For Queer Mice
by BROWWWSER
Turn On, Tune In, Flame Out!
ueers have always been on the forefront of
the technology curve. Statistically most of us don't have kids, so we have more disposable
income to spend on the latest gadgets like PC's and cell phones instead of braces and
college tuition. And supposedly more of us have college degrees than the average Al and
Peg Bundy. Maybe that's why gays and lesbians are all over the net, creating their own web
pages at GeoCities or chatting on AOL. But to do it in style, we gotta have Java,
ShockWave, VRML, MIDI, and the whole shebang. This episode let's crank up our speakers and
tune in to the radio and audio programs available for us LGBT's.
Before we start our audio journey on the net, point your browser over to www.real.com/products/player/index.html,
the home of RealNetworks. If you don't have it yet,
download RealPlayer 5.0 for free so you can listen to RealAudio files and live broadcasts.
Once downloaded it's easy to set up, so soon you'll be listening to radio over your modem.
Warning: it says you can have a modem as slow as 14.4kbps, but some RealAudio files need
at least a 28.8 for clear transmission. Even with a fast modem net congestion can cause a
jerky broadcast. So go ahead and download the program. It'll just take a few minutes. I'll
wait right here.
Got it? Good! Our first stop
is the award-winning weekly half-hour radio magazine that's been on the air for nine years
and now plays over 90 stations in seven countries, This Way Out.
If your local public station doesn't offer it, head over to www.planetout.com/pno/newsplanet/two/
anytime for the latest international news, interviews with authors and performers, AIDS
updates, poetry, humor, readings, and more. TWO's new frame-filled home at PlanetOut is
just what this important show needs to boost visibility... er... audibility. If you don't
have any speakers on your PC, go there anyway to read the current episode's transcript.
It's that good.
Turn your dial (or whatever) over to another PlanetOut sponsored site, GLOradio, at www.planetout.com/gloradio/.
Besides the Daily Dose Evening News every Monday through Friday at 8:00pm CST,
GLOradio offers 15 weekly radio shows on a wide variety of topics. GLAADAlert
reports queer defamation; get some Ideas in Travel; Dr. Ruthless answers
questions about love, sex, and relationships; get some culture at The Culture Corner;
the popular dating program Fantasy Man Island News will help you get a man; get
your Beef of the Week with SpeakUP; and get your monthly horoscope as well. They
even have OutSurfin' by web guru Karen Wickre who will guide you to queer places to
go in cyberspace (yes, I'm jealous! Where's my show?). Now if they could just sign up Two
Hot Tamales from the FoodTV network they'd have a complete audio potpourri.
Tune in frequently to GLOradio
in 1998 for some incredible live event broadcasts, including the GLAAD Media Awards, the
Gay Games V, the Digital Queers 6th Anniversary Party, concerts by the Women's Chorus of
Dallas and the Gay Men's Chorus of Portland, and the 2nd annual Gay & Lesbian American
Music Awards on March 9th with host Suzanne Westenhoefer. Until the GLAMA Award show,
check out Friday Night Fever every (you guessed it) Friday night from 8:30pm-11:00pm CST
to sample music from the nominees. On-demand past events still being played at GLOradio
include the Dallas Cathedral of Hope's Christmas service, the Human Rights Campaign
National Dinner Cybercast with keynote speaker President Bill Clinton, and the National
Gay & Lesbian Task Force 10th Annual Creating Change Conference. Since national media
ignored many of these historical events, we won't have to miss them thanks to GLOradio.
St. Louis has it's own "cultural radio magazine of the lavender community"
called Coming Out of Hiding (with a homegrown homepage
at www.fortunecity.com/village/orton/1/cohkdhx.html).
Coming Out of Hiding airs every Tuesday night from 7:00pm-8:30pm on KDHX 88.1 FM. 
If you're not near a radio but at
your PC, drop by www.kdhxfm88.org and listen in to KDHX FM 88.1 using the StreamWorks Player from Xing Technology at www.xingtech.com.
Similar to RealAudio, download the free demo to listen to streaming live audio on the web.
Also at KDHX are two other shows of interest: Out & Open on Fridays
7:00pm-8:00pm for LGBT community issues, and positive health talk radio AWARE on
Mondays 7:00pm-7:30pm.
There are several radio shows across the nation that broadcast on the web. LesBiGay Radio is America's only daily drive-time program for
LGBT's and their friends in Chicago AM 750, and now it's everywhere thanks to www.lesbigayradio.com and RealAudio.
Philadelphia's WXPN 88.5 offers Q'zine, a queer talk
radio magazine Sunday nights at 8:00pm and on the web anytime at www.iliad.com/xpn/qzine/.
Besides radio shows there're audio clips from gay and lesbian artists, random queer
quotes, and audio outbursts that would require another column to go into. Maybe next
episode...
