Tributes List

Shortly after Joe’s passing, a number of tributes dedicated to Joe and his work appeared both on the radio and in print. Links to these tributes appear below.

On the Radio:

RadioLab – The Voice in Your Head – A Tribute to Joe Frank with Jad Abumrad, Brooke Gladstone, Ira Glass
KCRW | Press Play Remembering radio legend Joe Frank Madeleine Brand with Jennifer Ferro, Bob Carlson, Ira Glass (Note: Segment on Joe starts after about 30 seconds)
NPR | All Things Considered – Radio Artist, Writer Joe Frank Dies At 79 with Kelly McEvers, Ari Shapiro, Ira Glass and Joe Frank
NPR | Fresh Air – Remembering Peabody Award-Winning Radio Artist Joe Frank with Dave Davies, includes Terry Gross’ 1989 interview with Joe Frank
WNYC | On the Media – Joe Frank: The Known-Unknown with Brooke Gladstone, Mark Oppenheimer and Jad Abumrad featuring Joe Frank show segments.

In Print:

New York Review of Books – The Radio Auteur: Joe Frank, Ira Glass, and Narrative Radio by Andrew Leland
The New York Times – Joe Frank, Spinner of Strange Radio Tales, Is Dead at 79 by Richard Sandomir
The Washington Post – Joe Frank, boundary-pushing storyteller whose medium was radio, dies at 79 by Harrison Smith
Los Angeles Times – Joe Frank, who pushed the boundaries of radio storytelling, dies at 79 by Steve Marble
LA Observed – Dark Matter: The radio art of Joe Frank by Joel Bellman

Online Tributes:

HITS Daily Double
KCRW remembers radio artist Joe Frank by Avishay Artsy
KCRW – On Joe Frank and his transformative work by Jennifer Ferro
KCRW - On Joe Frank’s hallucinogenic journeys by Bob Carlson
KCRW - On being a ‘friend of Joe’ by Larry Josephson
Slate – Joe Frank Signs Off by Mark Oppenheimer
Chicago Reader – From the archive: Remembering radio storyteller Joe Frank by Deanna Isaacs
Current – Fans of Joe Frank remember the storyteller’s dark sonic magic by Jon Kalish
Jewish Journal – Joe Frank, Radio Host and Producer, 79 by Avishay Artsy
Quartzy - Joe Frank’s absurdist dreamscapes proved that real art has a place on the radio by Lila MacLellan
AIR Media – In memory of Joe Frank (1938-2018)
The Woodstock Whisperer – Story Weaver Extraordinaire Joe Frank

Last Updated: September 9, 2019

Reviews of Joe’s Work

"[Frank] travels in the emotional landscape of Bergman and Fellini; there's a tension and sense of mystery halfway between Kafka and Chandler... and a satiric edge worthy of Firesign Theatre and Woody Allen... No one else in radio is doing what Frank does."

The Washington Post

"Radio's Prince of Darkness Rules the Freeways. [Frank is] alternately dark, bizarre and very funny - but always hard to turn off."

The Wall Street Journal

"Joe Frank is a singular voice in radio. What he has done is hypnotic, psychotic, neurotic, sad, terrifying, and some of the funniest stuff I have ever heard anywhere. I can't think of another radio performer who has come close to achieving this kind of alchemy."

Charlie Kaufman, filmmaker

"You don't have to close your eyes to appreciate Joe Frank's dense audio universe cascading out of your radio. It helps, though, because there are so many layers - of sound, philosophy, of reality-coursing through his dramas... Come to think of it, after awhile, you won't want to close your eyes because in Frank's short stories for the radio, the tension and pathos are as enveloping as they are intriguing... "

The Washington Post

"The perfect Joe Frank experience is driving down an unfamiliar highway alone at night. You turn on your radio and are greeted by a lush, resonant voice that lulls you into a seemingly simple tale of love: a man at an airport saying goodbye to his wife over the phone, which abruptly turns into a vision of betrayal, alienation and death - often from obscure disease - all brought about by some profound personal failing, which is redeemed at the last moment by a nearly transcendent moment of joy."

Salon

"Joe Frank is an invaluable warrior who stands in defense of our fears, our vanities and our forever-eroding sense of ourselves. He transforms the everyday banality of the human comedy into an inspired weirdness that feeds on pathos and irony, and feels a lot like revelation. Sartre would have called it nausea; Frank makes it art."

Spin Magazine

"A strange, different, wondrously offbeat, frequently hilarious, altogether brilliant piece of work..There's never been anything quite like it...Joe Frank is an audio Fellini."

The Los Angeles Times

"Joe Frank's often bizarre scenarios for the mind are decidedly offbeat radio fare...part surreal satire, part bizarre meditation, part fever dream."

Los Angeles Daily News

"Frank wanders deeply into the unconscious, producing Dionysian stories with a fairy-tale intensity whose effect is often funny, disturbing and deeply memorable."

Salon Magazine

"Mixing bizarre monologues, multi-sequenced dramatic vignettes and mock-solemn critiques, [Joe Frank's work] is both sophisticated and surreal. A sizable cult has been growing around Frank...a rare radio talent."

The Village Voice

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Tributes List