Melbourne’s JOY 94.9 to take over SBS radio for Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras weekend

MELBOURNE-based LGBTI community radio station JOY 94.9 will take over SBS Radio 3 in the coming days as they broadcast the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade weekend to a national audience.

The broadcast will begin at 9pm on Friday, March 6 until 9pm, Sunday, March 8 (EDST).

On the night of the iconic Parade on Saturday, March 7, JOY 94.9 will dedicate a live four-hour broadcast and commentary from 7pm.

SBS Radio 3 hopes JOY’s takeover would attract a broader audience to the station.

“It is a great addition to SBS’ suite of Mardi Gras programming, and will help us bring the Parade to more people and across more platforms than ever before,” SBS audio and language content director Mandi Wicks said.

Sydney’s local community radio station 2SER is also broadcast live from the Parade for their listeners, as well as work with JOY to deliver a variety of music from local artists and LGBTI-focused stories.

In addition, JOY will acknowledge International Women’s Day on Sunday by broadcasting female-focused content.

SBS One will also join the Mardi Gras celebration by broadcasting a Parade highlights program on the following Sunday night, hosted by Magda Szubanski, comedian Tom Ballard and SBS journalist Patrick Abboud.

Meanwhile online, the SBS website will simultaneously stream the Mardi Gras parade highlights show.

To listen to JOY’s Mardi Gras broadcast weekend, tune into SBS Radio 3 via digital radio broadcast, or stream it via the SBS Radio or JOY phone apps, on joy.org.au, or if you’re in Melbourne, tune into 94.9fm.