2Day turns into 2Gay for Mardi Gras Saturday

Sydney’s best-rating FM radio station, 2DayFM, will this weekend rebrand itself as 2GayFM in support of marriage equality and to celebrate the Mardi Gras.

All on-air promotions, presenters and the stations’ website will be known as 2GayFM throughout all of Saturday in the lead up to and following the Sydney Mardi Gras Parade.

Announcing the temporary name change, Austereo, owners of 2DayFM, said the company was a strong believer in marriage equality and it hoped its support made a difference, big or small.

Earlier this week, 2DayFM’s Kyle Sandilands, Jackie O, Fifi Box, Jules Lund, Angus O’Loughlin plus daytime announcers Ellie Mobbs, Dan ‘Mandy Cassin’ and newsreader Geoff Field came together with hip-hop group Macklemore to create a video based on their hit song ‘Same Love’.

Field, who has been with 2DayFM since 1997 and came out as the country’s first openly gay newsreader in 2004, told SX it meant a lot to him personally that the radio station he has worked at for over 15 years is so supportive and enthusiastic about equality and the Mardi Gras.

“I especially would like to thank Jackie 0, Ellie Mobbs, Dan ‘Mandy Cassin’, Hamish and Andy and Fifi and Jules for their support of the cause,” he said.

“These people are always caring and respectful, and of course it was an honour to be given the opportunity to stage Australia’s first gay wedding on national radio and TV.

“It’s also been great to be allowed to be open about my sexuality on-air with such supportive colleagues.”

To watch the Macklemore and 2DayFM video for ‘Same Love’, click here.