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Well hellooooooo, newsletter readers. This week marks Michal’s last week before her vacation is over. Until then, you get me! I’m max, Vocal Fry’s resident made-being-gay-their-entire-personality staff member. Keeping to my regular bullshit, this week’s newsletter is addressed to my fellow queers in newsrooms and media.

*just picture that this is actually me and I am winking at you in a gay way

Earlier this week, as I was at my local grocer, I saw the first rumblings of Token Gay Month in the form of a marked-up rainbow water bottle (see fig. A). I don’t know about you, but the rolling out of rainbow merch always stresses me out, because I know with that comes the requests for queer content.

I’m not complaining because I don’t want to talk about gay shit. I LOVE talking about gay shit! But personally, I’m not interested in only sharing my perspective (or that of our community) for Pride. Having worked in different parts of the radio industry (commercial, campus, public, music, podcasting, you name it), I’ve been subject to having my ideas passed on until June rolls around. I can imagine you have too. It feels predatory, doesn’t it?

It’s perhaps grimly fitting that, as I write this, we’re seeing more mass layoffs of marginalized groups at the media goliath Netflix. At first, they’d laid off a team of mainly Black, Latinx or Asian women, hired with the promise of being able to write culture features. This week, along with more cuts to the platform’s Black, Brown, and Asian-American social content, they laid off much of the queer social arm. Talk about predatory.

*me, with all my fleshed-out stories in October

What to make of this? For me, I’m allowing myself to hold fast against requests for queer stories in the coming month. After years of cultivating my boundaries, I’m now fortunate enough to work in spaces that celebrate me for my queerness year-round. With that privilege, I’ll take the time to fine-tune my pitches; give them extra love. And when Pride Month is long over, and the leaves start to change colour, I’ll bring them up again, if nothing more than to celebrate the neverending beauty of queerness in any month of the year.

During Worldwide Pride Month, some of us (read: cisgender, white, middle-to-upper-class gay men) are being sold to, and others are being pressured to make content for straight audiences. Our humanity, and our right to rest and privacy is being exploited, just so our employers can slap a rainbow on their Linkedin logos and maybe make a buck.

With that in mind, I write this to you, queer reader, as a reminder to reclaim that exploited humanity. You don’t have to make gay-related content this month if you don’t want to. Don’t feel the pressure to be the representation for your organization if you don’t want to be (and those who are still in the closet - don’t feel pressured to come out!). Podcasters specifically, our industry still gives power to those who abhor our existence. If you’re not feeling up to churning out content specific to your lived experience this June, that’s understandable. You don’t have to. Don’t be afraid to say no to those requests.

Or just pitch your gay little stories to your hearts content. I’m not your mum. 🌈

Acast has an opening for an ad operations coordinator out of their Toronto office.

Global News Calgary is looking to fill multiple positions: a news editor, a digital journalist, and a news producer.

The University of British Columbia’s campus radio station, CiTR-FM, is hiring a music and volunteer manager. I actually used to work at this station, and it was a great atmosphere with great people! 100% recommend applying. Salary for this position is $34,580/year, plus three weeks paid vacation.

Quebec-based Pilgrim Content Marketing is looking for a podcast producer for a remote position. From the posting, it looks like you’ll want to have experience in engineering and project coordination as well.

The Globe and Mail is looking for a business reporter for the Globe Advisor.

WNYC’s Radiolab (ever heard of them? ) is hiring a New York-based, full-time assistant producer at a rate of $33.78 per hour.

And here’s your weekly CBC job round-up (wage ranges can be found here.)

CBC Toronto is hiring a senior producer for As It Happens.

CBC Manitoba is hiring a host situated in Winnipeg for their weekend morning show.

CBC Lethbridge is looking for a video journalist.

CBC Vancouver is hiring a part-time associate producer for The Debaters.

In The Dark London is accepting submissions for an event featuring curated work from emerging producers. Any submission used in the event will get £50 GBP per piece.

Freelance audio fiction writers! The Writers Guild of America (east and west) are organizing for better pay. Want to be part of the movement? Find out more here.

Have you been keeping up with Sally Herships’s Radio Boot Camp courses? Some upcoming classes include info on getting grants, editing dialogue, and even how to be a good podcast guest (don’t you wish everyone would take that class?). And of course, AIR members get 10% off Radio Boot Camp classes.

I’m sure you’ve heard 99 Percent Invisible before – you might even be reading this in host Roman Mars’s voice right now, just from the name association – but I want to draw your attention to this week’s episode, reported by Vocal Fry’s very own star executive producer, Jay Cockburn.

In it, Jay examines Toronto’s “missing middle”: a municipal planning flaw seen in many cities (like in my current location of Vancouver B.C., heyo!). The missing middle refers to the lack of mid-rise apartment complexes in metropolitan areas, which leads to housing scarcity for the working and middle classes. Jay decodes the mystery of the missing middle with wit and humour, and like many 99 Percent Invisible episodes, it gives you a glimpse into how the world, and the inequities that come along with it, are designed the way they are. And in the end, Jay gives listeners a reason to question the classist design of our neighbourhoods, and some solutions to make our cities better. Seriously, go give it a listen if you haven’t yet.

A new episode of Think Beyond is out now! Hosts Cat Wiles and Tracey Follows speak with Ian Crocombe, director of the social commerce consultancy firm, Deft. They discuss the future of social shopping and e-commerce, pre-pandemic mall trips with your mates, how to sell a couch using magic, and more. If anything, this episode is a treat to listen to just to hear the chemistry between Ian, Cat, and Tracey.

We want to hear from you! What are you looking for in your podcast news? Let us know on Twitter, Instagram, or by email at info@vocalfrystudios.com.

Thanks to Emily Latimer for editing this newsletter, and to Katie Jensen for designing it.

We’ll see you again on May 27. Until then, here’s a very apropos update from my cat, Cynthia. In this case, Power Vers means giving kisses and getting them.

This one’s for the queers

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