Three years on the OutQ-tip with Derek & Romaine.
By Brandon Voss
Being out has never been this in: Sirius OutQ celebrated its third anniversary on May 11 with a huge party at its gorgeous glass-enclosed studios in Rockefeller Center. That’s how they roll at Sirius Satellite Radio’s LGBT channel, the nation’s first and only 24/7 radio service providing original programming, news, talk, music, and other entertainment for our peeps.
Hosts — or jocks — Larry Flick, Frank DeCaro, Michelangelo Signorile, John McMullen, and Jeremy Hovies keep it gay throughout the day with an eclectic mix of interviews, call-ins, chatter, and LGBT grooves, plus top-of-the-hour queer news with experienced anchors Tim Curran and Michael Wengert. RadioRatingz.com ranks The Derek & Romaine Show, perhaps the most treasured jewel in the OutQ crown, the No. 1 radio show in America.
Instead of gabbing about dull politics and world affairs, this wacky pair probes lively luminaries like porn star Chris Wide. “Our show is really fun and interactive,” says Derek Hartley, who co-hosts the popular weekday evening show with Romaine Patterson. “We walk into that studio each day with the goal of entertaining people. Just by being ourselves and having a good time, we change peoples’ perceptions of what it is to be gay and who gay people in America today really are.”
Hartley says it’s the unlikely camaraderie between a gay man and a lesbian that the audience responds to. “From the first day we just clicked, but since neither of us had ever done radio before, it took several months to turn simple chemistry into a radio show worth listening to.” Now an aural force to be reckoned with, this dynamic duo gets visual by emceeing numerous Pride events and raising thousands for AIDS-related causes.
Despite their queer agenda, Derek & Romaine attracts a surprising number of straight listeners, including quite a few randy truck drivers. “Straight people are more curious about what happens on a gay radio channel than gay people,” Hartley says. “They seem to like it, and so do gay people — once they get over themselves and give it a chance.”
HX, May 2006.