September 3, 2007

EDGE

On the (Gay) Radio

by Robert Nesti

For the longest time, radio has been dominated by conservative talk radio, drive-time shock jocks, pop music oldies, NPR, and sports programming-where, you may wonder, is the gay and lesbian presence in the medium?

Even NPR-considered the most inclusive of radio networks-lacks a significant ongoing gay and lesbian presence. (Monologues by David Sedaris don’t quite cut it.) What there is has been limited to localized, magazine-like programs such as One in Ten, Boston’s popular Sunday night broadcast heard on WFNX-FM. Radio, it seems, was locked in the past, slow to embrace the social trends that other mediums, specifically television and movies (and, to a lesser extent) music, have embraced. Where was the gay Rush Limbaugh? (Okay, that’s a scary thought; but you get the point.)

That may be why a recent announcement by Clear Channel that they are producing a new radio show aimed specifically at gays and lesbians seemed more than business as usual. The media giant, with considerable holdings in terrestrial radio, satellite, and television has created, and is producing and marketing America’s first nationally syndicated radio talk show targeted to the LGBT community - PRIDE Radio with Ryan & Caroline.

"We are committed to developing new talent," explained Jared Cohen, Coordinator for Clear Channel Content Research and Development. "Ryan and Caroline are radio’s Will & Grace and Pride reflects their unique sensibility, celebrating pop culture and all things entertainment."

The show-described in its press release as an innovative talk radio show focusing on celebrity interviews, music, gossip, travel, entertainment and lifestyle trends-may not seem like revolutionary programming, but it indicates one of numerous developments in radio aimed at the gay and lesbian audiences.

Other examples are springing up coast-to-coast: In San Francisco KNGY’s Fernando Ventura and Greg Sherrell host what the first openly gay commercial radio morning show hosts in the country. From Sirius Radio there’s OutQ, which offers 24-hour programming with such personalities as Michelangelo Signorile, Frank DeCaro, and Keith Price; and in addition to putting Ryan and Caroline in FM markets throughout the country, Clear Channel also has initiated HD-2 channels in a dozen markets such as Chicago, Dallas, Hartford, Miami and West Palm Beach under the name of Pride Radio, a mix of music (mostly latest dance) and feature-type broadcasts (once it premieres, Ryan & Caroline will have a slot.) Currently on a dozen HD stations, it also can be found on websites of nearly two dozens Clear Channel stations. What’s unique about the stream is that is all music-no ads (at present) and no djs.

Also being syndicated on stations nationwide is Radio With a Twist, which (up to now) can boast the largest reach of any gay-oriented show in the country. In Boston’s One in Ten has been airing on Sunday nights for 15 years; and talk radio, courtesy of Air America, isn’t just the old boys network anymore, with two out radio personalities hosting shows-Rachel Maddow and Laura Flanders.

What is obviously driving this programming is that these media giants see gay green, and are making a play for it. Gay Radio is fast becoming a new niche market. "’This has the potential to be as big as Latino or urban radio," Jared Cohen, the creator of Pride Radio, told the Washington Post.

"Sure, if it’s entertaining, well-produced and not self-indulgent," Radio consultant Walter Sabo is CEO of New York-based Sabo Media told Ken R. Deutsch on the website for the magazine Radio World. "There are many gay-targeted businesses that make a fortune, so the ad money is there, no problem."

"You know when Clear Channel does something that you know they didn’t do it on a whim," explained Keith Orr, the executive producer and one of the co-hosts (with Sue O’Connell) of One in Ten. "That they’ve investigated it. That they’ve spent a large amount of time market-researching it, and there’s someone championing the project to bring it up to this level. If they’re going to make this type of commitment, especially in a climate like this one where conservatives are on the attack, means that they’re willing to weather some kind of storm. Because they’re going to be some kind of a storm-even if it’s minimal-because there is always some kind of reaction from the Right."

Rachel Maddow, the out host of Air America’s The Rachel Maddow Show, concurs. "I think that niche marketing to a gay audience, particularly broadcast media, makes sense at this point. I think they’re a little late to this game, but if they want to put some marketing muscle behind it and really support it, I think it could be a big money maker for them. It’s late, but they’re smart to do it."

"We thought we were on episode of Punk’d. The next thing we know we’re nationally syndicated and having the time of our lives." Ryan Jay.

