Late last week, a largely conservative New Jersey radio audience found out some key new information about an on-air personality they’d come to know over the last four years — he’s gay.

Joe Votruba made the announcement on the air of New Jersey 101.5, the largest FM talk radio station in America, where he’s an afternoon show producer and writer. During a chat about whether or not it’s a good idea to stay friends with your exes, Joe opted to ditch the gender-neutral pronouns and cut right to the truth. Well done, Joe.

In an email to Queerty, Joe wrote:

I think the people who listen to our show will accept me. The audience and I have had four years to get to know each other. Part of my job is to deliver a young, fresh perspective. As a 25 year old with progressive beliefs and knowledge of issues that affect older and younger generations, I already stick out like a sore thumb on the air. This is just something else about me that is unique and I look forward to being able to share this aspect of my life. In addition to talking about all things that go on in and around New Jersey, my goal is to bring awareness of internal and external issues that affect the LGBT community to the forefront and discuss these topics in an open forum setting.

He followed it up with a post on Facebook:

Joe later told us that, although not everyone has been supportive, the response has mostly been even better than he’d hoped:

I’ve received an incredible amount of support and acceptance since sharing the news with our audience. It’s truly been overwhelming. Of course I’ve also heard from people who do not support me or simply don’t think homosexuality is worthy of conversation… and that’s ok. It’s important for those opinions to be seen and heard as the push for gay acceptance continues.

You can listen to his announcement below:

For the record, it is possible to stay friends with your exes, but good luck with that.