Trust me, folks, if I could find something to write about radio every day on the blog, I would. Every time I do, I pick up more and more readers. In the last 24 hours I have had something like 6 Facebook friend requests, mostly from people who have friends in the radio industry. Thanks for looking me up.
Jodi Delong and Niki Jabbour, both writers best known for their gardening prowess, have admitted to reading the blog. Jodi left a comment to last night's post.
I don't have that much to write about. Just a follow up comment or three.
Griff Henderson is being playful with me. I asked him if he had an announcement to make regarding a new on air job in Halifax. He just replied that there has been a lot of speculation about his future and then asked me if I had purchased my red string, which tells me he has read what I wrote last evening. Hello, sir. He did send me a picture of a giant happy face, so that should tell you something. I am waiting for Friday to get here to see what happens. So is he. So is Caroline Parker.
Lite 92.9 has nobody doing the morning show. Just wall-to-wall music punctuated by commercials and station identifications. Yawn. There is no effort to maintain even the semblance of a morning show; they are just marking time until probably Friday, when the big switcheroo happens.
I have a comment about the situation with Floyd at Live 105. As you know, she is going to be the lead co-host of the morning show once they name who her male co-host will be, probably by Friday. All good. What isn't all good is the attitude among too many male jocks that they don't want to play second fiddle to a woman.
For too many years, women in radio have been relegated to being a laugh track to male broadcasters. They are supposed to laugh uproariously at everything the guy says, whether it is amusing or not. Oftentimes, it is funny; but that should not mean that the woman should have to be reacting to it so enthusiastically. She should be able to put in some jabs here and there too.
(February 28, 2014 update: When I wrote this post, I did not, and SHOULD HAVE, mention that this "laugh track" thing is not nearly as prevalent as it was in the Halifax market. As recently as 5 years ago, I would hear women on local stations being what I would call "laugh tracks". I would not consider Kate Peardon, Lisa Blackburn, Anna Zee, Kate Milton, Jax, K8, Moya, or any other female broadcaster in Halifax to be a laugh track.)
(And, don't get me started on the economic inequity between the first and second co-hosts at a given morning show. They both do the same work. Pay them the same amount.)
I am guessing that a lot of male jocks would find it emasculating, galling, insulting, to be the second co-host on a morning show, one led by a woman. I don't get this. I have worked with and for many women over the years. I can assure these guys, and my 4.7 readers, that my little Bevboys are still dangling down there where they have always been. Having women in my professional life has done nothing but enrich it. Reporting to women has not had any marked difference than reporting to a dude. So, male jocks who don't want to work as a second co-host to a woman, get over your damn selves.
It is probably the case that the Floyd's male co-host has been hired, but I don't know who he is. Whoever it is, he will learn a lot from Floyd. But more importantly, he will learn a lot about himself and become embarrassed by the attitude of many of his male colleagues in the industry who wouldn't dream of being the second co-host in a morning show, where the first co-host is female.
I wish Floyd's co-host all the best. He will be blazing a trail along with her. And I look forward to shaking his hand.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
No comments:
Post a Comment