For five years, the weekly radio show “Out of Bounds” has featured interviews with idealists, enthusiasts, and visionaries: people thinking, working, and living, outside the mainstream. For each show, host Tish Pearlman transforms the tagline, “We have a lot to talk about,” into a vibrant reality as she transcends the ranting of most popular radio and promotes understanding among people of diverse backgrounds through thoughtful 30-minute conversations. Broadcast on WEOS 89.7 FM (now available streaming on weos.org) and WSKG 90.9 FM, the show brings clear-headed conversations into car radios and other listening devices.
On Thursday, October 14, Out of Bounds will celebrate its fifth anniversary with a special live taping of the broadcast at Cinemapolis (116 E. Green St.) in Ithaca at 7:00 p.m. Pearlman will be joined by sisters Amy and Rachel Dickinson, writers who have both appeared on the program before. The program will be emceed by Barbara Mink, the Founder and Artistic Director of the Light in Winter Festival of science and the arts.
Since its debut in April 2005, the show has featured conversations with writers, teachers, composers, artists, activists, musicians, and members of various religious and cultural communities. These guests discuss their non-traditional work and undertakings, which are generally “outside the mainstream.”
Guests on “Out of Bounds” have included everyone from folk duo Nate and Kate to Howard Zinn, Judy Chicago and Russell Banks. Pearlman does all her own booking. Her focus is on the local however, whether guests are literary (J. Robert Lennon, Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon), scientific (mathematician Steve Strogatz) or activist (Coalition Against Hunger’s Joel Berg, Toxic Targeting’s Walter Hang.)
Pearlman grew up in Los Angeles and studied at the Columbia School of Broadcasting. She told The Ithaca Times in 2008 that creating a radio show was a natural segue for her work in theater and politics – specifically political organizing and communication. “People kept saying, ‘You have a really good voice,’ and I thought that it was a logical step to get into broadcasting. I take the politics and the acting in some ways and put them together,” Perlman told The Ithaca Times’ Bryan VanCampen.
Amy Dickinson writes the syndicated column, “Ask Amy,” is the author of The New York Times bestseller The Mighty Queens of Freeville and is a regular contributor to NPR programs, including “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” and “Talk of the Nation.” Rachel Dickinson is a travel writer and has written on science, nature and the environment for many national publications. She is the author of Falconer on the Edge: A man, his birds, and the vanishing landscape of the American West. Both reside in Freeville.
The fifth anniversary taping of “Out of Bounds” will occur at Cinemapolis Thursday, Oct. 14 at 7:00pm. Tickets for this celebration/fundraiser are $25 and are available at The Ticket Center.