KPFT's 'Prison Show' gets 'perfect' new host

There's one thing that listeners to the "Prison Show" on KPFT-FM (90.1) can know for sure: Ray Hill's successor knows whereof he speaks.

Hill, who created the show in 1980, is handing over the mike to Anthony Graves, who spent 18 years behind bars on a wrongful conviction, including a number of years in isolation and 12 years on death row.

"It seemed like a perfect fit for me," said Graves, 47, who was released from prison and declared innocent in August 2010. He had been wrongfully convicted in 1994 of six counts of capital murder in Burleson County.

"Anthony brings a lot of interesting twists to the story," Hill said. "First, he spent time on death row. Folks who did that and survived are rare. It gives him a special affinity with guys on the row. Second, it's really quite rare to have somebody on the 'Prison Show' who's actually innocent."

Graves said he listened to the show off and on during his years behind bars. "I was so busy fighting for my life I didn't want to do anything but listen to a guard who kept telling me to push forward with my case," he said.

Graves will share hosting duties with Kathy Griffin, a singer and former offender who runs drug- and prostitution-recovery programs.

The Houston-based radio show, part news program and part call-in show, airs on Friday nights from 9-11 p.m. and is the only radio show in the country catering to inmates and their families. KPFT-FM reaches 14 prisons across East and Southeast Texas, approximately a sixth of the state's prison population.

Hill, 72, retired from the two-hour show in January 2011 but returned as temporary host in June of this year after his first successor, David Babb, resigned, citing the nonprofit Pacifica Radio station's decision to prohibit him from using former talk show host and felon Jon Matthews as co-host. Matthews, a former conservative radio talk show host in Houston, pleaded guilty in 2004 to charges of indecency with a child.

Hill's second stint
Hill characterized the dispute as "a drama-queen fit." The longtime Houston gay activist and former inmate returned to the air on June 1 and vowed to stay no longer than three months. Graves' agent contacted him the next day.

"Anthony is so eager to talk because he was in isolation for so long," Hill said. "The thing about it is, if they had locked me up for so long I would be one (angry) guy. Anthony doesn't show any of that."

Graves said that in addition to his unpaid hosting duties, he plans to continue pursuing a career as a motivational speaker.

The radio program, he said, "is a great vehicle for people to stay in contact with their loved ones who are incarcerated."

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