Gaydar Radio
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Broadcast area | United Kingdom |
---|---|
Frequency | DAB: 11B DRg London 11B NOW Sussex Coast Sky Digital: 0158 |
Format | House, dance and pop music; gay-oriented news and entertainment |
Owner | QSoft Consulting |
Website | www.gaydarradio.com |
Gaydar Radio is a British radio station for gay men and lesbians. It is available on DAB multiplexes in London and Brighton, across the UK on Sky Digital Channel 0158, and also online. It broadcasts 24 hours a day, with live programming from 7am to midnight.
The station plays a mix of dance and mainstream pop music, interspersed with chat and news, with frequent bulletins devoted to news about the gay community. The music becomes more club-orientated during the evenings and weekends, with chill out music broadcast in the early hours. This music policy gets the station a huge following from the straight community also.
Gaydar Radio started as an internet-only station, being an offshoot of the gay dating website Gaydar. It moved onto Sky Digital and later DAB in London, replacing Purple Radio, a now defunct gay radio station. According to station director Jamie Crick, the entire station was originally played off a PC on a wonky table propped up with a gay clubbing directory.[1]
The station encourages interaction between presenters and listeners via the Gaydar website's chatrooms. It has a reach of 245,000 (Ipsos/Rajar May 2006) listeners a week in the UK, plus another 2.1 million listening online around the world. [2] However, the station currently broadcasts few commercials.
Gaydar Radio is based in Twickenham in South West London, in a building called Queen's House, a name that provides a frequent source of amusement for the presenters.
The breakfast show is co-presented by the popular team of Neil Sexton and Jason Rosam. Sexton's programmes have become noted for his regular feature, The Coming Out Stories. Jason Rosam provides the news service and more entertainment besides!
Another popular Gaydar presenter is Yannick Lawry who presents his evening glory show before Gary H in the mix Gaydar Radio's rising star DJ.
Recent recruits to the station include Saturday morning presenter and sexual terrorist Richard Newman from Big Brother fame and Hugh Stevenson a DJ at London gay bar The Shadow Lounge.
[edit] Presenters
- Rich B
- Jamie Crick
- Gary H
- Yannick Lawry
- Baylen Leonard
- Simon Le Vans
- Neil Martin
- Richard Newman
- Jason Rosam
- Neil Sexton
- Hugh Stevenson
- Sam Vangeen