Yet to see it embraced by Clear Channel is a bit like hearing that now the Pope will officiate gay marriages. The media giant, that syndicates such less-than-gay-friendly personalities as Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage, is not seen as an overly progressive media outlet. So much so that when he was approached about the show, Ryan Jay thought it was a joke.

"When they came to us, we thought it was a prank," Jay explained with a laugh. "We didn’t believe it until we went to a meeting; and then we realized, ’Wow. We’re going to be in the same studio as Rush Limbaugh above Radio City Music Hall in New York City. We both kept pinching each other; but every step of the way - through development and demos - we thought they were going to say they were just kidding and we were being Punk’d. We thought we were on episode of Punk’d. The next thing we know we’re nationally syndicated and having the time of our lives."

"I think it’s great that Clear Channel, which is known as a conservative, right-wing company, is embracing our show and is totally behind it," added co-host Caroline Hand. "They conceived of it. I don’t know what perception that people have of Clear Channel, but it is great that they’re branching out and trying to do new kinds of shows. There’s definitely a market for it."

It was Clear Channel who approached the two, who became friends in the early 1990s while they were working at VH1 and began working together on their movie review website weseemovies.com a few years ago. "Someone at Clear Channel came across it," Jay recalled. "They were developing a gay show and thought we’d be fun hosts." The show debut in five markets last January, and will be expanding shortly to twenty Clear Channel FM and HD stations.

What may be the biggest boon to gay radio are emerging technologies such as Internet radio and podcasts that have expanded the radio audience in ways not realized a decade ago. Who would have thought the iPod would become the transistor radio of the past? For instance listeners on the East Coast can listen to KNGY’s Fernando Ventura and Greg Sherrell’s morning show on KNGY’s webcast; Pride Radio is streamed; and a visit to iTunes will show an eclectic mix of LGBT podcasts to download, led by the #1 rated Gay Pimpin’ with Jonny McGovern.

McGovern may be a familiar name due to his presence on the Logo’s The Big Gay Sketch Show, but he’s been a popular New York nightlife figure that has created a successful comedy character-the Gay Pimp, made famous from his video Soccer Practice. (For more, visit his website.

"It was suggested to me to check out what these podcasts were," McGovern explained recently from New York. "I didn’t know what it was at the time. Luckily I keep a staff of nerds in my pocket who became my team for the podcast. So this was a way we could do an audio show that expressed whatever we wanted and have no rules about it. I had working with great group of nightlife friends of mine, who were also great performers and very funny. I thought it would be great way to promote my stuff, and the great nightlife performers here in New York City. I had no idea how big it would get. The more ways I can figure out using different mediums to reach people, especially since being a gay artist you really need to play outside the rules. So I want to reach as many people as I can through as many different mediums as I can."

McGovern’s feelings are similar to those of Daniel Nardicio, who has parlayed his downtown club persona into being labeled the Gay Howard Stern. He hosts DlistRadio, a show that’s broadcast on the Internet and is available as a downloadable podcast, also on iTunes and at dlist.com.

"I thought it would be fun to create a New York City party on the air-that was the idea that I had and decided to go for it. So I contacted East Village Radio, and they gave me a prime spot. They have a little studio in a little 10-watt radio station down in the Lower East Side and we broadcast from there. It use to be on regular terrestrial radio but then they got busted by the FCC for pirating the airwaves, so now it’s just on the internet. I have listeners from all over the world-from Bangkok to Beijing, from everywhere-lots of people email from all over the place. We get about 20,000 downloads a week from iTunes. We wouldn’t be able to do this without the Internet. Right now we are talking to a number of people of doing an actual a regular radio show, like a morning FM radio show, which we hopefully will be doing by the winter. But this radio show is formatted for Internet radio because we can get away with a lot more, stuff we couldn’t do on terrestrial radio."

But will PRIDE Radio with Ryan & Caroline succeed? It may depend on format. "I think that you can get too trite or you can get too serious," said Orr. "I think tempering the hard news with the soft news and still make it compelling is the way to go."

Orr should know-he’s been hosting One in Ten since 1995, and has witnessed the changes in attitudes towards gays and lesbian over the airwaves. "It wasn’t unusual for guests to ask for a nom de plume, or even ask to have their voice disguised," he explained recalling what times were like when he first came to the show.

But that was then. Today finding guests for the show has changed dramatically. "Now I spend an enormous amount of time just fending off publicists. I have a cadre of people who can provide me access to whomever I need, and I don’t bat an eye about talking to anybody-a U.S. Senator, a film producer-we have a viable audience and viable questions, and we’re not going anywhere."

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