The UK’s first Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender station is set to finally launch this Friday and will be aired right here in Manchester.
However this is not the first time Gaydio has hit the Mancunian airwaves, the station was initially set up as a temporary 2 week radio station to support the city’s Pride Festival back in 2006.
Toby Whitehouse, Director of Gaydio explains all about the build up to the launch and what the station hopes to achieve: “This first broadcast of Gaydio four years ago was received so well that we ran a further three pilot broadcasts each for 28 days. We initially wanted to add something different to Manchester Pride but over the past few years that mission has clearly changed, because of the significant ongoing demand we successfully applied to Ofcom for a full time licence enabling us to offer something different to radio listeners 365 days a year.”
The station was originally set to launch last year however Whitehouse and co-founder Ian Wallace delayed the launch to ensure that everything was perfect: “We wanted to make sure that we were ready. Putting together a month long trial broadcast is one thing, but when we turn the transmitter on this time, we won’t be switching it off again so its really important that we get it right,” he explained.
Now it appears that time is fast approaching with the station set to hit the sound waves of Greater Manchester on 88.4fm later this week.
Here Whitehouse reveals more about the station and what it means for both Manchester and beyond.
What gave you initiative to set up Gaydio? Ian Wallace and myself established Gaydio, whilst on a trip to Australia, Ian found a station called Joy FM, a gay and lesbian station that broadcasts from Melbourne. Probably at a similar time, I’d been listening to a station in Newquay called Malibu FM which existed to support the town’s surf festival. The two things came together and gave us the opportunity to see if something similar would work in this country. It’s changed over the years and Gaydio is now a social enterprise that is run by a Board of Directors.
Where exactly is the station based ? We’re based in Portland Tower on Portland Street, which makes us one of just a few stations actually broadcasting from the City Centre. There’s the Gay Village just down the road that provides some opportunities, but it’s important that we’re not just a village radio station. We’re broadcasting across Greater Manchester and that will very much be reflected in what you hear.
Who is involved in the station so far? A couple of months ago we put out an announcement that we were looking for people to get involved with putting the station together. So the last few weeks have been particularly busy for me as I’ve been meeting up with the 70 or so people that responded. So it’s those guys that will be at the heart of the station, but obviously Gaydio will involve thousands of people when you think about the number of people guests, advertisers, and of course listeners.
Can you reveal the names of any presenters yet? We’re going to announce this at the launch. There will be some familiar names alongside some new voices to the station. I’m really excited about the line up so far though, its packed full of great personalities.
Do you think there is enough LGBT content to be talked about? Whilst there will be room to feature LGBT content, that is by no means all we’re about. It’s about providing a familiar point of view to LGBT listeners. So it’s much more about “gay sensibility” than “gay subject”. I hope that people will recognise Gaydio as a station that “knows where I’m coming from”, something that generally seems missing from current radio offerings. Take the election for example, we’re just as interested, but there are some issues that are more relevant to an LGBT audience.
What will the station sound like? During the day the station will mainly focus on pop and dance music. There will be loads of contemporary stuff, but lots of great memories too. I think that it will be a surprising mix though, like scanning through a friend’s iPod. There will be songs that you know and love alongside some music that you’ll be introduced to for the first time perhaps. And certainly not Kylie Minogue all day long. We know from our previous broadcasts that Gaydio attracts a diverse audience, so there will specialist music programming in the evenings too. Some shows will be music driven, others will be led by their speech content. Through interaction with the radio station and in focus groups, we’ve done plenty of research into what the audience wants, so now we’re just in the process of turning that into a radio station.
It must be very exciting to see the station come together – what will this mean for Manchester, the country and the LGBT community? It is really exciting. It’s been a long time coming now and we all can’t wait to start broadcasting. It will offer another exciting addition to Manchester’s impressive list of “firsts”. It makes absolute sense that one of the most creative city’s in the country; instrumental in the evolution of gay rights gave birth the country’s first LGBT radio station to broadcast permanently on FM.
For more information visit www.gaydio.co.uk
