1979, when I still lived in my hometown of Washington DC. There were two public radio stations serving the area then, and I knew All Things Considered was repeated on the one, 90 minutes after the other. On this date they played something remarkable, at the end of the news: The Night Watchman, from [[Lies]]. It was so weird, well-done and thought-provoking, I  readied my cassette deck an hour later, and recorded it during the repeat. Unfortunately I wasn't in time to catch the preceding, explanatory comments so I had no idea about what I'd captured; but it was a favorite in my audio collection.


Eight years later, I had moved to Southern California, still getting used to the public radio out there.  KCRW was playing in the other room, late one afternoon in October, when I was stunned to realize I was hearing a familiar voice! It was the premiere of [[At The Border]], and I was amazed to learn the Night Watchman had a radio show, with new material, every week! So naturally I started recording his shows, logging details as they were broadcast. At the time, KCRW sold audio cassettes of his shows, and I mailed to them for details. The listing they sent me, which labeled each show as either a Drama or Monologue, was the basis and origin of the FAQ.
Eight years later, I had moved to Southern California, still getting used to the public radio out there.  KCRW was playing in the other room, late one afternoon in October, when I was stunned to realize I was hearing a familiar voice! It was the premiere of [[At The Border]], and I was amazed to learn the Night Watchman had a radio show, with new material, every week! So naturally I started recording his shows, logging details as they were broadcast. At the time, KCRW sold audio cassettes of his shows, and I mailed to them for details. The listing they sent me, which labeled each show as either a Drama or Monologue, was the basis and origin of the FAQ.


I'm no longer clear on the development details but eventually, Henry Lowengard found it on The Well and posted [http://wfmu.org/JF/joe_fran.html the FAQ on WFMU's website], where it still lives today (but hasn't been updated since '04, sorry). Early on, many forgotten contributors helped identify the music Joe used, which I added to each program's details, along with the credits given at the end of each show. About the time Joe went commercial and started up [http://joefrank.com/ joefrank.com], since so many new shows were just rehashes of previous material, I lost interest and moved on. I did meet Joe twice, however - at his [[Live At Market Street|performance at 72 Market Street]] (where a friend was a waiter, so I had an "in") and later, at his book-signing for [[Queen_Of_Puerto_Rico,_The_(Book)|The Queen of Puerto Rico]], at Book Soup on the Sunset Strip, in 1993.
I'm no longer clear on the development details but eventually, Henry Lowengard found it on The Well and posted [http://wfmu.org/JF/joe_fran.html the FAQ on WFMU's website], where it still lives today (but hasn't been updated since '04, sorry). Early on, many forgotten contributors helped identify the music Joe used, which I added to each program's details, along with the credits given at the end of each show. About the time Joe went commercial and started up [http://joefrank.com/ joefrank.com], I was finding his material repetitive, and I lost interest. I did meet Joe twice, however - at his [[Live At Market Street|performance at 72 Market Street]] (where a friend was a waiter, so I had an "in") and later, at his book-signing for [[Queen_Of_Puerto_Rico,_The_(Book)|The Queen of Puerto Rico]], at Book Soup on the Sunset Strip, in 1993.


So many thanks to the newer generation of Frank-o-philes for updating this Wiki!
So many thanks to the newer generation of Frank-o-philes for updating this Wiki!
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