Queering the airwaves; Outright Radio gives voice to GLBT stories in places where they might not otherwise be told. (radio).

An annual radio series of real-life stories from the American gay community, Outright Radio has earned a reputation for being good radio, an achievement that was always the goal of founder, executive producer, and host David Gilmore. "Without meaning to appear critical, there's' a lot of crappy radio out there," he says. "We wanted to focus on personal stories that might [illuminate the] issues. It's intimate radio, delving deep into people's hearts."

Established in 1999 with a series of 13 nine-minute stories available on many public radio stations, Outright expanded in 2000 to six 30-minute shows and then in 2001 to five one-hour installments. This year the program will be broadcast on 43 stations in 40 cities nationwide. Along the way, the series has won Golden and Silver Reel awards from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, and the Edward R. Murrow Award for excellence in journalism. It has now completed its fourth season of one-hour shows, which will be distributed to public radio stations by Public Radio International for broadcast in June and July. (Previous programs are archived on the Outright Radio Web site.)

Using the catchphrase "Telling the extraordinary stories of. America's gays and lesbians," Outright this year profiles gay men and women and transgendered people who have stood up to their oppressors in a show titled "Bashing Back!"; provides a rare insight into gay Native Americans in "Out on the Rez"; and focuses on people who are "Making a Difference," including a gay New York City fireman who survived the attacks on the World Trade Center towers.

"They are very touching stories that chronicle what it is to be queer at this time in the world," says Gilmore. "In `Bashing Back!' we talk to Terri Gilbert, a transgendered woman who exposed [the homophobia at] her Christian high-tech company after collecting over 1,000 pages of E-mails slamming her [that came] from everyone from Christians to Jews to Muslims."

Behind the scenes, this series has been the toughest of the four years to complete so far. Gilmore and his team have wooed public radio stations in the past at the annual Public Radio Program Directors Convention--grabbing a lot of attention in 2000 by dressing up in sailor suits to promote a show about gays in the Navy. But in 2001 the convention fell on September 12, and its cancellation left Gilmore and company could not dazzle any affiliates with a planned appearance as "tap-dancing Mormons."

But Outright Radio kept going thanks to a generous private donor and the support of PRI, which considers the series its "pet gay radio show," according to Gilmore. "There's not a lot of gay radio on air," he says, "and we get hundreds of E-mails each series from gay people, especially from the Midwest. It's lonely out there."

Goodridge also writes for Screen International magazine.