Not Enough Female Presenters?

Lenny Lovett

From herald.ie

A LEADING businesswoman has slated RTE live on air over what she claims is a lack of female presenters.
Chief executive of 11890, Nicola Byrne, said the broadcaster should be ashamed for failing to represent the female population on radio.
She was on Summertime with Gavin Duffy and Fitsquad founder Kate Ryan to discuss how women bosses are perceived.
"I'm sitting here in an organisation that shouldn't be proud of its record because it has taken every single woman presenter off air nine to five, bar Mary Wilson, from September," she said. "I am sorry, but 50pc of the population deserves a voice, whether it's hormonal or not.
"There is no leadership across organisations like this," she said. "This radio station is headed up by a woman, there is no excuse to allow it."
RTE bosses have rejected the claims and have provided evidence of the number of female hosts across its network.
Ms Byrne, live on RTE 1, challenged Dragon's Den's Gavin Duffy to train her up as a host of a radio show on the national station.
"I actually think I'd like a job in RTE Radio. Do you think you could train me up to manage an hour's programme on every weekday on RTE?" she asked.
However, a spokeswoman for RTE challenged the points made by Ms Byrne. "Nicola Byrne is wrong," she said. "There are 15 female presenters across the week on RTE Radio 1, excluding Valerie Cox, who reports daily into Today With Pat Kenny."
The representative provided a list of female presenters are represented on RTE Radio 1.
Biggest
"On weekdays, the peak time schedule starts with Aine Lawlor and Aoife Kavanagh for two hours and ends with Mary Wilson for two-and-a-half hours; as such the two biggest drivetime shows are presented by women," she said.
"In addition, it is worth considering that on a Saturday and Sunday morning the peak-time radio listening period is dominated by female presenters, starting with Ruth Buchanan at nine and ending with Rachael English at two; there is a similar situation on Sundays."

mike65

Bit of a moan there, a guess she justs wants a Mon-Fri voice where Pat Kenny is heard. Clearly didn't think her point though.

FlutterinBantam

Mike ,I'm surprised.

Those two just provided any proof needed that brass necked goothers like that are not needed on RTE radio .

For fook sake, rename it Hormone Radio.

KerranJast

It's probably not very PC to say but very few female presenters are personable enough to hold down a prime time slot.

mrsdewinter

KerranJast wrote: »

It's probably not very PC to say but very few female presenters are personable enough to hold down a prime time slot.

Sad to say this but it's true. Male listeners don't take them seriously, and women just want to hear the sound of a man's voice.
Marian has managed it - mostly, I think, because she throws herself into prepping for her shows and only covers items which are of genuine interest to her. The only other exception I can think of is Keelin Shanley (sp?) who has a superb voice and comes across as being authoritative without sounding shrill or schoolmarmish.
It seems that in more music-oriented radio, you have to have a North American accent to sound as if you know what you're talking about...

Lenny Lovett

mrsdewinter wrote: »

It seems that in more music-oriented radio, you have to have a North American accent to sound as if you know what you're talking about...

Now could that be a dig at Ms Huston (Canadian not North American)? Meow!:D

FlutterinBantam

Lenny Lovett wrote: »

Now could that be a dig at Ms Huston (Canadian not North American)? Meow!:D

:eek::eek:

Mirabile visu...Canada is no longer in North America!!!

Sell that atlas Leonard;)

Sids Not

Yeah..like we need another Michelle Doherty...........:rolleyes:

Lenny Lovett

mrsdewinter wrote: »

Sad to say this but it's true. Male listeners don't take them seriously, and women just want to hear the sound of a man's voice.
Marian has managed it - mostly, I think, because she throws herself into prepping for her shows and only covers items which are of genuine interest to her. The only other exception I can think of is Keelin Shanley (sp?) who has a superb voice and comes across as being authoritative without sounding shrill or schoolmarmish.
It seems that in more music-oriented radio, you have to have a North American accent to sound as if you know what you're talking about...

I don't think you can generalise tha men don't take women seriously on the radio. There's some very accomplished ladies on air. There are more dumb men on radio than dumb women. Is that because there are just more men on radio? Probably. I do know that many research results over the years have shown that men and women prefer a male voice on radio.

constitutionus

wasnt there some reserch done a while back showing that listeners in general, not just male or female, dont like listening to female voices on radio ?

my feeling on it is maybe its the average womans high pitch voice thats causing it. if you think about it most of the suscessful women on radio have quite deep or low pitch voices incomparison to the norm which at times can come across as very shrill. considering the more intimate experience radio can be that can amplify the effect.

the same applies to the blokes now i think about it. not many jackie healy ray type voices out there which is why i reckon hector is going to go down like a lead balloon on his morning show if he starts mouthing off like he does on telly.

the funny thing is women seem to be doing better on telly. theres certainly more of them there than on radio.

end of the day though i dont think theres much you can do about it. newstalk had a high number of women broadcasters and practically let them all go. if the listeners dont want it all the PC wishing in the world wont change the real world market.

Lenny Lovett

constitutionus wrote: »

my feeling on it is maybe its the average womans high pitch voice thats causing it. if you think about it most of the suscessful women on radio have quite deep or low pitch voices incomparison to the norm which at times can come across as very shrill. considering the more intimate experience radio can be that can amplify the effect.

the same applies to the blokes now i think about it. not many jackie healy ray type voices out there.

I never thought of that. Sounds credible though. even if you listen to the UK stations all the female DJs have deeper voices alright.

More Music

So do we give the job to a female just to fill a quota?

Lenny Lovett

More Music wrote: »

So do we give the job to a female just to fill a quota?

Not at all. But there are women around who are more than capable and deserve a slot but don't get in and then there's the Sile's and Claires....

Oasis_Dublin

don't just give it to a female because she's a female! give it to the best person available for the job, otherwise its sexist, plain and simple! (and this coming from someone who hates PC BS!) if that Michelle Doherty one is anything to go by, women shouldn't be presenting shows anyway!