Re: SO where are the women these days?

[Aaron Read <aread@speakeasy.net>]

At 05:41 PM 6/4/2003, SteveOrdinetz wrote:
>Donna wrote
> >
> > Caryl Rivers wrote about this on Alternet about a month ago, noting the
> > lack of women on newspaper editorial pages.  Is this the new
> > conservativism-- drive women back to the private sphere, away from
> > anywhere  they might influence public discourse, leaving talk shows free
> > to once  again be dominated by "angry white males"?
>
>Well, there's Arnie Arneson currently on WKXL & WNTK in N.H. and
>syndicated to a couple of Mass. stations.  Not only female, but rather
>liberal too.  Whether or not you agree with her viewpoints, she's
>well-informed and does a good show.  The hope is that with satellite
>distribution her show will catch on with stations looking for something
>other than a conservative male host.
>
>Are you proposing we have a quota system?  It seems that few female talk
>hosts seem to "connect" with an audience.  One exception is Dr. Laura, and
>witness the negative comments SHE gets on this list


For what it's worth, I've noticed that several college stations have shows 
DJ'ed by, and specifically dedicated to, women in music.   WBRS has "Femme 
Fatale" (usually hosted by Alwina Bennett, longtime "faculty advisor" in 
the student activities office).    WMFO has "Something About the 
Women".   WERS has "Women in Music".  I'm sure there are others.

WMBR also has "GenderTalk", which does relate indirectly to this discussion.

I think the real problem here is that while conservative talk radio has 
found a large niche...it's still basically niche radio.  Very narrowly 
defined in its mission and execution.  And it's a niche that works very 
well for angry white men.  It doesn't work very well for most other ethnic 
groups.   Just like how, usually, angry white men would not work well in 
Caribbean forum format (of which there are several around Boston, some 
pirate some via shows on licensed stations).   For that matter, I don't 
think angry (or not angry) black men would go over terribly well in the 
conservative talk format (if I'm wrong, please tell me).   So why is it so 
surprising that women don't seem to fit into the conservative talk format 
either?

By the way, I should clarify that by "don't seem to fit in" I'm referring 
to how the listeners don't seem to respond well to it, so the program 
directors aren't willing to put them on the air in that role.  It is indeed 
a self-fulfilling prophecy, at least to some degree....but if it worked 
fabulously well, the program directors would be doing it.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aaron "Bishop" Read             aread@speakeasy.net
FriedBagels Consulting          AOL-IM: readaaron
http://www.friedbagels.com      Boston, MA