Queers in Your Ears: LGBT Radio Shows, Podcasts Proliferate

I celebrated L.A. Pride on the radio as part of KPFK's all-day Pride programming. First in conversation with the star of the Revry podcast, Shook With Ashlee Marie Preston, and our deputy editor Jacob Anderson-Mishall (pictured). Then with other queer media mavens, including Advocate.com's executive editor, Neal Broverman.

LGBT-focused radio shows have always come and gone, and even stalwarts like San Francisco's Out in the Bay (produced by Marilyn Pittman and Eric Jansen), which ended its nearly decade-long run in 2015, have given way to new ventures.

Portland, Ore.'s KBOO was home to the long-running LGBT radio show Out Loud (which aired from 2002 to 2015), and our deputy editor's own show about gender variance, Gender Blender. KBOO continues to air LGBT programming, though, including Preference ("a queer experiment in radio") and Transpositive PDX, which explores "the vibrant activism in Portland reflecting the transgender communities."

Two of the country's oldest LGBT radio shows keep on trucking: L.A.'s KPFK is home to both IMRU, the nation's longest running LGBTQI radio news magazine (since 1974) and This Way Out,the internationally syndicated weekly half-hour news show that turned 30 in April. Today, there are also dozens of queer podcasts popping up that you should check out, including:

Our own LGBTQ&A (with Jeffrey Masters) and The Advocates (with Jessie Gender and Tracy E. Gilchrist), both on Advocate.com (listen below!).

WerQ (Pride.com) for queer and trans millennials (with Raffy Ermac and Taylor Henderson).

Food4Thot (Food4ThotPodcast.com), a multiracial mix of queer writers talking about sex, relationships, race, identity, and what -- and who -- they like to read.

Nancy, a podcast from WNYC featuring BFFs Kathy Tu and Tobin Low with immersive queer stories. (WNYCStudios.org)

Out Here in America, an interview-driven podcast from the Sun Herald and McClatchy about being LGBT in the Deep South. (McClatchyDC.com/podcasts).