AAPB Launches New Special Collection of Radio Programs from Georgia Public Broadcasting, 1992-2007

Collection Summary

The Georgia Gazette Collection consists of 102 Georgia Gazette radio programs produced by Georgia Public Broadcasting in Atlanta, Georgia from 1992-2007. Georgia Gazette started under the name Georgia Journal as an hour long weekly call-in radio magazine that covered a wide array of Georgia topics. It is unclear when the title Georgia Journal changed to Georgia Gazette. The main host of Georgia Gazette was Bruce Dortin. After 2007, the program became a daily thirty-minute broadcast hosted by Rickey Bevington. Georgia Gazette is considered to be the longest running Georgia focused radio program in the country. Each episode focused on a variety of topics with reports from all across the state. It covered Georgia legislative issues and political events including the Georgia general assembly and elections. Common segments that were featured throughout the magazine included sports briefs, the arts calendar, fictional legal advice, and commentaries. Guests often included well-known and lesser-known Georgian writers, comedians, journalists, scholars, lawyers, artists, psychologists, and doctors. Major topics included the 1996 Olympics, teen pregnancy, race issues, and local protests.

Along with the weekly show, the Georgia Gazette team also produced an hour long monthly call-in program called Georgia Gazette Consumer Call-In, which featured guests who would give advice and inform the public on a single consumer-related topic. The Georgia Gazette Consumer Call-In program focused on the single topic of consumer rights. From time to time the program focused on a particular consumer issue such as auto recalls, credit card scams, and telecommunication development. Some guests featured in the program were the Secretary of the State of Georgia Lewis Massey and later, Cathy Cox as well as representatives from the Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs, Berry Reed and Trilis Halford. During this program, Georgians could call in and get help and advice directly from the experts about their consumer issues. Occasionally, the program would re-release popular segments from past shows together in an episode titled Best of Georgia Gazette.

Collection Background

The Georgia Gazette Series was contributed to the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB) by GPB during the AAPB Public Broadcasting Digitization Fellowship, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services in 2018. Collection digitized by Virginia Angles and Riley Griffin.