He’s an unassuming optometrist by day. But for one night a week, Howard Margolin ’86 gets to indulge his science fiction dreams through Destinies, a radio show he hosts on Stony Brook University’s WUSB 90.1/107.3 FM.
He’s so devoted to this labor of love that he has hosted the show for 42 years, serving as the show’s sole host since 1990. It’s become such a personal mission that Margolin has not required a fill-in or aired a repeat episode in 36 years.
“I’m up to 1,739 consecutive shows,” he said proudly.
Margolin has loved audio since he was a kid, getting his first taste as a high school senior in East Northport, New York, in 1982, when he and a friend started a pirate radio station out of his friend’s bedroom.
“It was a little two-watt FM pirate radio station, with a four-mile radius, and we just played being DJs,” he said. “We had records, two turntables, a mixer, a cassette deck and an oscilloscope, so we knew not to over-modulate. I did that through the summer after I graduated high school, and then I came to Stony Brook.”
Destinies — The Voice of Science Fiction began on WUSB in April, 1983, the brainchild of students Gary Halada and Mike Botwin. After one semester, Fred Coulter joined the pair and soon began inviting members of Stony Brook’s Science Fiction Forum to participate. Margolin took the opportunity to contribute.
“I’d done a lot of acting in high school, but as a bio major, pre-med, I didn’t have time to get involved with the theater department,” said Margolin. “But Coulter’s invitation gave me a chance to do it when I could.”
The Science Fiction Forum is one of Stony Brook’s oldest active student-run clubs and has been in existence for more than 55 years. Though no longer involved with Destinies, Halada has remained a continuous member of the Stony Brook community; he joined the faculty after earning his PhD in materials science in 1993, and is currently an associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering.
His first night, Margolin read a short story on the air. Two weeks later, with one co-host unavailable and another ill, Margolin was asked to fill in. He co-hosted again the next week, and though he didn’t know it at the time, a 42-year-and-counting science fiction odyssey had begun. About a year after Destinies‘ debut, Margolin had an opportunity to officially come on board, and he took it.
“I learned editing from the other guys,” he said. “It was much more rigorous than it is now because back then you had to edit with a razor blade and splicing tape. I learned from watching them. As time went on, I got better and better at doing that. I love the fact that technology has evolved from reel-to-reel tape to digital. You don’t have to come to the studio. You can do it all at home.”
By the fall of 1985, Destinies would take the 11:30 pm Friday night time slot, where it has remained ever since. Margolin hosted Destinies until graduating in 1986 with a BS in biological sciences and heading off for graduate studies at SUNY State College of Optometry.
“When I left to go to optometry school, I did what I thought was my farewell show,” he said. “A DJ named Joe Evangelista joined me for an elaborate Star Wars-inspired final battle. I was Obi-Wan, and he was Darth Vader, and he cut me down. I would be here in spirit, but I never figured I would come back.”
Though he had to pull back his commitment because of his studies, Margolin managed to keep one foot in the Destinies door.
“I was going to school in New York City, and I didn’t have the time to do it every week,” he said. “But I tried to get in at least one appearance per month, and during summer or winter break, I would do it every week.”
After graduating in 1990, Margolin moved back to Long Island to begin a career as an optometrist, and had an opportunity to once again take over his beloved Destinies from the hosts who had replaced him four years earlier. On November 16, 1990, he began his remarkable streak.
“I’ve done every episode since that day,” said Margolin.
Today, he meticulously produces each show from his bedroom, broadcasting live from WUSB’s on-campus studio about one-third of the time. Hundreds of writers, artists, editors, actors, producers, directors and musicians have appeared on the program since its debut. Regular features include the Destinies Audiobook Sampler, Soundtrack Spotlight, Graphic Detail, the Destinies Radio Theater, Patrick Thomas’ “Dear Cthuhlu,” and poetry by Christina M. Rau, one of Margolin’s patients and a fellow science fiction fan, as well as a professor of English at Nassau Community College.
“Captain” Phil Merkel, who now hosts his own show on WUSB, got his start on Destinies in 2005 and archives the show online.
Now approaching its 43rd anniversary, it stands as one of radio’s longest-running science fiction programs. In fact, as far as Margolin knows, Destinies is the second-longest-running show of its kind in the world. The first is Hour of the Wolf, hosted by Jim Freund on New York’s 99.5 WBAI-FM.
“Jim Freund is the only person in the world who has been doing this longer than me,” he said. “But he has co-hosts and guest hosts and reruns. I might get preempted for a reggae marathon or student takeover one week, but other than that and a five-week enforced hiatus in 1993, I’ve produced a new show every week since 1990. At this stage, the goal is to see how long I can keep going.”
All these years later, even Margolin is amazed at Destinies’ longevity.
“I had no idea this was even possible,” he said. “I think I still have something to say, and I still like it. So 44 years after doing pirate radio out of a bedroom, I’m once again doing my show from a bedroom. I never thought I would still be doing it this long, but now I can’t imagine ever stopping.”
— Robert Emproto
The Stony Brook alumni community was saddened to learn of Margolin’s passing in September 2026. We are grateful to have shared his story earlier this year and extend our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.
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