Xpress Radio Scotland

The voice of Scotland’s growing friendly LGBTIQ community and those who support it. A radio station dedicated to, working for and with, Scotland’s LGBTIQ community & those supporting sexual & gender freedom, broadcasting live every day from Glasgow. Providing news, reports, music, entertainment, talk, interviews, reviews and much more. Offering employment and opportunities for LGBTIQ youth to work

within the media industry. Creating a life-line and sense of belonging for all LGBTIQ people - even in the most remote & isolated corners of Scotland. Last Summer, Gaydio radio provided a temporary pop-up DAB service to Central Scotland to cover the Pride festivities and The Commonwealth Games. This provided programming broadcast from their studios in Manchester and made it available, during this period, to listeners in Scotland. Currently, there is no radio station produced IN Scotland, broadcasting FROM Scotland, dedicated to, and servicing, the Scottish Le***an, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex & Questioning (LGBTIQ) community. Glasgow has a flourishing, friendly and growing LGBTIQ community with Edinburgh not much further behind. Other centres like Aberdeen, Inverness & Dundee are increasingly catering to the demands of their LGBTIQ residents too and we are witnessing increased tolerance and acceptance across the country to the lifestyles of LGBTIQ people. This is not to say however that there aren’t many challenges still ahead. Scotland is a diverse country and the LGBTIQ community does not exist solely within the largest cities but across the lowlands, highlands and islands. The journey of sexual &/or gender self-discovery can be a complicated, difficult and lonely one for most people anyway, but particularly so for those people who feel they are suffering alone and 'different' from the rest. Xpress Radio Scotland therefore serves more simply than a just a source of entertainment & information. It is also a crucial tool in creating a sense of belonging and, in some cases, a much needed life-line to those LGBTIQ people who live in some of the most isolated and remote parts of Scotland. Despite the 'No' vote in the recent referendum, the need for local Scottish LGBTIQ communities and individuals to feel that their voices are being heard and interests shared will only increase. Pumping radio shows in from England to a Scottish audience, while providing a certain service, still leaves a gaping hole in the market for a home- grown service provided by and for the local LGBTIQ community. Xpress Radio Scotland will begin its life as an online radio station, rapidly building its audience and popularity. At a later stage, once we have established a presence and decent listenership, we will look at the possibility of acquiring DAB licences in the relevant regions. We will broadcast from a studio within Glasgow, maintaining close links with the LGBTIQ community established there. Initially, will we broadcast a limited live schedule covering, at a minimum, the main times of Breakfast, Drive and Early Evening. This schedule will gradually increase until we reach the ability of offering live programming 24/7, or as near as possible to that goal. Until then, outside of the live broadcast times, pre-recorded material will be aired. We will therefore be airing 24/7 but as a mixture of live and pre-recorded programming. What is the nature of the content that Xpress Radio Scotland will be broadcasting? We will be offering a range of programming and content with a strong LGBTIQ Scotland-focus, while not being exclusively insular. This will include:

• News

• Music (various genres & established artists, as well encouraging submissions from Scottish

musicians too)

• Talk / phone-in, discussing news items, hot topics, offering advice and information

• Entertainment news and reviews

• Interviews with community personalities, decision-makers, business people, as well as

visiting ‘celebs’, performers, artists and other note-worthy or news-making personalities.

• Reports

• Covering of local events



Who will be the presenters? Presenters will be a mixture of established / ‘celeb’ personalities as well as sourcing new local talent from, particularly LGBTIQ youth in schools, colleges, universities and, also, the unemployed. Working with students on related courses, but also offering opportunities to other people who are out of work and need a break as either presenters, producers or in other roles within the running of the station. This will be through work experience as well as long-term job placements. We are after a variety of presenters from DJs to talk show style hosts to news readers to celeb- gossip experts, reporters, etc, to cover the range of content that we will be broadcasting. We will be recruiting reporters from across Scotland to cover events and stories from all LGBTIQ communities within the country. Working with and for the community

While operating as a commercial station, Xpress Radio Scotland is a social enterprise and takes its role within the local Scottish and LGBTIQ communities extremely seriously. We will work closely with, and maintain on-going close relationships with, charities and service providers across the country to help publicise their work, projects and campaigns to reach all corners of the Scottish LGBTIQ community. We also aim to work closely with young people, to offer them opportunities to gain experience within the media through our Radio Academy, particularly targeting LGBTIQ youth, and highlighting other opportunities across the community. We will also work closely with schools, colleges, law enforcement agencies and other organisations to tackle the on-going issues of homophobia, bullying, violence, discrimination and other issues that affect members of the LGBTIQ community, both young and old. Radio Academy

Offering work experience, training and placements to young people within radio production, presenting, marketing, advertising and station management. Targeting LGBTIQ youth, although opportunities will be open to all – particularly unemployed, the vulnerable, victims of bullying, young people with few qualifications, etc.