City's morning radio is male-dominated airtime Radio dial spinning turns up few female voices during prime commuting hours
Lynda Steele CanWest News Service
Friday, March 09, 2007
Quick -- name three marquee female radio hosts in Canada -- bonus points if you can name one female radio star in Edmonton in the highly coveted morning time slot. You have 30 seconds -- go!
Time's running out ... having trouble? Let's make this a little easier. Name TWO famous, highly paid Canadian female radio hosts currently on the air. 15 seconds ... 10 ... five ... Sorry, time's up.
Not so easy is it? We've come a long way baby, from the days of fedora-sporting media men with press cards tucked into the brims of their hats. The Journal newsroom is now full of talented female writers and editors. The vast majority of students interested in television news are women, to the point where local TV newsrooms are often desperate to hire qualified men to even out the balance. So why are the top radio jobs in this country still filled almost exclusively by men?
Oh sure, women can find work in radio, if they're satisfied doing traffic reports, reading the news, playing the sex- pot, or second banana to the highly paid male morning show jock. Very few have their own shows in prime time, and very few make the six-figure salary of their male counterparts.
I took a quick spin across the Edmonton radio dial, and when it comes to the highly coveted morning host slot, there's a whole lot of testosterone on the airwaves. Check this out:
CHED Radio -- male host
CISN -- two male hosts
Joe FM -- two male hosts
K-Rock -- three male hosts
Magic 99 -- male host
The Bounce -- male host
CBC Edmonton AM -- male host
Sonic FM -- male host
The Bear -- primary host male (co-hosts one male, one female)
A veteran male deejay in town privately confessed, "I've been thinking about it, and you're right. It IS an old boy's club, and there's no reason for it."
To be fair, women have managed to secure a handful of morning show slots in Edmonton. EZ Rock has a male/female morning team, so does CFCW and the Big Earl. The person who does the hiring for those last two country stations is a woman. Coincidence?
"I was looking for the best 'man' for the job ... and they just happened to be ladies," says Jackie Rae Greening, a successful radio host herself.
Most people I know don't really care if the host is a man or a woman, as long as they're interesting, articulate, intelligent and amusing. So why the dramatic gender imbalance?
Kristina Perkins is a radio instructor at NAIT. She says private market research done for stations over the years has allegedly uncovered strong listener preferences for male hosts, but warns, "I can almost guarantee none of them will want to share this data."
Popular K-Rock midday host Melissa Wright admits there does seem to be a preference for "guy talk" on the radio -- fart jokes and football scores -- but she partially blames what she calls women's "biological bitchiness" for the gender inequities in radio, a competitiveness not seen in men.
"Men think funny men are funny," Melissa explains.
"Women hear a funny woman (or God forbid a sexy-sounding woman), and they generally see them as competition and want to scratch their eyes out."
Marty Forbes is general manager of the Standard Radio group in Edmonton, a self-professed "huge fan of female broadcasters," who points out that two of his stations have women on their morning shows.
"Only negative that we end up with, is the fact that women often 'leave' the industry for long periods of time (maternity leaves) ... men stay in for the long haul."
Forbes says it's important to note that he has several female managers behind the scenes, which are "just as important."
Maybe more women in radio management will mean more women behind the microphone in key roles. That, plus an increase in the number of women applying for the NAIT radio program in recent years, and new opportunities being offered up by satellite radio, and maybe -- just maybe -- women will finally be able to kick down the door to that old boy's radio club.
And when you can't spell sarcasm no one listens to your opinion anyhow :-P Sarcasm rules! Not sure about sarcaism though...how would one pronounce that?? Hehehehehe
I think it's great that Lynda pointed out the obvious in her article. What I want to know is what does she expect out of writing it.
It's no secret that women are "pink slotted"... traffic, co-host, news, mid days... Okay so now what?
The fact is, women DO leave for long periods of time (maternity leave). A woman "jock" may or MAY NOT return to work. It's up to the management team on how they handle the situation. There are some companies that encourage women jocks to have kids, and come back in a year... or if they can broadcast from home until they can return to the office.
So, how do the tables turn around so a woman can host a morning show? It's been done before i.e.: Carla Collins in Toronto, Charlee Redman in Calgary... but they WEREN'T successful. The numbers were low - so the management either gave up, or moved them elsewhere! Is this topic a dead end? Is there room for change? Will a woman ever see success as a morning host? I predict not! That's not to say women can't be successful in radio... just not in the coveted morning time slot - Mid days, Drive and Evenings have plenty of VERY successful women.
A woman's career in radio is what she makes of it. Her success will come from her own tenacity and drive. Who cares if she doesn't do a morning show? I know plenty of women who make more money than men in this business. It's how she learns to play her cards - no different than any other business in this world.
Don't forget CBC Edmonton's ill fated trial of a woman morning host. She was hired by female management because "Edmonton was ready for a female host". Edmontonians disagreed. Ron Wilson is now the host.
What about "Don, Joanne & the Coach" in Calgary...or "Roger, Rick and Marilyn" in Toronto? Aren't they successful female morning hosts? or are they just giggly sidekicks?....Marilyn has a syndicated TV show as well. Or are we only referring to single host morning shows (in that case most morning hosts are male) But most of the morning teams across the country consist of at least one female voice in the morning.
What about "Don, Joanne & the Coach" in Calgary...or "Roger, Rick and Marilyn" in Toronto? Aren't they successful female morning hosts? or are they just giggly sidekicks?....Marilyn has a syndicated TV show as well. Or are we only referring to single host morning shows (in that case most morning hosts are male) But most of the morning teams across the country consist of at least one female voice in the morning.
My reference was to single morning hosts... as these women are co-hosts. That's not to say that these AWESOME women couldn't hold the entire show either! But, morning shows sound better with a team of men and women... to hold the diversity of the listeners of men and women.
The Breeze/California did have an all woman show with Charlee Redman - and now it's Jonathan Love and Chaneen.
Plenty of women have had syndicated shows like Marilyn, Rona Raskin with Rona At Night and Christina Rowsell with Christina At Night. In the states there's Delihla (who has huge success)or Radio Lia. As mentioned before, it's not for a lack of talent, maybe mornings just isn't the place "right now" for a single woman host.
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