The BBC music station's decision to host an all-female lineup of DJs is to be praised. But couldn't they have been given the whole day – instead of two nighttime slots?
International Women's Day, long associated with do-gooders and suffragettes in the UK, is to be celebrated this year by Radio 1, the BBC music station that targets young people, with an all-female lineup of DJs. Hurrah.
The decision, which definitely deserves a warm welcome, does raise one question though: is International Women Two Nights in a Row a better-sounding name than fusty old International Women's Day to young people? The DJs, which include doyennes such as Annie Nightingale and rising stars such as Gemma Cairney, will broadcast in the 7pm to 7am "specialist" slot on the weekend nights of 7 and 8 March, rather than in one 24-hour celebration on the Saturday. Were they not allowed out during the day?
According to a BBC spokesman, Radio 1's daytime schedule, even at the weekend, is too complicated to muck about with. Also, newer talent will get the chance to take over the "essential mix" slot between 1 and 3am, when the station's target audience of 15 to 29-year-olds are more likely to be awake and listening to music than me.
This may sound grumpy, but research last year by the industry body Sound Women found that just 20% of all solo presenter voices on the UK's 30 biggest radio stations were women. And most of them broadcast at the weekends, with nearly a quarter (23.3%) of solo presenter voices on Saturday and Sunday being female. Given that, would it really have been so "complicated" to get some women dominating International Women's Day this year?
When it comes to the most popular – and therefore important – breakfast and drive slots Monday-Friday, women represent just 12-13% of all presenters. So roughly one in eight of all voices heard over the radio during its busiest broadcasting time are women's.
Radio 1 has done a good thing – and yet drawn attention to industry failings at the same time. A similar thing happened when Tony Hall, in one of his earlier speeches as director general of the BBC last August, set new targets for women presenters across the corporation's radio network. And then made them local, not national, targets. "We have got to be more reflective of the audiences who are listening to our programmes," he said at the time, as though only 50% of people in local areas are women and not, you know, the whole world.
The discussion around women and popular music has recently been dominated by the way the industry treats its young stars, with the hypersexualised Miley Cyrus taking a wrecking ball through the idea that all is equal between male and female singers. Yet much of the inequalities in the industry takes place away from the spotlight.
Don't get me wrong, there is much about Radio 1's decision that should be welcomed. Sound Women board member Fi Glover was full of praise, but added: "And if there is a part of anyone reading this which is thinking: 'One day of wall-to-wall women … mmmm … bit tokenistic?' Well – it's not. If half the population is female and half your audience is too … er … I think we can see where we should be in terms of representation behind the microphone."
Last October, Charlotte Church said in a Peel lecture for 6 Music: "The culture of demeaning women in pop music is so ingrained as to have become routine, from the way we are dealt with by management and labels, to the way we are presented to the public."
The former child star wasn't thinking about prime-time radio slots, but she could have been. One whole day out of 365 isn't so much to ask, is it? Reported by guardian.co.uk 11 hours ago.
International Women's Day, long associated with do-gooders and suffragettes in the UK, is to be celebrated this year by Radio 1, the BBC music station that targets young people, with an all-female lineup of DJs. Hurrah.
The decision, which definitely deserves a warm welcome, does raise one question though: is International Women Two Nights in a Row a better-sounding name than fusty old International Women's Day to young people? The DJs, which include doyennes such as Annie Nightingale and rising stars such as Gemma Cairney, will broadcast in the 7pm to 7am "specialist" slot on the weekend nights of 7 and 8 March, rather than in one 24-hour celebration on the Saturday. Were they not allowed out during the day?
According to a BBC spokesman, Radio 1's daytime schedule, even at the weekend, is too complicated to muck about with. Also, newer talent will get the chance to take over the "essential mix" slot between 1 and 3am, when the station's target audience of 15 to 29-year-olds are more likely to be awake and listening to music than me.
This may sound grumpy, but research last year by the industry body Sound Women found that just 20% of all solo presenter voices on the UK's 30 biggest radio stations were women. And most of them broadcast at the weekends, with nearly a quarter (23.3%) of solo presenter voices on Saturday and Sunday being female. Given that, would it really have been so "complicated" to get some women dominating International Women's Day this year?
When it comes to the most popular – and therefore important – breakfast and drive slots Monday-Friday, women represent just 12-13% of all presenters. So roughly one in eight of all voices heard over the radio during its busiest broadcasting time are women's.
Radio 1 has done a good thing – and yet drawn attention to industry failings at the same time. A similar thing happened when Tony Hall, in one of his earlier speeches as director general of the BBC last August, set new targets for women presenters across the corporation's radio network. And then made them local, not national, targets. "We have got to be more reflective of the audiences who are listening to our programmes," he said at the time, as though only 50% of people in local areas are women and not, you know, the whole world.
The discussion around women and popular music has recently been dominated by the way the industry treats its young stars, with the hypersexualised Miley Cyrus taking a wrecking ball through the idea that all is equal between male and female singers. Yet much of the inequalities in the industry takes place away from the spotlight.
Don't get me wrong, there is much about Radio 1's decision that should be welcomed. Sound Women board member Fi Glover was full of praise, but added: "And if there is a part of anyone reading this which is thinking: 'One day of wall-to-wall women … mmmm … bit tokenistic?' Well – it's not. If half the population is female and half your audience is too … er … I think we can see where we should be in terms of representation behind the microphone."
Last October, Charlotte Church said in a Peel lecture for 6 Music: "The culture of demeaning women in pop music is so ingrained as to have become routine, from the way we are dealt with by management and labels, to the way we are presented to the public."
The former child star wasn't thinking about prime-time radio slots, but she could have been. One whole day out of 365 isn't so much to ask, is it? Reported by guardian.co.uk 11 hours ago.
