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.
Okay here's a question. Name your class clown from high school. Was it a female? Nope? What a shock. I am sure a few were, but not many. These are the alpha types that make great morning hosts. It's just the way the world works. We want to be entertained. No much of a conspiracy really.
"Laws alone can not secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population." - Albert Einstein
Apparently you were so busy 'thinking' you were the class clown and trying not to notice you were obviously being IGNORED by all the girls that you failed to notice the funnyness - looks like high school dorkdam still burns eh? Get over it, there are PLENTY of hilarious woman.
Radioguru overlooked that Ellen and Rosie are anomalies and both are homosexuals. Its too conicidential that they are both homosexuals so it could be that they have extra popularity from the homosexual population. It could also mean that their is something biological that has leads to their humour.
Very true facts from Ms. Thang at the Edmonton paper.
Her next article should focus on great male hosts who bust their ass in this business and the "ok" women who have positions just as good or better than them.
Not to take anything away from the ladies who actually do kick ass out there. I love it when I hear a lady on the radio that puts together breaks/shows that put most male hosts out there to shame. Sara P, Karen K, Danni Rohs, Jackie Rae all fall in that category.
Either way, Interesting article....it would have been better written by a man though....lol, Just kidding.
Either way, Interesting article....it would have been better written by a man though....lol, Just kidding.
that was pretty funny
The way it works in morning radio... whoever can be the best return on investment wins. If people wanted to hear fart jokes from a woman in the morning... a woman would be on in the morning telling fart jokes.
If a dog barking got better ratings than Bro Jake... sorry Bro, Rover is doing the Rock 101 morning show.
If "more Music hours" actually worked... you better believe Zed 95 would have it on their morning show. They don't, so it is Nat and Drew.
Not enough companies are willing to invest the time it takes to develop women as morning hosts. Schools teach women to be happy with what they get in broadcasting rather than what they can accomplish. Is there a woman in radio right now who has more drive than what a company has to offer or a school has to teach? No. Is there a woman in the biz that is willing to be a self promoting whore like Chris Sheetz? No. In order to be successful in this business, you have to tell people to listen to you. Doing it on the radio isn't enough. Talent comes naturally...refining it comes from people with experience and passion in a management position. There are too many bean counters and not enough teachers in management these days. I've seen women come and go over many years in radio who got fed up because of bonehead managers. There is nobody in radio that has the passion to make someone with star qualities become a star. Male or female.
Radioguru overlooked that Ellen and Rosie are anomalies and both are homosexuals. Its too conicidential that they are both homosexuals so it could be that they have extra popularity from the homosexual population. It could also mean that their is something biological that has leads to their humour.
Ellen and Rosie are overated...
whoa-... what? I haven't even finished reading this thread yet, cause I'm a little shocked at the... um... blatant sexism coming out of this thread..!
First of all- some of my favorite comedians are comediennes, for all you guys that think a chick can't be JUST as funny as a dude. Sally Field is effin hilarious, and not once does she have to fall back on "male bashing" or horrendously stereotypical jokes about her menstraul cycle... or whatever you guys seem to think makes up the majority of women's comic material.
I mean, have you guys been living under a rock, or have none of you heard of Sarah Silverman, Margaret Cho or Tina Fey? Tina Fey stole the show from Jimmy Fallon... Good god, Rosie O'Donnell's own counterpart on The View is fellow veteran comic Joy Behar, and Sarah Silverman's co-star in Greg the Bunny was the hilariously cute Diny Spybey. (PS- Did I mention that these comediennes are all STRAIGHT, to kill any homophobic context that was creeping in to the thread...)
Then, of course, there's the obvious...- Roseanne Barr, Lily Tomlin, Janeane Garofalo, Kathy Griffin, Rita Rudner and my personal favorite, Gilda Radner. To abandon the ridiculously small pool of strong stand-up comic talent for a moment, I feel I can't leave out such funny women as Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Lucille Ball, Amy Poehler and Jane Curtin... just because I thinks those chicks are all so damn hilarious...
