[Donna Halper]

At 02:14 PM 8/27/2007, Bill O'Neill wrote:
>Keating Willcox wrote:
>>with shows that have at least one
>>woman so we are still Women's talk radio during the weekdays

and Bill replied--

>But, what if the one woman doesn't feel like talking about 
>women?  And if it's a guy talking about women doesn't that still 
>count?  I can't believe I just asked this but I couldn't 
>resist.  Call it a guy-thing.

Actually, these days there are a lot of things that both guys and 
ladies like to listen to-- it used to be that only guys liked sports, 
but look at how many women attend Red Sox and Patriots games, and no, 
they are not all there to make a boyfriend or husband 
happy.  Conversely, the cooking shows on networks like the Food 
Channel have a following of men as well as women, since a lot of guys 
(my husband included) enjoy cooking.

But that having been said, I can attest to the fact that most male 
hosts and most male political figures don't tend to discuss "women's 
issues" unless they are in front of a female organisation.  I seldom 
hear male talk hosts discussing the lack of affordable daycare, or 
talking about how some companies do not have family-friendly policies 
for women who want to be home with their kids but still work 
part-time.  There really are some areas of government policy that 
affect women more than men-- for example, I help to take care of a 
guy with autism, and have done so for over 20 years.  But all the 
available research on autism has been done primarily on male 
subjects, which means that parents with a daughter who has autism 
don't have much information to help them.  The same is true about 
heart disease-- until about ten years ago, most of the research was 
done mainly on men.  I don't think female talk hosts should talk 
about ONLY subjects that affect women-- for example, not all women 
have kids, but most do, so a discussion of child-raising issues would 
certainly interest many women (and a few guys too-- I have a number 
of men friends who are actively involved in raising their kids, and 
I'm glad they are!).  But today's women are interested in subjects 
other than home and kids.  Many are into politics, sports, business, 
etc.  So I guess it's not just a matter of "talking about women"-- 
it's as much a matter of having subjects that present the viewpoints 
of women and address the issues that concern women.  Historically, 
women have been excluded from the discussion of these issues-- 
policies were made by men, and the traditional women's show didn't 
have a lot of clout, even if women's show hosts like Louise Morgan 
(who started on radio) or Mary Margaret McBride made tons of money 
for their stations by virtue of bringing in lots of sponsors.  But 
today, since the issues that concern women are much more 
wide-ranging, a so-called women's talk show might actually get some 
male listenership too.