For 16 seasons, “In The Life” has spotlighted different facets of the GLBT community. This televised gay and lesbian newsmagazine, a stalwart in GLBT programming that has been nominated thrice for an Emmy, is getting a facelift for its sweet 16, welcoming a new look and a new host.

The Gay and Lesbian Times spoke with two people behind-the-scenes of the show, executive producer Dan Hunt and communications officer Scott Miller, to get the scoop on what it takes to keep the show fascinating for 16 seasons, and on what is in store for this season.

“We’ve got a dedicated new host, Michael Billy,” Hunt said. “With this season, we’ve decided to go with one person, someone who is recognizable as the face of ‘In The Life.’ And that’s Michael Billy, a young guy who participates on Sirius Q, the radio network.”

Billy, 25, is also a staunch advocate for erasing homophobia, and is seen as a national leader for GLBT youth. Billy was an anchor and news writer for the Sirius Satellite Radio program, “The Out Q News,” before he was brought on board “The Frank DeCaro Show,” also on Sirius Satellite Radio. And, he is currently on “The Alex Bennet Program” on Sirius Left, every weekday from 9 a.m. until noon.

In years prior, the show relied on a roster of celebrity guest hosts, such as Susan Sarandon, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper and Rosie O’Donnell, among others, to lend a hand to the show. The new show restructuring will now feature a component called “A Conversation with…” Be on the lookout for comedienne Kate Clinton interviewing Margaret Cho in January for that inaugural segment.

And even though there will be changes in the show’s format, such as its “Hidden Histories” series, which highlights the unsung people and events that have formed the rocky road to equality – the show will continue to adhere to its original mission statement.

“The mission of the organization is to present stories which reflect the gay experience,” Miller said. “Ultimately, it’s moving the message point and having people understand, in fact, that all of our communities are connected. We do that largely by developing well documented stories, but diverse stories that are on issues and provocative. And we try, where at all possible, to draw relationships to these stories to a mainstream audience.

“What we are doing is presenting images and we are presenting stories and putting them in a context that people can look at and recognize, ‘Hey, wait a minute. This affects me in some way, or this is relevant to me in some way.’”

Aside from its mission statement and the edification of “In The Life” viewers, Miller stressed the importance of how producing the show and viewer support go hand in hand.

“One of the challenges, as well as one of the real focuses for ‘In The Life,’ is really kind of re-engaging the program,” Miller stated. “As you are probably already aware, public television is taking a beating. So, when you see the diversity in the programs, or when you see these stories that make you go, ‘Oh, I never even thought of that!’ It does reintroduce why it’s so important that the members of our community continue to look at our program.

“As much as we talk about what we do, and the value of what we do, it doesn’t do anything if people don’t have access to it. It’s a real privilege to be able to produce public broadcast television, but there is also a responsibility,” Miller said. “The privilege, of course, comes because we don’t have advertising dollars that are driving what our stories are.

“But, the flip side of that is that we need support. Much of what we do is privately funded, in fact almost all of it, by individual contributions. So, it’s important that people continually know about what we are doing, and be aware of why it matters to them.”

The team behind-the-scenes have a virtual smorgasbord of material lined up for viewers to sample this year – from the gay camping phenomenon, to an undercover piece on the ex-gay movement, and a historical piece on The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the show hits all points.

Hunt explained how they go about finding the subject matter and stories for the show, that can run from eight to 20 minutes, and can take upwards of six months to produce.

“It’s a pretty varied process,” Hunt said. “We are always scouring all the news sources, from The New York Times to CNN. And we also have an extensive network of organizations that we work with, everything from Lambda Legal to The Human Rights Campaign to keep an ear to the movement.

“Moving forward, we’ve got a number of stories that we are working on,” Hunt said. “We’re doing everything from a light story on the Broadway play Xanadu, which is fun; essentially just looking at why it’s such a cult classic for gay men, and it’s a high camp, really fun piece. (We are) doing a story on what it means to be an aging gay man or lesbian in the gay community, so we are looking at housing and health.”

Sometimes story ideas unfold from the sensationalized treatment of scandals that taint the GLBT community. “In The Life” tries to shed more light on them.

“In the January show, we are doing a piece on the Sen. Larry Craig bathroom scandal, and that really just came out of that media whirlwind that was happening,” Hunt said. “It was on CNN almost every 10 minutes, and two or three phrases just kept coming up without any kind of depth. So, sometimes we’ll just watch and listen to traditional news, and take a story and go deeper.”

One of the mantras the show is adopting this season is akin to “Think Globally, Act Locally” in terms of expanding the viewers’ minds to the plight of GLBT people outside of the United States.

“We’re also doing international stories,” Hunt said. “Personally, I think international stories are vitally important, because in a lot of countries gay life and the whole concept of gay identity is comparable to what gay life and gay identity was like in the states 50 years ago. So the stories are horrific and compelling, and for viewers in the United States, it really does put things into perspective.”

Miller added his thoughts on the importance of showing this all-encompassing global angle.

“I think one of the challenges is for a lot of people in the gay community, is that they live in these urban centers,” Miller said. “And so they sometimes forget what life is like to be gay in an urban center versus anyplace else on the planet. In fact, you’re part of a very small percentage.”

“In The Life,” which airs on PBS and has aired on LOGO since 2006, has faced its own share of adversity in its illustrious history.

“When ‘In The Life’ first began, there was Sen. (Bob) Dole on the floor of Congress who made a big stink about ‘Your tax dollars are paying for this kind of programming,’” Hunt said. “It’s let up since, but I just went to a PBS conference, and they still get hate mail and they still get phone calls every month that we broadcast from people saying, ‘Why are you supporting the homosexual agenda? Why are you airing this type of programming?’ So the backlash is still alive. And there are PBS stations around the country that will not broadcast us.”

Undeterred by any such obstacles, both men can be proud of the work that they and the other members of the “In The Life” team do. In fact, the program recently received The Academy of Television Arts & Science’s Ribbon of Hope Special Achievement Award, as well as numerous other prestigious awards during its run.

For Hunt, he cited a particular episode that he considers a feather in the program’s cap, as one of his proudest moments.

“For me, personally, the story I am most proud of is, three years ago I produced a story on crystal meth,” he said. “And it was probably one of the first stories on national television that looked at crystal methamphetamine from the gay perspective. It was an incredibly important story that needed to be told, that, frankly a lot of people didn’t want to tell, because it was a bit of airing dirty laundry.

“After spending a little bit of time with some of the men I interviewed, I knew this was vital information that had to get out there, that had to be told.”

And there are other important stories waiting to be told, and for those Hunt hopes that no matter what the viewers’ sexual orientation, that they come away from watching “In The Life” with an open mind and an open heart.

“The hope of the goal with a general audience, the moms and the dads, the families, who are thinking about these issues, or are maybe dealing with some of these issues; what I hope viewers get from this is just a better understanding of what real gay and lesbian people are like. You know, that we are just like them in many ways.

“I think with straight people and gay people – there’s a lot of misconceptions, so I hope the show dispels some of those,” Hunt said. “And for folks within the community, I hope they learn something about our community, and the fact that they have this amazing and rich history. So, I hope that gay audiences get a sense of our history and also learn something about what’s going on in the movement.”