Queer radio goes national

A new national GLBTIQ news radio program linking places as distant as Albany, Townsville and Whyalla to the queer community is now broadcasting to community radio stations across Australia.
The five-minute program containing weekly national queer news is an initiative of Melbourne GLBTIQ radio station JOY 94.9FM.
Known as the Q-mmunity Network News (QNN), about 50 community stations have so far picked up the weekly dose of GLBTIQ news across the shared Community Radio Network (CRN).
JOY 94.9 president Stephen Duns said QNN would become an important voice for those living in isolated areas.
“It’s about getting the message of celebration and information and education out as broadly as we possibly can,” Duns said.
“Mainstream news services do not adequately meet the needs of our community, and QNN will provide this essential service for the diverse lesbian and gay communities around the country.”
QNN was established by key JOY 94.9 volunteers and has been led by incoming station board member and long-time JOY 94.9 presenter Addam Stobbs.
Stobbs hailed the news network as the first step towards building a national GLBTIQ radio broadcasting network boasting a variety of content.
“The fact that you have a sub-metro station producing in-house news relevant to the community is a good indication how [JOY 94.9’s] capacity has increased over the last few years,” Stobbs said.
Stobbs said JOY 94.9 — as Australia’s only full-time GLBTIQ radio station — was uniquely placed to help other, usually individual, GLBTI broadcasters with quality content.
The CRN is already used widely by other community groups to share radio content between stations, however, QNN will be the first GLBTIQ news program to be broadcast across Australia on a consistent basis.
JOY94.9 program Allegro Non Troppo — presented by Stobbs — was the only gay and lesbian program distributed on the CRN nationally.
Showing early signs of success, QNN has already been shortlisted for a Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) Award for Best New Program or Content Initiative.
QNN will be aired locally in Melbourne on JOY 94.9 at 7.05pm Monday and 10.30am Saturday, or you can pick it up from the station’s website.
The national broadcasts can be heard at 11.55am Wednesday on participating stations.

info: Listen to JOY online at www.joy.org.au