Thanks to several philanthropies over the years (most recently the Kicking Assets Fund of the Tides Foundation and the Yavanna Foundation) and hundreds of listener-supporters like you, "This Way Out" distributed its 25th Anniversary (and 1,305th) weekly program on April 1st. Certainly qualifying by now as a treasured community institution, the weekly half-hour international LGBT radio magazine continues to be the world's unique audio oasis for supportive, entertaining, and educational LGBT news, information, and culture.
What's your testimonial?
We've received hundreds of messages over the years, almost always expressing appreciation, and sometimes even gratitude, for "This Way Out". Each listener has had a unique story to tell. We'd love to put yours up on this website -- including your name (or just your initials or your first name if you'd prefer) and your geographic location. Email TWOradio@aol.com, or postal mail us at P.O. Box 38327, Los Angeles, CA 90038 USA.
Dozens of volunteers who've contributed to the sound of "This Way Out" over the years have testimonials, too. Here are two of them:
Columbia, Missouri, in the late 1980s, was not exactly the best place on the planet to come to peace with my sexual orientation. I'd heard about how the cops harassed patrons of the one gay bar, located somewhere in some back area of Boone County. I was far from my New Hampshire home, and felt pretty isolated. Luckily, for a half-hour every Wednesday night on KOPN, I could tune in to "This Way Out". And for that span of time, I knew I was not alone. Radio, in its best and most powerful way, gave me community, support, courage, and music to lift me up and give me the hope I needed to stay strong in this foreign land that, as a lesbian, was even more foreign. It was my pleasure when I graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism to return the favor to this program that had given me so much. I was honored that the show would accept my reporting from the even more strange and sometimes hostile environment of North Florida. They allowed me to tell the coming out stories of students; follow the Ward v. Ward case where a lesbian lost custody of her daughter to a murdering husband. As a reporter for "This Way Out", I have borne witness to the anti-gay histrionics in the Sunshine State of the Johns Committee in the 1960s and Anita Bryant in the 1970s and the Florida legislature of the 1990s. As the program enters its 25th year, the world it is sharing with everyone has greatly changed. I'm just thrilled to know that it keeps going, keeps connecting people through the airwaves and podcasting, and is a vehicle for giving voice to our LGBT community.
- Susan Gage, Tallahassee, Florida
"We as humans make stories in the way that birds make nests. It seems to be something innate. And if you are not told the traditional stories of any culture, you will still make up stories. But instead of basing your personal story on the mythic level, which is always telling you that you are very fine and very permanent and enduring—that's what all strong stories will tell you — instead these stories will almost always be weak, puny things; they will be telling you that you are ineffectual, that you're unloved, that you're alone, that you're disconnected."
I first heard these words in my headphones while engineering an interview with Dr. Terry Tafoya about his use of Native American legends as part of his couples counseling practice. It was the early 1990s, and I was a Kansas City-based contributing producer for "This Way Out".
I've never forgotten these words. And as we pause to reflect on the 25 years that "This Way Out" has been on the air, I'd like you to consider them for a moment, too.
Consider the importance of the mythic story. Who among us grew up hearing "Snow White and the Seven Gay Dwarves"? Or the one where the princess puts the glass slipper on Cinderella's foot? When was it exactly, that we started to hear stories that really spoke to us — and just as importantly, for us?
On April 1, 1988 — before the World Wide Web, before podcasts, as deaths from AIDS were everywhere and governments remained indifferent, as "religious" charlatans built empires by demonizing us, when keeping your job nearly always meant staying in your closet — "This Way Out" went on the air.
Suddenly, for any person with a radio, our tribal drum could be heard for 30 minutes a week — every week — beating out a rhythm of nothing less than one mythic story after another.
What is the value of one less "puny" story told to yourself? Or one more "mythic" story you can tell about yourself?
Unfortunately, for radio produced by volunteers and aired without paying sponsors, these questions are not rhetorical. For 25 years "This Way Out" has survived in large part because listeners have answered these questions with donations.
Join them! Please consider the value of the stories you have heard on "This Way Out" — to your life, yes, but also to your world — and make a financial gift right now. How about a dollar or two or three for each year "This Way Out" has been on the air? Giving will make you feel great, and it will make you an integral part of the continuing mythic story that "This Way Out" has been telling for 25 years. Thank you!
