Listen to the full show Dr. Drew Pinsky on WTOP Amy Hunter,
wtop.com WASHINGTON - Drew Pinsky was a medical resident in the
early 1980s when a friend asked him to do his first call-in
radio show. The term AIDS had just been introduced, the concept
of "safe sex" had not yet been coined and the Internet was non-
existent in American homes. "Back then ... they would call radio
stations to try to get information," said Pinsky, who was a
guest on WTOP's "Ask the Doctor" show on Thursday. At his
practice, Pinsky was telling patients daily they were going to
die in six months. And as word of the terrifying new virus began
to spread, young people began calling the radio show for
answers. "People were saying, 'I think a condom might help, but
I don't know for sure,'" Drew says. The medical community
tackled the burgeoning epidemic with unprecedented speed. It
took a mere 20 years to identify AIDS, create a diagnostic test
and produce effective treatments. In addition, massive education
efforts made for an informed popu