What I'm trying to get at here is that comedy ain't pretty, as Woody Allen so simply put it... DUH. For the exact same reasons as there are staggeringly few female producers or engineers, women aren't in any point in their lives encouraged, supported or directed to develop themselves in ways that are traditionally masculine, such as the usually comedic role of the morning/drive time "guy".
But I wonder- how in the world are women to blame for being "intimidated" by other successful women- when female managers are so often the ones recruiting and hiring these (supposedly intimidating) female professionals...
And quit bringing up myths as fact in this argument against hiring female hosts. Why do you think more women take more maternity time off than men? Because (a) unfair laws exist that allow employers (ooh, let's not name names!!) to restrict men to taking a maximum of THREE months paternity leave... and (b) mat/pat leave pays only 50% of your prior income, untaxed. Whoever makes less stays home, if you're living on two incomes, like the rest of us. Guess who usually makes less??? (PS- if you were to actually look it up, you'd see that if you don't count mat leave, women take far less sick days than their male counterparts. And I'd love to see the study that shows a higher ratio of women quit radio for good than men do...)
So... um... other than there simply aren't enough resumes from females appearing in your inbox... why the hell AREN'T you guys hiring more women for these slots?? Melissa Wright is funny enough- give her a drive slot! Joane Deere on from cisn was hilarious when she was allowed to be... of course, she got abandoned on overnights until she finally got on with the traffic chopper...
Man, you know what, forget it... just forget everything I said... After this long, with this level of Anglo-Saxon education that I know you all have, a person just can't argue with something like...
Quoted Text
my guess is there is more women in their earning 6 figure salaries than male counterparts. you know what I mean.....
Some women are funny enough, as you suggested,but they have ZERO motivation. A drive show is a craft, an art that has to be attended to every hour of the day. People who are "happy enough" to be doing mid days should NEVER get a drive show. Mid days and a weekly bar gig does not an artist make.
What a snarky comment! middays and weekly bar gig?...Melissa Wright funy? Artist?...what difference does it make?...she does a fantastic job - and would kick ass at drive... this is a very weird comment board - lot's of comments on people that have really no clue who or what they are talking about. Very mean spirited.
Tina Fey...yes, on occasion. But if you seriously consider Kathy Griffin or Sarah Silverman funny, well, you probably enjoy the humour of Dane Cook.
A matter of taste to be sure, but c'mon!
I've had the opportunity to work closely with a few ladies that have gone places (and continue to) in this industry. It comes down to one thing: passion and motivation. (Okay, two things). I've seen the gals that coast, and on the flipside the ones that bust their ass to get where they want to go. Sadly, they all seem make it to the "bigs" as there is less competition for those gigs, but you can definitely tell who the ones that are committed to working on and developing their craft. If not, I suggest you look at "Person"s post above for a few examples, that's just a short list of the ladies that do it right, there are more out there. Hopefully more waiting in the wings with just as much, or more, passion than the guys.
the only problem with this thread is that people take it far too personally.
Think you can do a better morning show than the other guy? do it.
It isn;t just men that are attention whores... there are lots of women out there that love to splash themselves in the media spot light. The way you brand and sell yourself is up to you. But no one owes you success. If you want to do it "your way" then be pepared to have mediocre success if the public doesn't grab on. But it is not "the man's" fault... it is the public.. they don't like you... they'd rather hear the new Avril Lavaigne sugar pop song or Morning Zoo guys.
There have been experiements with all woman teams... they have historically failed. Radio stations rarely experiment with music, promotions, branding, so why would they experiment with the next great radio show when Brother Laughs A Lot and the Circle Jerk hour will deliver a safe return on the time slot?
Its business folks.
as for the "you guys" are sexist BS... Watch it. It is no better than some of the posts on here from the Karma Kazis of the world. NOT "all the Guys" on PSR share the same values.
Tina Fey...yes, on occasion. But if you seriously consider Kathy Griffin or Sarah Silverman funny, well, you probably enjoy the humour of Dane Cook.
