OUT Cast is a program produced by a collective of volunteers at WMPG in Portland, Maine. The half-hour talk show addresses LGBTQ+ issues and seeks to provide a forum representing the full diversity of the community. The program will soon air on WERU on Mondays at 4:30-5:00 p.m.. Welcome to OUT Cast!
From the Out Cast Collective:
On an August day in 2018, collective member Stan Fortuna was enjoying a First Friday saunter with his husband Andy on Congress Street in Portland when he came across an information table for WMPG, community radio broadcasting from the University of Southern Maine campus. At the table was Richard Doherty, another future collective member.
Intrigued by the possibility of getting the training to produce a queer radio show, Stan contacted his old friend Steve Bull about joining him on the project. Stan and Steve had been co-founders of several of the first groups in Maine in the days of Gay Liberation. They had been having conversations about how best to bring the very rich history of queer activism in Maine to the current generation. A radio show seemed a good fit.
When we pitched the show to WMPG, we were immediately embraced and given a slot on the schedule even before our training was completed. In early December, 2018, OUT Cast premiered on WMPG. Over the past two plus years we have featured key activists representing the past 5 decades as well as a broad range of issues. If you were to listen to our past shows (all archived at the LGBTQ+ Collection at USM) you would find Professor Wendy Chapkis talking about her book on sex workers, Pastor Judy and Al Green of Worcester, MA on their regional work among LGBTQ+ asylum seekers from Jamaica, Africa and beyond, transgender author Lisa Bunker about her two books or perhaps Steve and Sive Neilan’s series on AIDS and COVID. Revs. Marvin Ellison and Tamara Torres-McGovern provide nourishment for the soul with their Queer Spirit series and Dal Maxwell keeps us informed as she scours the world for LGBTQ+ news.
Our collective has steadily grown over the past few years and we welcome members of the WERU community to join us. If you have ideas for programming and/or would like to add your voice to the chorus, please contact us. Our sincere thanks to WERU for this opportunity.