Queer Out West looks for support

After seven years of successful broadcasting, Queer Out West, a community radio program made by and for the queer community in western Sydney, will be forced to pay for its air shifts.
Queer Out West, which is produced by “Paul” and hosted by Beverly Buttercup, Maxi Shield and Gracie Lou, was the first DIVA-nominated and DIVA-winning GLBT radio show in NSW.
Due to rental fees imposed by Liverpool Council, Queer Out West will have to pay $572 annually. The presenters are now seeking six or 12-month sponsorship from gay and lesbian people and organisations to ensure the radio program is able to continue broadcasting on 89.3FM community radio.
While the fee may seem like a drop in the ocean to many, presenter Beverly Buttercup said, the price is steep for the radio producer and presenters who run the radio program on a voluntary basis.
“We want a community-based organisation to sponsor us, so we can then support them,” Buttercup said.
With the cut-off date for payments (14 November) already past, Beverly Buttercup said the situation was becoming stressful.
“None of us gets paid, we buy the music ourselves, and on average I spend about $500 a year just in advertising,” she said.
“We have sent emails out, but for some reason nobody wants to pay.”
For a lot of people in Western Sydney, Queer Out West is one of the only sources of gay and lesbian community information, Buttercup added.
The program was initially hosted by Pandora Box in 2000 and went by the name of Out West and Proud. Pandora left the program to start Queer TV, and the newcomers turned the radio show into Queer Out West.
Any offers of sponsorship should be put in writing to [email protected]. For more information about Queer Out West go to www.qow.zoomshare.com.