- Dave Buell, Kansas City, Missouri
There are several ways to support "This Way Out" – and you might also want to check out the donation "thank you gift" CDs described below – including the latest addition, "Pride On Screen 2012". Just specify the title of the CD(s) you'd like in the comments section of the donation you make via PayPal, or in a note accompanying your postal-mailed check or money order to Overnight Productions (Inc.) and/or "This Way Out", P.O. Box 38327, Los Angeles, CA 90038-0327 USA. All contributions go to Overnight Productions (Inc.), our 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit, making donations in the U.S. tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Support "This Way Out" in 2013 through one of the following online donor options:
Or make a one-time donation here:
Our tens of thousands of listeners around the world, our minimally paid staff of 2, and our dozens of volunteers sincerely thank you!
Thank You Gift CDs (all donations are in U.S. dollars)
Choose one of these half-hour programs for each donation of $25; choose two for $50, etc:
PRIDE ON SCREEN 2012
With copious clips and comments by their makers, our multi-award-winning entertainment reporter Steve Pride offers his annual picks of the best LGBT-inclusive moving images on big and small screens during 2012, including "Modern Family", "Gays Anatomy" and Steve's fave on the small screen, "The Outs", and then his Top Ten LGBT Movies Of The Year: "Wish Me Away", "The Most Fun I've Ever Had With My Pants On", "Going Down In La-La Land", "From Hollywood To Dollywood", "Any Day Now","Gayby", "How To Survive A Plague", "Laurence Anyways", "Vito", and "Keep The Lights On"... with comments by Adam Goldman, Chely Wright, Drew Denny, Casper Andreas, Matthew Ludwinski, Gary & Larry Lane, Alan Cumming, Jonathan Lisecki, David France, Xavier Dolan, Jeffrey Schwarz, and Ira Sachs.
A CONVERSATION WITH HARVEY MILK
In March 1978 now-"This Way Out" Coordinating Producer Greg Gordon traveled to Northern California to interview newly elected San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk. Their conversation covered civil rights activism, politics, and some of the gay personalities of the day. The Oscar-winning movie generated renewed interest in this historic figure. And, as you'll hear in this illuminating and highly entertaining half-hour interview with the pioneering LGBT civil rights hero, much of what Harvey had to say still resonates today.
AUDIOFILE 2010 YEAR IN REVIEW
With bluesy/jazzy/country/pop/rock from the personal to the whimsical to the political, the music of Sonia & disappear fear ("Blood, Bones & Baltimore"), Ryan States ("Strange Town"), Roger Mapes ("House of Joy"), Kevin Wong ("The Pink in the Grey"), Sean Wiggins ("Naked Thursdays"), Avi Wisnia ("Something New"), Kristie Stremel ("Color of Stars") and Mike Rickard ("Sweat") is proudly featured in the "AUDIOFILE 2010 YEAR IN REVIEW" (written, produced and hosted by JD Doyle, Chris Wilson, Pam Marshall and Christopher David Trentham).
PRIDE ON SCREEN 2011
On an annual "This Way Out" tradition, award-winning entertainment journalist Steve Pride recalls some of the LGBT moving images that moved him most during the past year with his "Pride On Screen 2011" - including more multi-dimensional TV characters like "Max Blum" on "Happy Endings" (with an audio clip), and proliferating couples like the partnered hunky but unhappy ghosts on "American Horror Story" (another audio clip); then Steve counts down his picks for the Top Ten LGBT Movies of 2011 (from #10 to #1, with audio clips from each and comments by their makers): "The Wise Kids", "The Topp Twins: Unstoppable Girls", "We Were Here", "Gun Hill Road", "August", "Leave It On The Floor", "With You: The Mark Bingham Story", "Beginners", "Weekend", and "Pariah". So butter your popcorn and dim the house lights when you ask for this illuminating "thank you gift" CD.
STRANGER THAN STRAIGHT
The legendary American DJ known as "Dr. Demento" raised audio kitsch to an artform. As "Nurse Pimento", the late Southern California gay activist and radio producer David Fradkin added his own kind of spice to pursuing the peculiarities of popular culture in this early 1980s half-hour production, which features some offbeat queer words and music from Carroll "Archie Bunker" O'Connor, Groucho Marx, Perry Como, Laurel and Hardy, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks, Tommy Smothers, Martin Mull, Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Noel Coward, the poignant self-aware words of Holocaust teen diarist Anne Frank, Bessie Smith singing, and her niece Ruby telling interviewer Chris Albertson about, their especially entertaining visit to a "Buffet Flat" -- and more!
