Gaywaves was Sydney’s first gay and lesbian radio program.

It was considered groundbreaking when it went to air on 2SER FM in November 1979, at a time when homosexual acts between consenting adults were still illegal in New South Wales.

This clip is from the first live broadcast of Gaywaves on 3 January 1980. It features a preface to a discussion with gay rights activists Dennis Altman and Marg McMann about gay identity at the start of the 1980s.

Initially broadcast as a half-hour pre-recorded program on Wednesday evenings, Gaywaves shifted to Thursdays in early 1980 and was soon extended to a three-hour live weekly broadcast.

The program covered everything from HIV/AIDS rallies, Mardi Gras festivals and drama serials to the Australian Transsexual Association program, with a mix of music, talkback, news and event and group listing.

At a time when mainstream media rarely covered LGBT issues positively, and when LGBT print media was mostly published monthly, programs like Gaywaves were a vital news source for the Sydney LGBT community.

Unusually for community radio, significant holdings of Gaywaves are held by the NFSA, State Library of NSW and the Australian Queer Archives.

Sydney gay and lesbian radio program Gaywaves presenter Dietmar Hollman reports in November 1985 on proposed legislation (which would become the 1985 Public Health Proclaimed Diseases Amendment Act) that would require doctors to notify the New South Wales Health Department of HIV-positive patients.

The report features interviews with activist John Cazan, Sydney City councillors Craig Johnston and Brian McGahen and New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Board president Carmel Niland.

Sydney gay and lesbian radio program Gaywaves presenter Dietmar Hollman reports in October 1985 from a rally and AIDS Candlelight Vigil, the first held in Sydney, organised by Sydney City councillors Brian McGahen and Craig Johnston.

The recording includes discussion of the 1985 Public Health Proclaimed Diseases Amendment Act, speeches from Brian McGahen, Craig Johnston, Dorothy McRae-McMahon, Dennis Scott, a performance from July Glen and vox pops from the crowd.

Image from the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives (www.alga.org.au) badge collection

An interview with members of the Gay Liberation Quire broadcast as part of Gaywave's Stonewall Special in 1981.

The clip features the Quire's songs 'Hark the Herald Fairies Shout' and 'God Help You Merry Dykes and Poofs'.

The Quire had their debut performance, singing satirical versions of Christmas carols and other popular songs, at Belmore Park as 1,000 people assembled for the Stonewall March on 27 June 1981.

Image of Neil Fitzgerald and Phil Stevenson at the launch of Hormones or Jeans, the Gay Liberation Quire EP, 1983. Photograph by Paul van Reyk from the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives (www.alga.org.au).

Notes by Beth Taylor

Doris Day's remarkable career is celebrated in this comprehensive report, originally produced by Maria Miranda for Gaywaves in 1987.

This recording was sourced from a repeat broadcast, which aired on 5 August 1999 and was presented by Dietmar Hollman and Amanda Wallace.

Greg Reading reports for Gaywaves in 1983 from a march on Oxford Street, Sydney.

The rally was organised as a response to a second police raid of sex-on-premises venue Club 80 in which 11 people were charged under anti-homosexual laws.

A panel session presented by the NFSA during the 2015 SpringOUT festival.

Panel members: Prue Borthwick and Greg Reading (2SER Gaywaves presenters); Peter Hewiston (past 2XX Gaywavelength presenter); and Nicola Hearn, Nida Mollison and Daria Sigma (2XX Friday Night Lip Service presenters).

They are joined by NFSA curator Chris Arneil and panel moderator Cris Kennedy from the NFSA.

Gaywaves presenter and program producer, Dietmar Hollman.

Hollman was a member of the New South Wales Gay Rights Lobby during the gay law reform campaign in the early 1980s.

He is pictured at 2SER, c1987–89.

Prue Borthwick produced a Lesbian Sex Special for Gaywaves in 1982.

In a 2017 interview with the NFSA, she recalled:

‘It was a mixture of personal stories, music and a soundscape. It was almost like poetry, where a group of us sat with a microphone in someone’s lounge room and recorded short phrases or words that we thought captured sexual sensations and actions.’

After airing the special, 2SER received two complaints and had to face the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal, which classified the program as ‘indecent’ and ‘obscene’. 

In this clip from 2SER's Media Magazine program in 1992, Prue talks to Jackie Rundle about the 1982 controversy.

Dietmar Hollman discusses the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) with American activist, film historian and author Vito Russo on Gaywaves in 1988.

Gaywaves float at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, 1994.

Greg Reading and Susan Hawkeswood discuss the early years of Gaywaves, 1999.

Promo for Mothers and Others, a 1991 Gaywaves five-part special focusing on lesbian parenting and produced by Prue Borthwick and Barbara Bloch.

Over five episodes they explored the issue from different perspectives, including that of the parents, the children and the donors. 

Same-sex parenting was a controversial issue at the time, but what Prue discovered was very positive, as she recalled in an interview with the NFSA in 2017:

‘Sure, there were problems, and we may have glossed over some of these in our enthusiasm, but overall we found the usual cosy, messy family behaviour that reassured us that lesbian parenting could produce just as warm and loving and nurturing relationships between the parents and their children as in heterosexual families.

‘Our journey helped the journey of others, and the reaction from the public was very positive. A lot of lesbians were beginning to dare to think of motherhood at the time but most of the reading material available was American, so people appreciated the Australian perspective and advice on the legal issues and services available.’

The transcript of Mothers and Others was published as a book, using a small grant from the AIDS Council of NSW. When it was released, it topped the Feminist Bookshop's bestseller list.