News / radio
Bristol’s LGBTQ+ radio show celebrates ten years
The South West’s biggest LGBTQ+ radio show celebrates ten years of broadcasting queer news from across the region on June 7.
Listened to by 100,000 people every week, ShoutOut Radio is one of the region’s leading LGBTQ+ radio stations and gives a platform to a range of queer voices that might not otherwise be heard.
And on Sunday, June 7, the community radio programme is celebrating ten years of serving the LGBTQ+ voices of Bristol and South West.
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Produced from the BCfm studios at Easton Community Centre, ShoutOut Radio is broadcast by 12 community radio stations across the South West and has twice reached the finals of The British Podcast Awards.
Starting life as a segment on BCfm’s Steve Satan Show, ShoutOut quickly grew into a weekly one-hour magazine show, broadcasting every Thursday at 7pm.
The ShoutOut Radio team in the studio
“We came together in 2010 through an interest in radio, media and in our community,” says Andy Shilton, the show’s director.
“Originally it was like a dry, gay version of Radio 4’s Today! I’d run an early internet station aimed at gay men called Mancast. The fusion of the two ideas became a weekly hour-long show with some music, LGBTQ+ news, interviews, profiles and features – from the serious to the silly.”
A trusted information source for the LGBTQ+ community in Bristol and beyond, the show regularly has guests from organisations including Kiki Bristol, a space for queer, transgender and intersex people of colour, Hidayah, a group supporting queer Muslims, and Bridgstowe, a charity working with people who have HIV. In 2019, BBC Radio Bristol gave the show’s volunteers the opportunity to cover Bristol Pride, the city’s biggest LGBTQ+ celebration.
ShoutOut Radio covered Bristol Pride in 2019
“Being involved every week, you sometimes forget how much the show has meant to the LGBTQ communities,” Andy adds. “One elderly gentleman who was close to passing away in hospital wanted to come out before the end of his long life. Our presenter Mitch went to visit him so that he could officially speak to someone. He passed away shortly afterwards.”
The show has also become a vital part of life for queer disabled people, LGBTQ+ mental health activists and prominent figures in Bristol’s queer community.
“ShoutOut has reached to the LGBTQ+ communities that would normally struggle to find content to be able to reach the sometimes frightened and isolated queer community throughout the South West,” says Steffi Barnett, the show’s producer.
Steffi Barnett interviews at Bristol Pride
During the first half of June 2020, ShoutOut Radio will be looking back at the past ten years.
“Listeners will hear about the most memorable programming the team has undertaken, including the heart wrenching programme after the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Florida which will forever haunt the team,” says Steffi. “On the other hand, live coverage of several Prides, which have been full of music and celebration.”
ShoutOut Radio can be heard across the South West and South Wales on FM and digital radio, as well as international LGBTQ+ stations and music streaming platforms such as iTunes and Spotify.
Listen and find out more at www.shoutoutradio.lgbt
All photos: Steffi Barnett
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