Choose one of these hour-long programs for each donation of $50; choose two for $100, etc:
THE NATIONAL MARCH ON WASHINGTON FOR LESBIAN & GAY RIGHTS RADIO DOCUMENTARY
This "audio scrapbook" of the first-ever national LGBT march and rally in the U.S. capital on October 14, 1979, produced by "This Way Out" Associate Producer Lucia Chappelle and Coordinating Producer Greg Gordon, illuminates the problems and the passion of the first demonstration of its kind. As rich with the music and culture of the period as it is with the politics, the hour traces the event from the initial planning conference and some activists' heartfelt and sometimes humorous cross-country trip to D.C. on a "Freedom Train" to the big day itself, and its coverage (or lack thereof) in the conventional media.
DIMINISHED CAPACITY
Alive with the sounds from the streets, this documentary, produced by "This Way Out" Coordinating Producer Greg Gordon, captures the enormous impact on the queer community of the November 1978 assassinations of openly gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and gay-friendly Mayor George Moscone. The "diminished capacity" defense (since eliminated legislatively) made it possible for former Supervisor Dan White to receive a very lenient sentence for the dual murders, a decision that sent shockwaves through the Castro District and led to what became known as the "White Night Riots." This fast-paced hour tracks the entire story through and including White's eventual suicide, with comments by many leading lesbian and gay activists and journalists of the time, and riveting thematic music by the Tom Robinson Band.
THE BIGGEST QUEER NEWS OF 2003
A keepsake collection of more than an hour of "This Way Out" reports during a landmark year for LGBT progress, with the voices of many of the activists involved, covering the advent of legal same gender marriage in Canada, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning state sodomy laws, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision opening legal marriage to queer couples, and a P-FLAG mom's "on scene" account of and sound from the historic consecration of openly gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson.
SPECIAL PACKAGE: Get all of these CDs for a donation of at least $200. We'll acknowledge donations of $250 or more on the air upon request.
LGBTIQ Youth Resources:
The Trevor Project is a 24-hour, national help line for gay and questioning teens: U.S. toll-free phone#: 866-4U-TREVOR; website: www.thetrevorproject.org.
Angels and Doves is a U.S. anti-bullying non profit organization: www.AngelsandDoves.com.
The National Center for Bullying Prevention promotes awareness and effective ways to respond to bullying: www.Pacer.org/bullying.
The Matthew Shepard Foundation runs Matthew's Place, an online community and resource center for LGBTQ youth: www.matthewsplace.com.
GLSEN (the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network) also works to eradicate bullying and bias in U.S. schools: www.glsen.org.
PFLAG: Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays - www.pflag.org.
"This Way Out" Associate Producer Lucia Chappelle:
Music Features Producer JD Doyle:
Music Features Producer/"NewsWrap" Co-Anchor Chris Wilson:
"Pride On Screen" Reporter Steve Pride:
"NewsWrap" Co-anchor & Features Producer Jon Beaupré:
"NewsWrap" Co-Anchor Christopher Gaal:
"NewsWrap" Co-Anchor Tanya Kane-Parry:
"NewsWrap" Co-Anchor Sheri Lunn:
"NewsWrap" Co-Anchor Rick Watts:
"NewsWrap" Co-Anchor Johnnie Torres:
"NewsWrap" Co-Anchor Pam Marshall:
"NewsWrap" Co-Anchor Michele Pleasant:
"NewsWrap" Co-Anchor Ben Caron:
"NewsWrap" Co-Anchor Robert LeBlanc:
"NewsWrap" Co-Anchor Vash Boddie:
"NewsWrap" Co-Anchor Natalie Peoples:
"NewsWrap" Co-Anchor Sarah Sweeney:
"NewsWrap" Co-Anchor Jason Proctor:
"NewsWrap" Co-Anchor Wenzel Jones:
Queer Lit Commentator Janet Mason:
News & Arts Correspondent Bryan Goebel:
"Rainbow Minute" Producers Judd Proctor & Brian Burns:
Write To Us!
We'd love to hear from you. Please make sure to let us know which station you hear us on, what day and time they play the show, and any other comments or questions you may have. We'd also love to hear about any articles written about the show in your local queer (or mainstream!) newspaper.
"This Way Out"
P.O. Box 38327
Los Angeles, CA 90038-0327
U.S.A.
Telephone: +1 818 986 4106
E-mail: TWOradio@aol.com
PRIDE ON SCREEN 2012