A matter of taste to be sure, but c'mon!
I've had the opportunity to work closely with a few ladies that have gone places (and continue to) in this industry. It comes down to one thing: passion and motivation. (Okay, two things). I've seen the gals that coast, and on the flipside the ones that bust their ass to get where they want to go. Sadly, they all seem make it to the "bigs" as there is less competition for those gigs, but you can definitely tell who the ones that are committed to working on and developing their craft. If not, I suggest you look at "Person"s post above for a few examples, that's just a short list of the ladies that do it right, there are more out there. Hopefully more waiting in the wings with just as much, or more, passion than the guys.
i think the problem with female morning co-hosts is that (at the rate of being slammed as sexist) they become the giggle machine for their male counterpart. the morning co-host on Energy 101.5 is a classic example of that, at least from the sound bite i heard on another thread.
plus i think the mindset out there is that guys can get away with "potty mouth" type comments. really now, can you see a female version of Bro Jake or Howard Stern ever happening?
aspire to attain equal status and you might see more 'credible' female hosts.
"PS- if you were to actually look it up, you'd see that if you don't count mat leave, women take far less sick days than their male counterparts. And I'd love to see the study that shows a higher ratio of women quit radio for good than men do...)"
I did look it up an you are incorrect. I invite you to go to the stats can website and look up the Labour Force Surveys and see for yourself the number of studies and surveys, published by our own government, showing that females have a slightly higher level of absenteeism than males.
One study showed that men took on average of 2 paid sick days per year while women took 4 days. That is double. Absences due to maternity and pregnancy were excluded.
As for you comment implying my posting was homophobic, you are incorrect as well. I was just stating a fact and plausible reason.
From Stats Can Website:
Gender Differences in Quits and Absenteeism in Canada Issue information Female workers are traditionally viewed as more likely to quit, to be absent and to take more days of absence than male workers, and this gender difference is widely used as an important explanation for the gender wage gap and other labour market differences between men and women. This study documents the gender differences in quits and absenteeism in Canada and attempts to assess whether the traditional view is still valid today.
The study found that Canadian women's quitting behaviour changed dramatically over the past two decades. While women's permanent quit rate was greater than that of men in the 1980s, it converged with men's permanent quit rate since the early 1990s, and today there does not seem to be any significant difference in quitting behaviour between Canadian men and women. In terms of absenteeism, it was found that, other things being equal, Canadian men and women were somewhat different in paid sick leave, not in other paid and unpaid leaves, and their difference in paid sick leave was not large: women took only one day more than men.
Taken together, these results imply that, in Canada, the current gender differences in quits and absenteeism are not significant factors to explain certain gender differences in labour market outcomes, such as the wage gap between men and women.
To okok...you have no idea how much I DO know what I'm talking about. Funny enough doesn't cut it. Zero motivation and a completely uninterested delivery and laziness does not vault anyone to drive from mid days. You are right, though...if people worked on their shows as much as they spend on this website, radio would be a better place than it is today. There are 19 people browsing right now. Work on your show for chrissake!!!
I just thought I would add my opinion about the sick days off. I know I usually end up taking time off as a sick day because our child is sick...only because my husband can't. He makes twice as much money as I do so it only makes sense. Just something to think about when you are comparing who's sick and how often.
No one here is on air on this forum anyway...just people who wish they were trtc...and since when is middays such a bad gig?....major market midday is a dream unrealized by a lot of people. Kudos to the people with TALENT who get that gig and KEEP IT.
No one here is on air on this forum anyway...just people who wish they were
I strongly disagree! There are lots of people on this forum that are on the air, some are in management. You'd be very surprised who visits our site on a regular basis.
Actually midday's are very important to radio stations especially in bigger markets. More and more people are spending time in their cars, commuting, working, middays are probably as important a daypart as mornings or afternoons. A couple of posts in this thread seem to suggest that women aren't as motivated as male announcers. Give your head a shake, I've worked with some pretty lazy ass males in my time. As for sick days, I have worked with and still work with males who call in sick when they get a hang nail.
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