Gaydio

Gaydio

City of license	Manchester
Broadcast area	Greater Manchester, Greater London, Sussex
Slogan	The Beat Of Gay UK
Frequency	88.4 MHz, Online, DAB Radio
First air date	14 August 2006
Format	CHR/Pop
Owner	Gaydio CIC
Website	http://www.gaydio.co.uk

Gaydio is a radio station for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in the United Kingdom, broadcast on 88.4FM in Greater Manchester, on DAB digital radio in Greater London, parts of the Home Counties and the Sussex coast, and online through their website and the UK Radio Player.

Gaydio became the UK's first LGBT FM radio service when it launched full time on Friday 18 June 2010,^[1] expanding into digital radio when it acquired Gaydar Radio in 2013.^[2]

History

The station was conceived by Ian Wallace and Toby Whitehouse initially to accompany the 2006 Manchester Pride festival, providing coverage of the Pride parade, the main stage acts and several events from around the festival site.

A temporary restricted service license (RSL) was obtained for two weeks, transmitting then on 87.7FM across central Manchester. The first broadcasts came from Princess House, in Manchester's gay village, from the former offices of the The Lesbian & Gay Foundation.

Gaydio re-appeared for a second broadcast on World AIDS Day 2006 in a joint broadcast with BBC Radio Manchester, taking over their DAB frequency for most of the afternoon and evening.

A second RSL - this time for 28 days - commenced on 5 February 2007 and ended 4 March 2007.

Gaydio returned for a third RSL on 6 August 2007 (also for four weeks) with Chris & Emma at breakfast and Brian Day back again in the afternoons for an extended show. This period offered a number of new shows, including the Terry Longdon and Rowetta drivetime show. Numerous outside broadcasts included the live broadcast of the Mr Gay UK competition from Blackpool. Some old favourites returned including The A.M.P. (Alternative Music Programme) and The Matinee with James Dean and Madame Aries (Showtunes).

Gaydio's final temporary broadcast and fourth RSL began on 4 August 2008 (another 28-day licence), and featured the return of several shows, including Chris and Emma at breakfast, Kriss Herbert late mornings, and Brian Day in the afternoon. The Terry and Ro show continued, and at the weekend programmes included the Lazy Breakfast with Antony & Laura, Billy Grant and Alice late morning/early afternoon, Pride Live with Toby Whitehouse, Murry Murat and Matt Goddard, and the Matinee with James Dean and Madame Aries.

The group completed an OfCom application for a full term licence ^[3] which was granted on 7 November 2008^[4] when OfCom announced that Gaydio had been awarded a 5-year full-time community service FM licence. This made Gaydio the UK's first licensed, full-time LGBT station. It was allocated the 88.4FM frequency for Greater Manchester (and simulcast online).

The station launched full-time on Friday 18 June 2010 at a few minutes after 6pm, by former Galaxy breakfast host Nicksy. The first song was 'I Gotta Feeling' by the Black Eyed Peas. The Gaydio studios are located at Manchester One, formally the Portland Tower in Manchester city centre, which is also the site of the transmitter.

Gaydio as a community station for the LGBT Community in Manchester virtually closed down in all but name on Sunday 6 January 2013, and morphed into a national dance station (see re-launch). Gaydio no longer broadcasts specific programming to Manchester apart from a couple of hours a day in the evening along with separate adverts. By changing into a dance station Gaydio no longer serves or broadcasts to any LGBT person who does not like dance or are likely to be over 35 years old which is a great shame.

Relaunch

Gaydio relaunched as a national station on Monday 7 January 2013 following the acquisition of DAB Radio licences previously owned by Gaydar Radio owners QSoft. The station now holds three UK radio licences - the original FM licence in Greater Manchester (88.4FM), a DAB licence for London (11B DRg), and a DAB licence for Sussex (11B NOW Sussex Coast). Some programming now comes from London as former Gaydar presenters are now being employed at Gaydio.^[5]

It is questionable how Gaydio continues fulfilling their Community license as apart from a couple of hours a day the output is simulcast across the southern DAB signals and Manchester is hardly ever mentioned. It is a big loss to the Manchester LGBT community who are now no longer served by the LGBT station that was licensed to serve a wide ranging LGBT community in Manchester.

The new sound of Gaydio - a mostly upbeat dance format - was accompanied by a new slogan 'The Beat Of Gay UK', and was launched at 7am on Monday 7 January 2013 with the return of the 'Chris and Emma at Breakfast' show broadcast across all three licenced areas and online.^[6] In Feb 2013 the DAB signal was reduced from broadcasting in Stereo to Mono.

On 18 July 2013 the station announced plans to run an DAB trial in Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales for 6 weeks (29 July - 8 September 2013) to coincide with the Liverpool Pride festival. This operates on the multiplex operated by MuxCo. The DAB service will be a relay of the current FM service, including the North West local programming and advertising.

Split Programming

Due to different licence requirements, Gaydio has to split its programming at various points during the day. Community-based programming for Manchester is broadcast on their FM frequency and online, while the DAB channels carry mainly music programming.

Presenters

Current Presenters

Presenters at Gaydio include:

• Chris Holliday & Emma Goswell (weekday breakfast 7-10am)
• Toby Whitehouse (weekday mornings 10am-1pm)
• Tara McDonald with I Like This Beat (Sunday evening 9pm - 10pm)
• Carl Spencer (weekday afternoons 4-6pm)
• Matt Crabb (Mon-Fr 1-4pm)
• Kriss Herbert (Saturdays 6-8pm)
• John Ryan (Sunday evening 6-8pm)
• Laura Duff (Monday evening 8-10pm)
• Annie Emery (Tuesday evening 8-10pm)
• Marc Duffy (weekday evenings 8-10pm)
• Martin Cooper (Wednesday evening 8-10pm)
• Mark Scott (Thursday and Sunday evening 8-10pm)
• Nik Denton (Saturday evening 10pm-midnight)
• Graeme Park (Fridays 10pm-midnight)
• Garry Fuller (Saturday morning 7-9am)
• Andrew Edwards (Sunday morning 7-9am)
• Antony Murphy(Saturday and Sunday lunchtime 11am-1pm)
• Ant Nichols (Friday evening 6-8pm, Saturday evening 8-10pm, Sunday evening 6-10pm)
• Darren Milby (Saturday afternoon 1-4pm)
• Bradley Maguire (Saturday afternoon 4-6pm)
• Fierce Angel (Sunday morning midnight-2am)
• Emma Peate & Mark Eastwood (Saturday morning 7-9am)
• Jeff Graham (Sunday afternoon 1-4pm)
• Simon Peel (Sunday morning 7-9am)
• Martin Turner (weekday evenings 9-11pm)
• David Dunne (Friday evening 8-10pm, Saturday evening 8-10pm)
• William Sizen Bell (Sundays 10pm-1am)
• Kieron Richardson (Sunday afternoon 4-6pm)
• Alex Gouldberg (entertainment reporter)
• Phil Marriott (Sun-Thurs 6pm-9pm) Head of Music

Previous Presenters

Former presenters at Gaydio have included:

• Rowetta
• Terry Longden
• Brian Day
• Bronagh Waugh
• Peter Dickson
• Billy Grant
• Saban Akincay
• Nicksy

Activities

As part of the LGBT History Month in 2007, Gaydio buried a time capsule containing information on gay life in Manchester and digital copies of broadcast by the station which is hoped would be listened to by future generations.

External links

• Gaydio official site

References

Coordinates: 53°28′41″N 2°14′17″W / 53.4781°N 2.238191°W / 53.4781; -2.238191