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Barbara Frum interviews Manson Family's Sandra Good

It is one of the most confrontational conversations in CBC Radio's history. In September 1975, Charles Manson follower and eco-terrorist Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme is arrested after a failed assassination attempt on U.S. President Gerald Ford. Following Fromme's arrest, Barbara Frum gets on the phone with Fromme's roommate Sandra Good. In the famous exchange, Good demands to know whether Frum is a man or a woman after calling her a "very, very bad reporter."

Frum calmly replies: "I am a man." Good abruptly ends the interview shortly after that by hanging up on her.

• A year before the infamous Good interview, Barbara Frum was diagnosed with leukemia. She was 36 years old at the time. She kept her cancer a secret, at first even to her children. Frum later explained her decision saying that she wanted to be defined by what she did and not by her illness.

• For an interview with Barbara Frum in which she discusses this interview, listen here.
Medium: Radio
Program: As It Happens
Broadcast Date: Sept. 10, 1975
Guest(s): Sandra Good
Host: Barbara Frum, Alan Maitland
Duration: 8:38

Last updated: February 15, 2013

Page consulted on February 15, 2013

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