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Bloomington-- BloomingOUT, a locally produced gay radio show targeting the gay, lesbian, bisexual and trangender community is poised to debut on Bloomington's free-form radio WFHB, according to program director Jim Manion.

Serving up an hour of live talk, news, interviews and music programming every Thursday at 6 p.m., BloomingOUT will feature interviews with such local notables as Kinsey Institute Director John Bancroft, activist Joyce Warner-Stone and others. The Bloomington-based broadcast is hosted by Mark Brostoff, associate director of undergraduate career services at the Kelley School of Business, and Helen Harrell, budget manager of the Indiana University African Studies department.

The program originated as a part of WFHB's News and Public Affairs Initiative. This plan was meant to boost the station's amount of talk programming from 5 to 20 percent within the past year, said WFHB News Director Chad Carrothers. In reviewing all of the programs already scheduled and the large listener response the station receives, adding a GLBT program was the obvious answer, Carrothers said.

It's been a long summer for BloomingOUT producers Jeffrey Bennett and Jays Janney as they prepare the debut show set for October 9th. Bennitt and Janney agree that the long hours of preparation will definitely be worth it for the GLBT community in south-central Indiana. "We have a great team of volunteers providing input and story ideas for the show," Bennett explained.

"People in the GLBT community should be pleased with the hour long show as we provide interviews, live musical performances, field reports and a community events and entertainment calendar." Brostoff said. Musical director Lee Chapman is eager to provide a broadcast media for local gay musicians to perform and gain acceptance. This is a very exciting opportunity for many of these performers," Chapman said.

Harrell sees the program as providing an opportunity for IU students to become more visible in the Bloomington community, as well as opening a new venue for the voices and opinions of women.

BloomingOUT has a volunteer staff including local professionals, students and others who contribute news stories, event highlights, and field reports. Carrothers says that the energy of the show will be informative, upbeat, and entertaining to both the gay and straight communities.

The nearest gay themed radio show, both on air and online, is Chicago's six-year-old LesBiGay Radio. Founder Alan Amberg qualifies that the effort "is still very embryonic" but says that the time is right to do it. LesBiGay Radio airs live on WSBC-1240 from 5pm-7pm Central and has carried ads for Miller Brewing, pharmaceutical companies Dupont, Abbot Laboratories and others.

"What makes online radio intriguing is already true for radio - you can listen while you do something else and it's really cheap to produce," says Amberg.

Brostoff and Harrell hope that local businesses will welcome the opportunity to underwrite the show. Brostoff sees that as a great advantage. "Being first to market is very, very important. And WFHB has clearly learned a lot about what works."