Entercom has announced the full launch of the LGBTQ “Out Now” HD/streaming brand it has been soft launching in Los Angeles.
In addition to 97.1 KAMP-HD2 Los Angeles, the station will also air on 94.1 KMXB-HD2 Las Vegas, 94.7 KKDO-HD2 Sacramento, 97.3 KLLC-HD2 San Francisco, and 98.1 KKSN-HD3 San Diego. The station’s lineup will feature a mix of talk shows and music including a revamped version of Loveline hosted by Dr. Chris Donaghue and actress/author/comedian Carrie Keagan.
The full lineup for Out Now will include “The Morning Beat” hosted by Queer Eye For The Straight Guy’s Jai Rodriguez and former American Idol contestant Mikalah Gordon from 6-10am pacific. A number of weekly shows will fill the 12-2pm slot including B. Scott on Mondays, designer Ryan Black on Tuesdays, Dumb Gay Politics + Everything Else hosted by Julie Goldman and Brandy Howard on Thursdays, and lawyer John Duran on Fridays. Afternoons from 4-7pm will feature “Let’s Go There w/ Shira & Ryan” hosted by Whats Trending’s Shira Lazar and Circa News social media editor Ryan Mitchell. The aforementioned Loveline follows from 7-9pm Mondays-Thursdays, while DJ Alex D will mix on Fridays from 8-10 and Saturdays from 10pm-12am.
Entercom, the #1 creator of live, original, local audio content in the United States, and its Los Angeles station 97.1 AMP Radio (KAMP-FM) announced the launch of “Out Now,” the premiere LGBTQ+ Talk Radio Network dedicated to celebrating the LGBTQ+ community and their allies. To coincide with National Coming Out Day, “Out Now” will launch today on Radio.com, the exclusive digital home for all Entercom content across the company’s robust portfolio of 235 radio stations, the Radio.com app and on 97.1 HD2. The station is also available on sister stations in four additional markets including Mix 94.1 HD2 (KMXB-FM) in Las Vegas, ALT 94-7 HD2 (KKDO-FM) in Sacramento, Sunny 98.1 HD3 (KXSN-FM) in San Diego and Alice @ 97.3 HD2 (KLLC-FM) in San Francisco.
“We are thrilled to launch ‘Out Now’, a passion project for our entire team, to give a voice to the LGBTQ community and its allies,” said Jeff Federman, Senior Vice President and Market Manager, Entercom Los Angeles. “Our goal is to provide a high quality listening experience and content for our community as well as a diverse platform with differing points of view.”
The new weekday line-up is as follows:
6:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.: “The Morning Beat” hosted by Jai Rodriguez and Mikalah Gordon
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.: “Our House”
12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.: Monday – “The B. Scott Show”
Tuesday – “Life w/ Ryan” hosted by Ryan Black
Thursday – “Dumb Gay Politics + Everything Else” hosted by Julie Goldman and Brandy Howard
Friday – “Sidebar with John Duran” hosted by John Duran
4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.: “Let’s Go There” hosted by Shira Lazar and Ryan Mitchell
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.: “LoveLine” hosted by Dr. Chris Donaghue and Carrie Keagan (Monday-Thursday)
9:00 p.m. – 6:00 a.m.: Late Night Music“Out Now” kicks off with a live day-long broadcast from The Abbey in West Hollywood, CA from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. PT. The broadcast will feature a variety of music along with guest appearances from actor Willam Belli, comedian Bruce Villanch, singer Taylor Dayne and Fortune Feimster, among others.
Listeners can tune in to “Out Now” nationwide on the Radio.com app and website. Fans can also connect with the station on social media via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
I wonder why Entercom did not launch this on WIAD HD 2? Their repetitive classic hits format is so repetitive it’s on HD1 and 2 currently.
All the stations on board so far are in the Pacific Time Zone – perhaps they are rolling this out in the West first.
(The initial day of programming was based in West Hollywood.)
Perhaps there will be a second “opening day” on the East Coast in the future
(possible separate East Coast feed down the road?).
However, given the likely nature that this will be somewhat generic programming in nature
(not constrained to specific time structure) *and* it is HD-based, I don’t think a second feed is likely.
Finally someone put some thought into doing an LGBTQ format that speaks to its audience. The other ones done on the cheap with a strictly dance music format and limited talk never made sense.
I think UK station Gaydio started that trend. They started out with a lot of talk but quickly went for the cheaper non-stop dance music format. I suspect a lot of the operators of these stations in the US have listened to Gaydio.