Loud'n'proud
loud & proud was a series on BBC Radio 1 aimed at young lesbians and gay men and their friends. It was presented by DJ Paulette and broadcast weekly in 1993.[1]
It was made by OutSpoken Productions, an independent production company based in Manchester and run by Christopher Kelly and Mark Ovenden. Although only five programmes were commissioned, it was the first series for gay people on a national UK radio network and was the first radio series in the world to target young gay people.
Such was the prevailing level of homophobia at the time that Conservative Member of Parliament Peter Butler was reported in the press as saying that "The BBC have gone completely out of control. They are following their own agenda. We should cancel their licence fee".
The pilot of the series was first made in 1992 with celebrity gay footballer Justin Fashanu as the presenter. It was initially submitted to BBC Radio Five but turned down in May 1992.
The success of the programme and generally favourable press coverage (The Guardian (18 September 1993) called the programme "an impressive example of public service broadcasting") encouraged Radio 1 to cover the Gay Pride event for the first time the following year.[2] Those reports into the general days output, also produced by OutSpoken Productions and fronted by Kevin Greening led to Radio 1 becoming a regular fixture at Gay Pride events for several years.
Also, the following year, BBC Radio 5 Live began broadcasting a weekly programme for the LGBT community called Out This Week, which aired on the network until the end of the decade.[3]
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